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/149316
which he attributed to the narrow cross section of the rear of the fuselage. However, by far the biggest problem was that the company went out of business after delivering between 40 to 50 partial kits. Mine was one of those." At the time the company went under, Victor had taken delivery of both wings, but he didn't have a fuselage, which considering everything was formed in molds, was a major problem: Even if plans had existed, he couldn't have easily scratchbuilt it. "I looked around and found a builder in Washington state who had a bottom fuselage half. That was sort of like having the keel of a boat because it attached to the wings and formed most of the load-carrying structure. But I still needed a top fuselage half as that's what formed the cabin: It had the door and windows in it. The tail was also part of the top half." Te removable step is another Holmlund innovation. A small, notched blade fts in the top of the wing... By this time, some of the Wheeler builders had begun communicating with each other as most of them were in the same boat; they had no upper fuselage and were missing dozens of other components. So, 26 of them formed a group that would manufacture the parts for themselves. This was made much easier because two of the 26 builders in the group were engineers as well as aerodynamicists and had both design and manufacturing experience. Equally important, one of the builders was a commercial fiberglass boat builder. Each of the builders in the group agreed to purchase parts from any member who could manufacture them, and they were off and running. However, this was no small project because it meant designing and having complete fuselage molds built, then having the parts molded. This amounted to developing complete aircraft production capability, even though some of the production was farmed out. In the end, the group completed 26 sets of parts to get everyone in the air. …and, when inserted, locks into place. "Part of the goal was to redesign the fuselage to eliminate the tail flutter and add a pilot's side door. Since we were redesigning from scratch, we thought we should make it more convenient to fly. "When we decided to move ahead, we realized that all we had were wings from the Wheeler. So, in effect, we were building a nearly new design. That being the case, we decided to rename it the 'Auriga,' which is a star. Also, going to a new name eliminated any possible legal issues with the original company." At the time Victor started building, composite construction was well accepted, but the techniques Te fuselage is much wider than most aircraf. Te builder's group had to build its own top fuselage half, adding right and lef doors. EAA Experimenter 23