The Grey Ghost was a high-speed experimental monoplane built by Ed Allenbaugh, and intended to compete in the 1948 Goodyear Trophy.
Design and development
The Grey Ghost was a
shoulder-wing
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 config ...
single-engine
pusher monoplane, designed by Paul Schaupp and constructed by Ed Allenbaugh. It was notable for its small frontal area, with the fuselage measuring just wide and deep.
[ The wings were cantilevered and had a tapered planform, with no dihedral. The pilot, positioned ahead of the wing, lay in an almost fully ]supine position
The supine position () means lying horizontally, with the face and torso facing up, as opposed to the prone position, which is face down. When used in surgical procedures, it grants access to the peritoneal, thoracic, and pericardium, pericardial ...
.[ A centrally located Continental C85 engine powered, via an extension-shaft, a two-bladed fixed-pitch propeller that was positioned just aft of the empennage.][ The aircraft had a conventional tailplane, but an inverted tailfin that ensured that the propeller had sufficient ground clearance. It was equipped with a conventional fixed undercarriage.
The aircraft was painted white, with the race number 66 and the registration mark N23C being painted in red.][
]
Operational history
The Grey Ghost flew once. On August 15, 1948 it took off from Van Nuys Airport
Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a branch of the Los Angeles city government, which also operates Los Angeles Internat ...
with Dwight Dempster at the controls.[ Several minutes into the flight, while flying at an altitude of , the engine failed and the airplane went out of control. Dempster bailed out, but at too low an altitude for his parachute to open. He crashed through the roof of a garage at 1800 ]Nordhoff Street
Nordhoff Street is a major east–west arterial road that runs for in the northwest San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California.
Name
Nordhoff Street was named after Charles Nordhoff, a 19th-century a journalist whose writings about Califo ...
, Northridge, Los Angeles
Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center.
Originally named Zelzah by settlers in 1908, the ...
, dying instantly. The aircraft crashed at a nearby walnut grove.[
As a result of this event, the Professional Race Pilots Association - organizers of the Goodyear races - outlawed aircraft incorporating the supine pilot position.][
]
Specifications (Grey Ghost)
See also
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite web , last=Eckland , first=E.O , title=American airplanes: Allenbaugh , url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_al.html , website=www.aerofiles.com , publisher=Aerofiles , access-date=May 11, 2025]
[{{cite journal , journal=Aviation Week , title=Industry Observer , date=August 30, 1948 , volume=49, number=9 , page=16 , publisher=McGraw-Hill Publishing Company , location=New York, NY , url=https://archive.org/details/Aviation_Week_1948-08-30/page/n7/mode/1up? , access-date=May 11, 2025]
[{{cite news , date=August 16, 1948 , title=Midget plane pilot crashes to death , url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DNLA19480816.1.3 , work=Daily News , location=Los Angeles, CA , access-date=May 11, 2025, ref=none]
[{{cite magazine , last=Pauley , first=Robert F. , date=March 1968 , title=Extension-shaft Pusher Type Aircraft , magazine=Sport Aviation , location=, publisher=EAA , volume=17 , number=3 , pages=4–5 , url=]
1940s United States experimental aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1948
Aircraft flown once
Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear
Pusher aircraft
Shoulder-wing aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Mid-engined aircraft