Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Four-seat light cabin monoplane

Power Plant:

One 134 kw (180 hp) Lycoming O-360-A1A four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Victa R-2 was a four-seat light monoplane designed for Victa Ltd by Mr Luigi Pellarini, designer of the Transavia Airtruk and a number of other aircraft.  Aimed at the Australian market to meet competition from American designs, the Victa R-2 was designed as one of a series of aircraft proposed for manufacture by Victa, others including the two-seat Airtourer, and the Gyroplane.  In the event, the R-2 design was not built in quantity, only one prototype being completed.  Eventually Victa went on to commence development of another four-seat aircraft, the Aircruiser, which was designed by Henry Millicer, this design later being sold to New Zealand where it received further development, becoming the AESL CT-4 Airtrainer.

The prototype R-2, carrying the registration VH-MVR, and finished in natural metal with red trim, was first flown from RAN Air Station, HMAS Nirimba at Schofields, NSW, on 15 February 1961.  By 18 February, thirty minutes of test flying had been completed.  However, during April 1961 testing was suspended.  The reason given was that all effort at the Victa facility would then be concentrated on the development and production of the all-metal Airtourer.  It is also believed that, although the performance of the aircraft was very good, in order to obtain that performance the cockpit was narrow and was considered to be somewhat cramped. To overcome this problem there would have been a necessity for some re-design work before the type could have been placed into production.

Subsequently the prototype was dismantled and stored at the Victa facility at Milperra, NSW for some time until the operation closed down.  The aircraft was then taken to Bankstown aerodrome, NSW, where it remained in storage for many years.  At one stage it was stored alongside another Pellarini design, the Airjeep (also known as the Airsedan), which has been described as a four-seater, and as a five-six seat aircraft of high-wing configuration, with the cockpit in a pod, and the engine at the rear, with the now distinctive Pellarini-design twin-booms for the tail surfaces. The Airsedan was never completed but has survived and is in the Museum of Army Aviation at Oakey, QLD.

As noted, in May 1982 the Airjeep and the R-2 were removed from storage.  An announcement was made that the R-2 would be completed and flown by its new owner at Bankstown.  Work was commenced but was never completed and the aircraft was re-placed in storage again at Bankstown.  In later years it was stored by John Cameron Aviation at its facility at Bankstown.  The R-2 did not receive its Type Certificate and the registration VH-MVR painted on the aircraft was used as a call-sign, being the initials of the founder and Chairman of Victa Consolidated Industries at the time, Mr M V Richardson.  This registration was later used on the Aircruiser.

It is believed development of the R-2 continued and this may have been what became known as the Pellarini PL-13 design. It was mentioned in ‘Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft’ in the period 1965 and 1966 and has also been described as the Transavia PL-13.  It was described as a four-seat light aircraft derived from one of Mr Pellarini’s earlier designs, the R-2, and drawings of the time show a resemblance to the R-2. Changes included the deletion of the wing bracing struts and the sweep back on the wing tips.  It had a roomier cockpit but it was never built. It would appear that this was the “four-seat fully-aerobatic low-wing monoplane for the Royal Aero Club of Queensland” that was mentioned at that time.

In early 2017, after being in store with John Cameron Aviation at Bankstown for many years, the prototype of the R-2 was gifted to the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) at Albion Park, NSW, where it is to be restored for display at the Society’s Museum.