Planet Satellite.

**wonwinglo** · 27-03-2006

Four seater built of magnesium alloy,retractable undercarriage fitted with a Gipsy Queen 32 amidships driving a pusher airscrew in the tail,designer was a Mr J.N.D.Heenan,she was built in the Robinson Redwing factory at Croydon,Purley Way,Surrey in 1947,taken to Redhill in 1948 and shown at the S.B.A.C show at Farnborough in September 1948,took up the registration G-ALOI in April 1949,failed to get airborne at Blackbushe despite several long runs down the runway,thus any further attempts to fly her were abandoned.
Sadly dismantled at Redhill and sold as scrap in 1958 and the alloy melted down.
Span 33 feet 6 inches,Length 26 feet 3 inches,Tare weight 1,600 lbs,all up weight 2,905 lbs,max estimated speed 208 mph,cruise estimated at 191 mph.
And so another very advanced design went into the history books.
No known drawings exist.

AirshipsfNflyingboats · 27-03-2006

Thanks Barry ....I seem to be having problems - first I cannot find/see my original entry .. at the time I posted a picture which showed as an attachment ok then dissapered...and it hasnt shown up in my gallery..Second at the same time as recieving the notification about the above I was informed of another responce by Bunkerbarge but when I click on the link for that I cannot find it and get an error message.........help this is confusing.

**Bunkerbarge** · 27-03-2006

I think you may have lost a couple of posts in Johns server change over.

Hopefully things will be back to normal now. Try reposting the original with the picture again. I did see it and wrote a quick note but they seem to have got lost.

**wonwinglo** · 27-03-2006

Airshipsnflyingboats,what happened is that it was a tail ender that got deleted in Johns server upgrade,my entry also got lost and this is the second one,just upload the original image again,well worth the effort as this one is mega rare subject matter.

AirshipsfNflyingboats · 27-03-2006

I found this old scan and sent it to my mate Eljimbo who is a master of the DIY outrunner contra rotating motors set up....I cannot re scan at the moment the top of the fins are squared off by the way.

any one got more stuff? My original message to Eljimbo went like this

jim an error sorry I called it a Miles it isnt I went back to source.. and the caption cut off in the pic says 4 seat mag alloy Planet Satellite..never flew shown in 1948 at Farnborough but was featured in Heavenly body...1983 Oct edition of Aeroplane. The pic you've got was from the Oct 1998 edition. So now we know what we are looking for.
----- Original Message -----

tigertc · 27-03-2006

Now that would be a challeng. Not only to build something that has never flown, but then to make it fly! Someone must have the drawings. Good luck.

AirshipsfNflyingboats · 27-03-2006

Well the message is there and advanced edit says the attached pic is there the problem is I still cannot see it anywhere? Dohhh!

Tigertech hi .....it would be easier to make a model fly than the original as with modern Elec motors and cells the power available would probably work out proportionately far greater - the shapes very slippy and basicly simmillar to the Buggati racer though that was a contra tractor set up......jim has produced one motor for a Reno mustang of 500W-600W power and about 40 inch span.
Making it mm exact would be a challenge but building a working replica should be possible. The small wheels would be a bit of an issue on anything but smooth concrete/tarmac.

**Bunkerbarge** · 27-03-2006

Barry,

A beautifull design but where was the engine?

I can't make out any inlets or exhausts and it won't go very far without either!!

Maybe that's why it never flew, they forgot!!!

**wonwinglo** · 27-03-2006

The very Planet Satellite was built with the engine at the rear ( amidships say Planet in their press release ),the exhaust eflux emitted underneath the fuselage via asbestos cladding to dissipate the heat,over heating was probably a problem as there does not appear to be much in the way of cooling ?
I would like to know the colourscheme of this machine ? something that seems to have been lost in time,you will not find much in the way of any more photographs as she was a little camera shy.
No reason why she could not be made to fly providing that the centre of gravity and weight are kept within limits,too heavy a wing loading and she would be a missile that would fly like a brick ! and certainly a candidate for washout with those thin wings which would need thickening up a bit to be successful.
This is a subject for a simple electric powered sheet design to iron out the bugs before committing to a complex build.

duncan · 27-03-2006

Great subject for blue foam ! Guess the engine would be mid-ships but cooling and exhaust must be underneath? Could go same route with electric powered model with long prop-shaft c/f tube maybe. Notice the civvy reg Meteor in top right hand corner. There was an all red one I seem to remember.