Photograph:
Everson II monoplane at Auckland (AHSNZ, SVAS Collection, John Coom)
Country of origin:
New Zealand
Description:
Single-seat light amateur-built aircraft
Power Plant:
(EVO III)
Two 31 kw (42 hp) Bristol Cherub two-cylinder 1.095 litre (67 cub in) air-cooled engines
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 10.97 m (36 ft)
- Length: 7.62 m (25 ft)
- Wing area: 22.76 m² (215 sq ft)
- Endurance (estimated): 30 hours
History:
Brothers Arthur, Ronald and Ernest Everson built a small aircraft in about 1929, known as the Evo I, this being a simple high-wing glider-like design powered by a four-cylinder Henderson converted motor cycle engine, the aircraft being taken to the Mangere Speedway on 10 July 1929 but it crashing on its first flight. They then built a low-wing single-seat aircraft known as the Evo II, which was fitted with a 45 kw (60 hp) Hall-Scott engine. This was taken to Muriwai Beach for testing but on 5 December 1930, on its initial flight in the hands of Ernest Everson, it also crashed and he was injured.
The family then moved to the Waikato region and, with a view to entering an aircraft in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race, commenced work on the building of a twin-engine high-wing monoplane. This aircraft was a single-seater and, known as the Evo III, was fitted with two 31 kw (42 hp) Bristol Cherub engines. Two of these engines were obtained, one from Mr G Eriksen and the other from Mr H Rogers-Jenkins. A garage proprietor, Mr Ivan Waugh, helped with finance and loaned the brothers a shed in which to build the aircraft. Reference to the aircraft was made in the British aviation magazine ‘The Aeroplane’ of 10 October 1934. It was noted as Entrant No 55 and as a “mystery ship”, entered as a “Waugh and Everson Monoplane”.
Despite a lot of work, like a couple of other aircraft being built for the race, it was not completed in time to reach Mildenhall in Suffolk for the commencement of the race. The aircraft was finally completed at Churchill near the Waikato River and the first flight was of a duration of an hour. It was flown to Hobsonville for inspection and certification but the latter was rejected because of insufficient clearance from the propeller tips to the fuselage. No further testing is known to have been carried out and the aircraft was stored at Hobsonville until taken by Mr Waugh to his property where it was dismantled and placed in storage without its engines. The fuselage is known to have survived to the early 1960s but its ultimate fate is not known.