The Marquart MA-5 Charger is a

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 ...

two place

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

Design and development

The MA-5 Charger was designed and developed by Ed Marquart with the first prototype being built and flown by Daniel W. Fielder Jr. at

Flabob Airport Flabob Airport is a small public-use airport located in Jurupa Valley, California, United States, in Riverside County, seven nautical miles (11 km) northwest of the central business district of Jurupa Valley, California. Location and hist ...

. It is an all-new design based around Marquart's single place homebuilt biplane, the MA-4. The aircraft was designed to perform mild

aerobatics 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 "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glider ...

. Marquart sold plans for scratch building the aircraft, no kits were manufactured. For a number of years, Ken Brock offered kits of the metal brackets utilized in the construction of the Charger's wings and fuselage. The aircraft uses a welded steel tube fuselage with doped

aircraft fabric covering Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

. The wings use wooden

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

and

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi ...

. The biplane uses

conventional landing gear 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 Ter ...

and has two tandem open cockpits. The wings are constant chord and swept 10 degrees. The first prototype took seven years to build. Since Ed Marquart's death in 2007, the plans have been placed in the public domain, and are available as free PDF files via the Marquart Charger MA-5 website
marquartcharger.org
or the Charger groups on either Facebook or groups.io (formerly Yahoo).

Operational history

In 1982, Jim Smith's Marquart Charger won ''Grand Champion Plans-built Aircraft'' at the

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscons ...

airshow. In 1987, Remo Galeazzi's Marquart Charger won ''Grand Champion Plans-built Aircraft'' at the

airshow. In 1991, builder and pilot Dave Davidson became the oldest pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic in his Marquart Charger at the age of 70. The aircraft was retrofitted with two drop-tanks mounted between the landing gear. In 2009, Mark Gilmore's Marquart Charger won ''Grand Champion Plans-built Aircraft'' at the

airshow. In 2015, Ken Orloff's Marquart Charger won "Grand Champion Plans-built Aircraft" at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

Specifications (Marquart MA-5 Charger)

References

{{reflist Homebuilt aircraft