The Alpha J-5 Marco is a single-seat airplane in pod-and-boom

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in no ...

. Kits were built in Poland and the aircraft has been exported to several countries including Germany and the USA.

Design and development

The Alpha J-5 Marco, sometimes known as the Janowski J-5 Marco after its designer, whose fifth aircraft it was, sometimes just as the J-5 Marco, is a single-seat pod-and-boom aircraft, with a pusher engine and a butterfly tail. Janowski's earlier J-1, J-2 and J-3 designs were also pod-and-boom pushers, though with different tails. Designed to be

homebuilt Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft ...

from a kit, the J-5's structure is almost entirely of

glassfibre Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

and

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or Curing (chemistry), cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional ...

. The wings are set at the top of the boom as it merges into the pod containing the engine and cockpit. They have an aspect ratio of about 10 and constant chord, with

flaperons A flaperon (a portmanteau of flap and aileron) on an aircraft's wing is a type of control surface that combines the functions of both flaps and ailerons. Some smaller kitplanes have flaperons for reasons of simplicity of manufacture, while ...

, formed with glassfibre and

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

, along the whole of the trailing edge. The upper surfaces contain short spoilers at mid chord. The pusher engine, usually a 25 hp (18.6 kW) KFM 107ER two-cylinder horizontally-opposed two-stroke, is mounted on the upper rear of the pod. Some aircraft have been powered by a 45 hp (31 kW) Rotax 447UL two-cylinder inline two-stroke or a Hirth F23 boxer motor. Just forward is the long, curved canopy over the cockpit, which reaches almost to the nose. The Marco J-5 has

side-stick __NOTOC__ A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equipp ...

control and instruments mounted above one another on a central vertical panel. Aft of the pod the boom is slender and carries a large butterfly tail with full span control surfaces. Two undercarriage layouts are available, both using a trailing tailwheel. For optimum performance the Marco J-5 can be built with a glider-type retractable

monowheel A monowheel, or uniwheel, is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle similar to a unicycle. Hand-cranked and pedal-powered monowheels were patented and built in the late 19th century; most built in the 20th and 21st century have been motorized. ...

, using stabilizing wheels mounted in downturned trapezoidal wingtip extensions. Instead, a pair of fixed faired cantilever-mounted wheels sprung out from the fuselage pod can be used. The J-5 Marco first flew on 30 October 1983. The most likely last J-5 to be built is currently under construction in Germany.

Operational history

The kits for the J-5 Marco were originally produced at the Marko-Elektronic Factory in Lodz, Poland, where an aircraft branch was established for the purpose. By about 1990 this division was known as Alpha and relocated to Krakow. In the same year Aviation Farm Ltd in Poland bought a licence to produce assembled aircraft. Distribution agencies were established in Germany (Hewa-Technics, who produced both kits and complete aircraft) and in the USA (Alpha/USA). Six J-5 Marcos were registered in the US, one in the UK and eight in the rest of Europe (west of Russia). By 1996, Aviation Farm had delivered 20 complete aircraft and had another 29 on order. Alain Flottard's French registered J-5 ''F-WZUE'' set several FAI class C-1a/0 records in 1990-1, most of which still stand.

Variants

Aviation Farm marketed or planned two variants in addition to the mono- and conventional undercarriage versions noted above: ;J-5 BAL: Carrying a thermal imaging camera for military use. ;J-5 bis:48.5 kW (65 hp) Walter M202 two-stroke engine. ; BAE HERTI-D:A J-5 Marco was used by BAE Systems as the basis of this early

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

or drone. It was a standard monowheel J-5 with a small turbojet engine replacing the flat two-stroke. The canopy was replaced with a moulding of similar shape but with an engine air intake in its upper part. Later BAE UAVs were based on the larger J-6 Fregata.

Specifications

References

* {{Janowski aircraft 1980s Polish sport aircraft Motor gliders Aircraft first flown in 1983 Low-wing aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft V-tail aircraft