History:

This was a light aircraft designed by G A Gerber, the plans of which were released in the magazine Science and Invention in the July 1929 edition. The first of the type completed in the United States was fitted with a converted Chevrolet car engine.

Construction of one was commenced at Tyagarah (on the NSW north coast) by F Allen Ellis in 1930. It was a single-seat parasol-wing monoplane fitted with a 30-kw (40-hp) converted Buick motor car engine. It received the name Nina No 1. The fuselage was built of spruce with red-fibre gussets and ply panelling on the floor and forward fuselage. The aircraft was built in his spare time and engine cowlings were of aluminium. Power from the Buick engine was 41-kw (55-hp).

It seems the aircraft was never completed and eventually the incomplete aircraft was sold to a Mr Harold Gordon who then lived in Byron Bay on the NSW north coast. It is known the aircraft survived until the 1960s but its eventual fate is not known.

Records indicate in about 1931 a Mr Neville Dossetto who then lived at Ayr in Queensland using GA Gerber plans commenced construction of an example, his aircraft using silky oak for the fuselage but after nearing completion of the fuselage he abandoned the aircraft and joined Mr Douglas McDonald in the construction of a Heath Parasol. The fuselage was subsequently used as a play-thing by children.

Wingspan 8.5 m (28 ft); wing area 12.07 m² (130 sq ft); max speed 137 km/h (85 mph); cruising speed 113 km/ h (70 mph); landing speed 48 km/h (30 mph); loaded weight 386 kg (850 lb).

Further information:

Information on this aircraft is currently limited. The Author welcomes any further specifications and/or details to update the site.