The Blue Yonder Merlin is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-designed and -built two-seat, high-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 planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

with

taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms ...

undercarriage. It can be built as a basic ultra-light, an advanced ultra-light or

amateur-built aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

.Hunt, Adam: ''Merlin Magic'',

COPA Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

Flight publication, page C-1, February 2005Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 43. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851

Design and development

The Merlin was designed in 1986 by John Burch, who intended to use it in his flight training school. Burch was disappointed with the early ultralights available, in particular their inability to take off and land in crosswinds. The aircraft wing was inspired by the

Lazair The UltraFlight Lazair is a family of Canadian designed and built twin-engine ultralight aircraft that were sold in kit form between 1979 and 1984. It was one of the first twin-engined ultralights. More Lazairs have been registered in ...

's wing and used the same

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

"D" cell and foam rib construction techniques and constant-tapered wing planform. The first example flew in 1987.Armstrong, Kenneth: ''Choosing Your Homebuilt - the one you will finish and fly! Second Edition'', page 195-201. Butterfield Press, 1993. The Merlin won the Pilot's Choice Award as Best Ultralight at the Aircraft Sport Expo in 1988. Burch formed

Macair Industries MacAir Airlines Pty Ltd was a regional airline based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It operated scheduled passenger services throughout Queensland from major regional locations, as well as regular and ad hoc charters for the minerals i ...

Baldwin, Ontario Baldwin ( 2016 population 620) is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located in Sudbury District north of Espanola, the township's two main communities and population centres are McKerrow and Lorne. The junction of Ontario Highway ...

to produce the aircraft. Initially there were two versions: the Merlin M50 powered by the

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the R ...

two-stroke powerplant and the Merlin GT and Sport 65 version powered by the

Rotax 532 The Rotax 532 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary valve engine, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive engine that was formerly manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It was designed for use on ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF cata ...

and later

582 __NOTOC__ Year 582 ( DLXXXII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 582 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

. The Honda-based

CAM 100 The Firewall Forward CAM 100 is a four-cylinder, four-stroke liquid-cooled piston aircraft engine built by Firewall Forward Aero Engines. Originally designed and built by Canadian Airmotive as the CAM 100 and later marketed by The Cam-Fire Engi ...

engine was also available as an option. In 1991 Burch moved production of the Merlin to

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, USA under a new company name,

Malcolm Aircraft Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld Nobility * Máel C ...

. Within a short time that company went out of business and the Merlin was picked up by a new company in 1993 operating under the name of

Merlin Aircraft Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

who marketed the Merlin GT. After three years the company ceased business and the rights to the design were acquired by

Blue Yonder Aviation Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

of Indus, Alberta who continue to produce kits. Marketing in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

was conducted by Aerocomp (now Comp Air) for some time, but this arrangement has been ended. Blue Yonder's current model is the Merlin EZ which has an option of engines: the Rotax 582 of , the

Rotax 912UL The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, lat ...

with and the 912ULS with . The

Rotax 618 The Rotax 618 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, liquid cooled, gear reduction-drive engine that was formerly manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It was designed for use on ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catalog'', pages 6-105. ...

two-stroke powerplant of was an option until that engine was discontinued by

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Produ ...

. The Merlin was used as the testbed aircraft for development of the

Hexadyne P60 The Hexadyne P60 is an American aircraft engine, designed and produced by Hexatron Engineering of Salt Lake City, Utah for use in ultralight and homebuilt aircraft.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation ...

engine. The Merlin EZ uses the same foam-rib construction as previous models, but with a constant-

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

wing with a

Clark Y Clark Y is the name of a particular airfoil profile, widely used in general purpose aircraft designs, and much studied in aerodynamics over the years. The profile was designed in 1922 by Virginius E. Clark using thickness distribution of the German ...

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or tur ...

replacing the previously tapered wing. The fuselage is of 4130 welded steel tube construction, covered in aircraft fabric. The factory estimates build times at 350–450 hours of labour.

Merlin Manufacturers

Blue Yonder is the fourth manufacturer of the Merlin design. Companies who have built the Merlin were:

Variants

;Merlin M50 :Initial model, tapered wings, powered by a

engine ;Merlin GT/Sport 65 :Initial model, tapered wings, powered by a

and later by a

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operati ...

enginePurdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 93. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ;Merlin EZ :Current model, constant chord wings, powered by a

Rotax 912ULS The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, lat ...

;Merlin TG :

Tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ...

model, constant chord wings, powered by a

Specifications (Merlin EZ Rotax 912ULS)

References

External links

Blue Yonder Aviation
{{Uncertified aircraft developed in Canada

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

1980s Canadian ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft