The Spinks Akromaster is an

aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

aircraft that was designed by

Charlie Hillard Charlie Hillard (March 22, 1938 – April 16, 1996) was an American aerobatics pilot, and the first American to win the world aerobatics title. Hillard formed the Red Devils aerobatic team in 1971 with fellow pilots Gene Soucy and Tom Poberezn ...

Design and development

"Pappy" Spinks provided the funding and name to Charlie Hillard for the creation of the Akromaster. The Akromaster is a single-seat, low-wing,

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

and a symmetrical

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

. It features inverted fuel and oil systems and an air show smoke system.

Operational history

During certification testing of the cabin version of the Akromaster, aerobatic pilot Harold Krier was unable to recover from a flat spin and died due to a parachute malfunction.

flew the Akromaster prior to forming the Red Devils aerobatic team. Hillard placed third in the 1970 world aerobatic championships with the aircraft.

Specifications (Akromaster)

On Display

Texas Air Museum - Stinson Chapter The Texas Air Museum - Stinson Chapter is located on Stinson Municipal Airport (which is the second oldest continuous operating airport in the United States). The Stinson Municipal Airport (SSF) is located six miles south of downtown San Anton ...

References

External links

Charlie Hillard at the Air Show Hall of FameImages of the Akromaster
{{Aerobatics Aerobatic aircraft