The Rollason Beta was a British midget racing monoplane developed from a competition to build a
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
air racer in the 1960s in England.
[Jackson 1988, p.288] The Beta was first flown on 21 April 1967. The aircraft were successful air-racers in England during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Development
The Beta was designed by the Luton Group (who were young technicians employed by the
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric, English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs, Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane ...
at Luton)
in a competition to design a racing aircraft, the Rollason Midget Racer Design Competition 1964.
The Beta is a fully aerobatic wooden low-wing cantilever monoplane with a cantilever tailplane with a single fin and rudder, powered by a Continental engine of between 65 and 100 hp. It has a fixed-tailwheel landing gear and an enclosed cockpit for the pilot. The original prototype Luton Beta was not completed.
The design was built commercially by
Rollason Aircraft and Engines who made 4 aircraft at Redhill between 1967 and 1971.
[Jones 2002, p.7] Plans were also available for homebuilding; although 55 sets of drawings had been sold by early 1974, five aircraft have been registered but just three aircraft are known to have been completed, all in the UK.
Operational history
The first Rollason-built Beta (registered G-ATLY and named ''Forerunner'') won the Manx Air Derby in 1969 and the second Rollason-built aircraft (registered G-AWHV and named ''Blue Chip'') won the Goodyear Trophy air race at
Halfpenny Green in 1969.
G-ATLY was written off in an aerial collision with a Tiger Moth at Nottingham on 29 September 1973, killing the pilot,
G-AWHV was destroyed by fire in 1995
and G-AWHW crashed on 17 December 1987 at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, killing the pilot.
Variants
;B.1
:Powered by a 65hp
Continental A65
The Continental O-170 engine is the collective military designation for a family of small aircraft engines, known under the company designation of A50, A65, A75 and A80. The line was designed and built by Teledyne Continental Motors, Continental ...
engine, one built by Rollason later converted to B.2
;B.2
:Powered by a 90hp
Continental C90
The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in3 (3.29 L) displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower (67 and 75 kW).''Federal Aviation Admini ...
engine, one by Rollason and one conversion from B.1
;B.2A
:As B.2, but with steel sprung undercarriage,
two built by Rollason
;B.4
:Powered by a 100hp
Rolls-Royce Continental O-200-A engine, none built.
Specifications (Beta B.2)
References
Bibliography
*
Flight International 19 October 1967*
*
*
External links
{{commons category
Rollason Beta– British Aircraft Directory
1960s British sport aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1967