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Luton Minor
The Luton L.A.4 Minor was a 1930s British single-seat high-wing ultra-light. The prototype was built by the Luton Aircraft Limited, and design plans were later adapted and copies sold for home-building.
Contents
History
The L.A.3 Minor ultralight was powered by a 35hp Anzani inverted Vee air-cooled engine, and was of spruce, ply and fabric construction. It was designed by C.H. Latimer-Needham, and built by Luton Aircraft at Barton-in-the-Clay, Bedfordshire in 1936, using the fuselage and components of the earlier experimental L.A.2 tandem-wing aircraft. The prototype L.A.3 Minor, registered G-AEPD, first flew on 3 March 1937 at Heston Aerodrome.[1] The aircraft was a successful flyer despite the low-powered engine, and it was then redesigned for home construction. Designated the L.A.4 Minor, it had a strutted undercarriage, parallel wing struts. The first L.A.4 Minor was built at the company's new factory (the Phoenix Works) at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire. It was fitted with a 40hp ABC Scorpion two-cylinder horizontally-opposed engine. All subsequent Luton Minors were home-built from plans sold by the company.
The Phoenix Works had burnt down during 1943, and Luton Aircraft had closed, so designer C.H. Latimer-Needham and A.W.J.G. Ord-Hume created a new company in March 1958 to take over the design rights for the Luton Minor. Latimer-Needham updated the design to take more modern lightweight four-cylinder engines and an increased all-up weight. The redesigned aircraft was designated L.A.4A Minor. The design, and subsequently the aircraft, has been built all over the world as homebuilt aircraft with a wide variety of engines, with the plans for the aircraft being distributed by Alf Knowles as the Knowles Duet before being passed on to the Popular Flying Association in the UK[2].
Variants
- L.A.3 Minor
- Prototype ultralight, one built.
- L.A.4 Minor
- Homebuilt version, one factory built and numerous homebuilt examples.
- L.A.4A Minor
- Updated homebuilt version to take more modern engines, all homebuilt.
Specifications (L.A.4A)
Template:Aircraft specification
Notes
References
- Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 3. London: Putnam. ISBN 037010014X.
- Smith, R. 2002. British Built Aircraft Vol.1 Greater London. Tempus. ISBN 0752427709
- Taylor, JWR (Editor) (1988). Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1988-1989. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0710608675.
External links
See also
Designation sequence
Luton Buzzard • L.A.2 • L.A.3 Minor • L.A.4 Minor • L.A.5 Major
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Lists relating to aviation | |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines |
| Military | Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft |
| Notable incidents and accidents | Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths |
| Records | Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft |
| This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Luton Minor". |
