Experimenter

MAY 2015

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.

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14 Vol.4 No.5 / May 2015 PAUL'S PL ANES POBER PIXIE Paul's response to the 1973 oil crisis was to create a design for getting into the air that used as little fuel as possible but was still a "real" airplane. No two strokes. His "pre-LSA" LSA was the Pixie. Standing somewhere between a Baby Ace and the 1920s Heath Parasol, the hyper-simple Pixie was fi rst fl own in late July 1974, just in time to debut at EAA Oshkosh that year. With full-span ailerons, a 29-foot wing, and a stock VW engine, per- formance was lackluster, but it really came alive when equipped with a 60-hp Limbach 1,700-cc VW conversion. In theory, a Continental A-65 could be used, but the VW was much lighter and only burned 3 to 3-1/2 gallons of auto fuel an hour. A two- place Pixie II was designed. But only two were built and plans were never released. THE MAN'S WORK JUST KEEPS ON GIVING Although Paul is revered as the founder of the most vibrant aviation community ever, it's easy to forget that he was a prac- titioner of his own sermons. He lived to fl y and he lived to build. Besides the aircraft he designed and built, there were so many others that he built that it's dif cult to keep track of them. He was a grease-under-the-fi ngernails kind of guy that led from in front. The only thing Paul loved as much as fl ying was his family, and then the extended family of aviators he drew into the EAA. He did everything humanly possible to give fl ight to those who couldn't af ord it. His long string of designs is the result of that ef ort. The sky is still there; his designs are still available. His legacy is that the two can be mixed by the application of a little ef ort. That's the ingredient only we can apply by putting our hands and mind together. Budd Davisson, EAA 22483, is an aeronautical engineer, has fl own more than 300 different types, and has published four books and more than 4,000 articles. He is editor-in-chief of Flight Journal magazine and a fl ight instructor primarily in Pitts/tailwheel aircraft. Visit him on www.AirBum.com. Acro Sport II Pober Pixie Photography courtesy of EAA Archives

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