Rollason Beta

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Beta
Type	Single seat racing monoplane
Manufacturer	Rollason Aircraft and Engines
Maiden flight	1967
Number built	4 (factory-built) 5 (homebuilt)

The Rollason Beta was a British midget racing monoplane developed from a competition to build a Formula 1 air racer in the 1960s in England. The Beta was first flown on April 21, 1967. The aircraft were succesful air-racers in England during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

1 Development
2 Operational history
3 Variants
4 Specifications (Beta B.4)
5 Reference
6 External links

[edit] Development

The Beta was designed by the Luton Group (who were young technicians employed by the British Aircraft Corporation at Luton) in a competition for a racing aircraft, the Rollason Midget Racer Design Competion 1964. The original prototype Luton Beta was not completed. The design was built commercially by Rollason Aircraft and Engines and plans were available for homebuilding. The Beta is a fully-aerobatic wooden low wing cantilever monoplane with a cantilever tailplane with a single fin and rudder. It has a fixed tailwheel landing gear and an enclosed cockpit for the pilot.

[edit] Operational history

The first Rollason-built Beta (registered G-ATLY and named Forerunner) won the Manx Air Derby in 1969 and the second Rollason-built aircraft (registered G-AWHV and named Blue Chip) won the Goodyear Tropy air race at Halfpenny Green in 1969.

[edit] Variants

Luton Beta: Prototype not completed.
B.1: Powered by a 65hp Continental A.65 engine, one built by Rollason later converted to B.2
B.2: Powered by a 90hp Continental C.90 engine, two built by Rollason and one conversion from B.1
B.4: Powered by a 100hp Rolls-Royce Continental O-200-A engine, one built by Rollason.

[edit] Specifications (Beta B.4)

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
Wingspan: 20 ft 5 in ( m)
Wing area: 66 ft² ( m²)
Empty weight: 575 lb ( kg)
Gross weight: 850 lb ( kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Continental O-200-A, 100 hp ( kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 185 mph ( km/h)

[edit] Reference

Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 3. London: Putnam. ISBN 0 370 10014 X.
Flight International 19 October 1967
Simpson, R. W. (1995). Airlife's General Aviation. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing, 431.