Photograph:
(photo not available)
Country of origin:
Australia
Description:
Five-seat open cockpit biplane
Power Plant:
One 155 kw (208 hp) Wolseley Viper II eight-cylinder liquid-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan (upper): 13.79 m (45 ft 3 in)
- Wingspan (lower): 10.87 m (35 ft 8 in)
- Chord: 1.52 m (5 ft)
- Gap: 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
- Length: 8.23 m (27 ft)
- Height: 2.53 m (11 ft 7 in)
- Wing area: 26.4 m² (382 sq ft)
- Estimated performance max speed: 153 km/h (95 mph)
- Stalling speed: 77 km/h (48 mph)
- Initial rate of climb: 230 m/min (700 ft/min)
- Empty weight: 1,065 kg (2,350 lb)
- Loaded: 1,405 kg (3,100 lb)
- Wing loading: 6.8 kg/hp (15 lb/hp)
History:
In the late 1920s Mr T D Leech, a lecturer in civil engineering at the Sydney University, with the assistance of five graduates from the University, designed and built a biplane known as the Australian Maid. The design work and construction were in the nature of a demonstration of practical aerodynamics. All stress work was done at length and very often in a number of different ways in order to provide practical experience for all concerned. The aircraft was mainly built using components from a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the intention being when the aircraft was completed to use it for joy-riding.
The wings were modified JN-4 biplane wings with bracing. Two pairs of steel tube inter-plane struts with duralumin fairings were placed on each side of the fuselage, and the ailerons were balanced on the top mainplanes only. The fuselage was of rectangular section and constructed of wood, with four longeron structures, and with fabric covering. The tail was of the monoplane type with a thick section tailplane. The rudder was balanced and adjustable through a range of – 7 and +8 degrees. The undercarriage was of the cross-axle Vee type, the front legs being Vees incorporating rubber-in-compression springing whilst the wheel-track was 2.3 m (7 ft 6 in). A steel tube skid to the rear of the fuselage was spring with a rubber cord. Engine was the 155 kw (208 hp) Wolseley Viper II eight-cylinder liquid cooled unit on a steel-tube mounting, the radiator being underslung. The fuel tank was in the top centre-section and fed fuel to the engine by gravity. Accommodation was provided in two compartments, each seating two persons side-by-side under the centre section and over the centre of gravity, the pilot being in a separate cockpit to the rear.
In 1933 Mr Leech, with L J R Jones, was involved in the design of the Centenary Racer (dealt with separately), which was being constructed to be entered in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race. In 1939 he was appointed Professor of Engineering by the Auckland University Council; and in 1938 was involved in testing a stall indicator which had been designed by C Murray Waller for the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth.