Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Light single-engine monoplane

Power Plant:

One 60 kw (80 hp) ADC Cirrus II four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Wicko Wizard was a wire-braced low-wing monoplane designed by Geoffrey Neville Wikner (1904 – 1990) developed from the Lion powered by a four-cylinder 60 kw (80 hp) ADC Cirrus II engine (from Avro Avian VH-UFY).  Seating two, the pilot was located in the rear open cockpit and the passenger forward in an enclosed cabin with a small window on each side.  Further test flying was carried out and eventually the aircraft was handed over to a Mr Fordham. However, the certificate of registration lapsed on 6 May 1932 and it was struck off the register.  Ownership was transferred to Messrs D Milton and J Skelton on 4 November 1934.  Like the Wikner Lion, the Wizard was never placed on the Australian Civil Aircraft Register. The ultimate fate of the aircraft is not known.

Throughout his early life Wikner, amongst other things, was involved in aviation.  In the early 1920s he built a racing car at Leura, NSW known as the Wikner Ford Special.  This car has survived and is regularly raced at Historic Racing Car meetings in Sydney, NSW.  After completion of the Wizard, and other designs, Wikner moved to the United Kingdom where he obtained work with Phillips and Powis Aircraft, designing and building a two-seat experimental aircraft using the wings and tail from a Miles Hawk, being powered by a Cirrus engine. He was involved in the design of a number of other aircraft, particularly for Percival Aircraft, Wikner being a cousin of Edgar W Percival.

Wikner later formed Foster-Wikner Aircraft Co Ltd in 1936 and built the Foster Wikner Wicko GM.1 monoplane.  After World War II he returned to Australia flying a Handley Page Halifax (G-AGXA) and continued in the aviation field, building a helicopter, but was involved in other interests such as running a holiday camp, building a power boat etc.

Wikner also designed a light aircraft known as the Marendaz Monoplane.  In the mid 1930s he was working for Marendaz Special Cars Ltd, which built custom sports cars, and commenced building the aircraft in that company’s facility at Maidenhead in Berkshire in the United Kingdom.  The aircraft, a two-seat light cabin monoplane of semi-monocoque construction with dual controls, was partially built but never completed, due, it is said by Wikner in his biography, Flight of the Halifax, to Mr D M K Marendaz claiming the design was his work. Wikner then left the Company.