The Rowley P-40F was an American

homebuilt 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 ...

that was designed by Richard J Rowley and marketed by his company 76th Fighter Squadron Inc, of Meadow Lake Airport, Colorado, first flown in 1986. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 250. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. The Rowley P-40F was a 3/4 scale replica of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

. The company, 76th Fighter Squadron Inc, was named for the 76th Fighter Squadron, formerly a

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

unit flying P-40s.

Design and development

The P-40F featured a cantilever low wing, a single-seat enclosed cockpit under a sliding canopy,

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

. The aircraft was capable of

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 "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

. The aircraft

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was made from welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common va ...

tubing, covered in sheet 2024-T3 aluminum. The span wings were made with a

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

wood box spar, with an aluminum front shear and had a wing area of . The acceptable power range was and the original engine used was a 2si 808, later replaced with a

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 Prod ...

powerplant. The P-40F prototype had an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for the pilot and baggage was . The standard day, sea level, no-wind takeoff with a engine was and the landing roll was .

Operational history

On Sunday, 2 July 2000 in

Peyton, Colorado Peyton is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Peyton po ...

the prototype and sole example, registered N42915, crashed, killing the designer/builder of the aircraft. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

summarized the events: "The pilot was performing a low fly-by over runway 33, and as the airplane reached the departure end, the engine lost power. Witnesses said that the pilot made a left turn back towards runway 15. Subsequently the airplane hit wires, impacted terrain, cart wheeled, came to rest against a transmission pole, and burned. Post accident examination of the engine revealed that the gear reduction assembly had failed. The pilot had designed and built the airplane in 1986." The NTSB assigned cause factors: "the pilot's inadequate decision to turn back (low altitude) towards the runway for a forced landing. A contributing factor was the total loss of engine power due to a reduction gear failure." The sole example's

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

registration in the United States expired on 30 September 2013.

Specifications (P-40F)

References

External links

Photo of the sole Rowley P-40F
{{Aerobatics P-40F 1980s United States sport aircraft 1980s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aerobatic aircraft Replica aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1986

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (P-40F)

See also

References

External links