Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Single-seat light sport aircraft

Power Plant:

One 10.44 kw (14 hp) Fuji Major 173 cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Ronald Gilbert Wheeler was one of the people who foresaw the coming boom in ultralight aircraft in the 1970s and was a pioneer in this area.  At that stage he was involved in building yachts at Carlton in Sydney, NSW and as an aside commenced construction of hang gliders, developed through a range of designs from the Tweetie to the Scout series, which were designed to meet Air Navigation Order 95.10 in 1976. He made the first flight of a minimum aircraft which he had designed and built himself.

Ron Wheeler had initially built a hang-glider design known as the Tweetie. In 1972 he built a powered variant and this was first flown in May 1974 and, as a number of friends were interested in obtaining an example, he set up a company known as Skycraft and began full-scale production in November 1976, the aircraft meeting ANO 95.10.

Initially known as the Mk 1, the Tweetie was powered by a 9 kw (12 hp) Pixie Major engine, which was a modified lawnmower unit, but this unit was found to be somewhat underpowered.  This aircraft had a weight of 51 kg (112 lb), a max speed of 67 km/h (35 mph) and a wing area of 11.7 m² (126 sq ft).  It was cheaper than other types then available because it was smaller and did not have the same performance.  It was a single-surface three-axis control aircraft and had wing warping for roll control.  The airframe was constructed from high-tensile alloy section extruded from the Company’s dies.  It was suitable for operating from rough strips.

Eventually the aircraft was offered with floats, a cockpit pod, a Rotax 377 engine, the floats being designed by Mr Wheeler and fitted to the aircraft in 1977, being first shown to the public at the Schofields Air Show, NSW in 1978, becoming known as the Sea Scout. It is thought to be the world’s first ultralight floatplane.

This was followed by the Mk 2, introduced after the Company moved to larger premises. It could be operated as a landplane or fitted with floats.  This had a modified front axle and seat support but otherwise had little change from the Mk 1 and had the same Pixie Major engine. This engine drove a tractor propeller and the controls were two-axis, operated entirely by the control  stick with no separate roll control for the single-surface wing.

The Scout Mk 3 and Mk 3/3R were similar and were single-seat single-engine high-wing monoplanes with conventional three-axis control. Similar to the other models, rigging was by stainless steel, as were the control cables.  The Mk 3 was a major advance on earlier models, having a Fuji Robin single-cylinder two-stroke [244 cc] engine of 15 kw (20 hp), and had a fully sprung undercarriage with a steerable tailwheel, conventional stick and rudder pedal, and three-axis control.  The new engine gave a much improved performance over the Pixie unit.  The Mk 3/3R was fitted with a Robin EC25PS engine providing 15.6 kw (21 hp) at 6,500 rpm.  The aircraft could be quickly dis-assembled for transport.  It was exported to a number of countries.  Other variants included the Tiger Scout and the Viva Scout.

The Company Skycraft built at least 640 examples of the Scout, the type also being known as the Skycraft Scout after it entered full production.  A Mk 3 is known to have crashed 5 km west of Mannum, SA on 11 March 1986; and an example fitted with floats crashed at Tinaroo Dam, QLD on 8 October 1986.  Examples survive and are displayed in the collection of early ultralight aircraft at the Ultralight Aircraft Museum at Holbrook, NSW.