| Parnall Elf biplane
Here is another one from the collection,this one I built several years ago from a designer friends drawings to one fifth scale as a prototype,the idea was he deasigned them to market as plans and I tested out the drawings by building the first model,test flying it then making up a set of instructions to go with the plans,did several for him including Miles Hawk Speed 6,Puss Moth,Fairey Battle etc.
Flew them in the scale days at Old Warden until they then introduced those silly 'B' Certificates which dont mean much ! ( sorry, I think that someone who can take off do a few circuits and land at his feet can be a responsible flyer without a bit of paper that proves nothing about the pilots abilities ) and I was not allowed to fly them any more,despite having my own flying school.
The model is quite an handful actually and has awful aileron response with quite a bit of adverse yaw depite plenty of differential,she needs to be flown onto the ground and not three pointed,speaking to the full size pilot he said the real thing is just the same,90 sized motor.
She was laid up and not flown for some years,you need to rig her on the field as she is so big.
Had a lucky escape when the rudder detached at Old Warden on 4 th flight,she went into a left spin,managed remarkably to pull out only feet above the ground and flare out to a soft landing,reason was hinge failure which caused the rudder to flutter and break the other hinges,a freak mishap which could have wrote her off.
Anyway hope that you like her,picture was taken before the full cowling with louves was built,also first flight like this to aid cooling as well.
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