Photograph:
Stewart S-51 Mustang VH-JWK (c/n 158) at Narromine, NSW in September 2012 (David C Eyre)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Two-seat scale replica fighter
Power Plant:
One 448 kw (600 hp) Chevrolet eight-cylinder (454 ci) VEE liquid-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 8.19 m (26 ft 9 in)
- Length: 6.82 m (22 ft 4 in)
- Height: 2.86 m (9 ft 4 in)
- Wing area: 11.42 m² (123 sq ft)
- Max speed: 538 km/h (334 mph)
- Cruising speed: 465 km/h (289 mph)
- Stalling speed: 119 km/h (74 mph)
- Max flap speed: 241 km/h (150 mph)
- Max undercarriage speed: 209 km/h (130 mph)
- Max rate of climb at sea level: 1,317 m/min (4,320 ft/min)
- Service ceiling: 8,961 m (29,400 ft)
- Range at cruising speed with 257 litres (56.6 Imp gals) fuel, no reserve: 1,108 km (689 miles)
- Range at cruising speed with auxiliary tanks 712 litres (157 Imp gals): 3,058 km (1,900 miles)
- Empty weight: 1,089 kg (2,400 lb)
- Loaded weight: 1,588 kg (3,500 lb)
History:
The Stewart S-51D was a 70 per cent scale replica of the North American P-51D Mustang fighter aircraft of World War II and was introduced to the market in 1994 as a fully-aerobatic, high performance, accurate reproduction of the P-51D Mustang. It was developed by Mr J Stewart over a period of years, the first aircraft being of all-wood construction and powered by a converted small-block Chevrolet V-8 engine. Later Mr Stewart developed it for construction of all metal and sold plans to constructors. This led to some refinement of the design to take the big-block Chevrolet engine and led to the production of kits.
The aircraft was considered to be an accurate scale representation of the Mustang fighter and was said to be a quantum leap in complexity and performance over a couple of other Mustang scale replicas but was eclipsed in the performance area by the PAPA P-51 Thunder Mustang. The aircraft had dual controls but no instruments in the rear cockpit. Engines ranging from 224 kw to 448 kw (300 hp to 600 hp) have been installed. Structural limits were +9 and – 4.5 G.
An example attended the EAA event at Oshkosh in Wisconsin for a number of years performing aerobatics, and this led to the sale of a number of kits throughout the United States but eventually the Company got into financial difficulties and was sold to Precision Aero Engineering of Camarillo, California, which developed a variant of the Chevrolet V-8 specifically for the aircraft. This Company also got into difficulties and was sold at auction.
New kits are not thought to be available now but some unfinished aircraft have become available on the market. Much of the sheet metal fabrication for the kits was done by HPAI in the Czech Republic and this Company produced parts to complete kits, retaining the tooling for the aircraft. In 2007 a group of builders obtained rights to the design. By late 2012 fourteen examples were known to have been completed, 30 were in the process of construction, and one in the United States had been completed with a turbine engine.
An incomplete S-51 Mustang project was imported by Mr James Wickham in Victoria from the United States in late 2008 for completion, this aircraft becoming VH-JWK (c/n 158) and registered to Ganot Pty Ltd of Moorooduc, VIC on 17 May 2010, making its first flight at Tyabb, VIC on 31 December 2011. It has been noted attending a number of aviation events. In late 2012 it was noted the aircraft was for sale.