General Aircraft Owlet
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| GAL.45 Owlet | |
|---|---|
| Type | two-seat trainer |
| Manufacturer | General Aircraft Ltd |
| Maiden flight | 1940 |
| Introduced | 1941 |
| Retired | 1942 |
| Status | written off |
| Primary user | Royal Air Force |
| Number built | 1 |
| Developed from | General Aircraft Cygnet |
The General Aircraft GAL.45 Owlet was a 1940s British single-engined trainer aircraft built by General Aircraft Limited and Hanworth Aerodrome.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Owlet was a training version of the Cygnet II built as an attempt to produce a cheap primary trainer for the Royal Air Force. The main change was a modified fuselage with a tandem open cockpit (the cygnet had an enclosed cockpit with side-by-side seating). The same outboard wing panels were used, but due to the slimmer fuselage, the resulting wingspan was reduced by 24 inches (61 cm) and wing area was reduced.
The Owlet prototype (registered G-AGBK) first flew on 5 September 1940. It did not attract any orders but ironically it was impressed into service (with serial number DP420) with the Royal Air Force as a tricycle undercarriage trainer for the Douglas Boston, which was the primary use to which unmodified Cygnets were also being put.
The only Owlet crashed near Arundel, Sussex in 30 August 1942.
[edit] Military operators
[edit] Specifications
This aircraft article is missing some (or all) of its specifications. If you have a source, you can help Wikipedia by adding them.General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 24 ft 7 in (7.5 m)
- Wingspan: 32 ft 5 in (9.88 m)
- Height: ()
- Empty weight: 1,563 lb (710 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 2,300 lb (1,045 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Blackburn Cirrus Major I 4-cylinder inverted inline piston, 150 hp (112 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 125 mph (109 kt, 203 km/h)
[edit] References
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
- Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919. London: Putnam. ISBN 0 370 10014 X.
[edit] See also
Related development General Aircraft GAL.42 Cygnet II
Related lists
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