Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/101874
B a r r a c u d a! to perform limited aerobatics. Pete stated that when boredom set in on those long flights, all you had to do to liven up the journey were a few loops and a roll. This sounded to me like the perfect plane. When I saw the pictures, I fell in love with its beautiful design, Corsair-like wings, and gull-winged canopy. Pete went on to say the plane was designed and built by Geoffrey Siers. Geoffrey was a Royal Air Force pilot and aeronautical engineer; he flew Spitfires, Mosquitoes, and many of the early British jet fighters before immigrating to the United States and going to work for Boeing. The Barracuda was an attempt to re-create the building techniques and flying characteristics of those classic warbirds. It seems that he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Over the years I read everything I could get my hands on about this fabled plane, but I never saw one. Constructed primarily of wood, Geoffrey only sold plans for the plane, as this was the pre-kit era. Since this was a complex aircraft to build, not many were completed. Geoffrey was a regular at EAA Oshkosh, where he encouraged builders, answered questions, and gave advice. The Barracuda graced the cover of Sport Aviation in January 1976 and won the Best New Design Award at the convention the same year. Time passed, but I never forgot about this seductive aircraft. Occasionally I would see examples of the Barracuda over the Internet but never in person; they were just too few and far between. One night in 2007 while sitting at my computer, browsing through aircraft for sale on eBay and enjoying a glass of wine, I had one of the biggest surprises of my life. The prototype Barracuda was up for auction! My world came to a momentary stop; here it was, the Barracuda built by Geoffrey Siers who still owned it. They say alcohol and eBay don't mix, but I took another sip and started bidding. A few days later the auction ended, and I was the highest bidder, but not high enough to hit the reserve price. A conversation between Geoff and I followed, and soon I was on a flight to Seattle, Washington, to see the plane and talk about how we could put a sale together. I had a cold that morning, and by the time I arrived in Seattle, I was quite ill. Nonetheless we drove to Puyallup Airpark, about an hour away, and I had my first encounter with the plane I had dreamed about for so many years. My first impression was "Wow!" The Barracuda was not at all like other small homebuilts I had seen. The Barracuda is 24 feet long and has a wingspan of 25 feet. It's more the size of a Cherokee. I walked around and listened to Geoff describe the plane; he even showed me the saw he used to cut the materials to build the plane 32 years ago. We agreed to fly the next day. We drove to his home, and his lovely French wife, Genevieve, served me a wonderful bowl of homemade onion soup and a few glasses of Burgundy. They arranged for me to stay at a comfortable inn on Gig Harbor. I did not emerge from my room for two days; I had one of the worst colds of my life! Staying in bed, watching TV, and feeling sorry for myself, I had no thoughts about the Barracuda. On the day I was to fly back to Arizona, I reluctantly agreed to go for a short flight in the Barracuda. It may have been short, but it was memorable. We climbed in, buckled up, and taxied to the end of the runway. At the time, the plane did not have toe brakes, so tight turns were difficult. Run-up was routine, and soon we were rocketing down the runway. At 65 mph indicated, just a slight bit of back pressure sent us into the air. The A new paint job and new windows gave the Barracuda an updated look. 22 Vol.2 No.1 / January 2013 Photography courtesy Jeff Weisel