The ''Starr Bumble Bee II'' is an experimental aircraft designed and built specifically to acquire the title of "The World’s Smallest Airplane".
Design and development
The Bumble Bee II was designed and built by
Robert H. Starr in Phoenix, Arizona with the intent of breaking the record for the world's smallest biplane.
Before building the ''Bumble Bee II'', Starr had been deeply involved with the development of previous aircraft holding the title of "world's smallest airplane". His own plane, the ''Bumble Bee I'', had lost the record to an aircraft called the ''
Stits DS-1 Baby Bird
The Stits DS-1 Baby Bird is a homebuilt aircraft built to achieve a "world's smallest" status. The Baby Bird is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Smallest Airplane in the World.” as of 1984. The title was later defined as "world's ...
'', until the ''Bumble Bee II'' flew and regained the Guinness record. The design of the ''Bumble Bee II'' was similar to Starr's original ''Bumble Bee I.'' Both aircraft were biplanes with negative staggered, cantilevered wings and conventional landing gear.
However, the ''Bumble Bee II'' was smaller and lighter
with a fuselage constructed of welded steel tubing covered by sheet metal, and wings covered in aircraft plywood.
The power plant was a Continental C85 4-cylinder air-cooled horizontally opposed cylinder engine (Boxer Motor) that produced .
The upper wings had flaps while the lower wings had ailerons. All wing air-frame structures were equipped with
tip plates to enhance the lift coefficient. The airplane had a small cockpit with the rudder pedals located under the engine compartment toward the front of the cowling.
Operational history
The ''Bumble Bee II'' was flown on April 2, 1988, at
Marana Marana may refer to:
* Maraña, a village in León, Spain
* Maraṇa, the Pali/Sanskrit term for death
* Marana, Arizona
Marana () is a List of municipalities in Arizona, town that mostly lies in Pima County, Arizona, Pima County with a smal ...
Airport
just outside of Tucson, Arizona to achieve the world record for the smallest piloted airplane. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the ''Bumble Bee II'' crashed and was destroyed during its 3rd flight on May 5, 1988.
At 400 feet of altitude,
the engine failed on a down-wind leg.
The crash destroyed the ''Bumble Bee II'' and severely injured Robert Starr,
who made a full recovery.
Aircraft on public display
The ''Bumble Bee I'' is on public display at the
Pima Air & Space Museum
The Pima Air & Space Museum is an aerospace museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over on a campus occupying . It has also been the home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991.
Overv ...
.
Naming
Starr named the aircraft in reference to an urban legend which states that according to standard aerodynamics, bumble bees do not have enough wing area to fly. Engineers and pilots had made a similar statement about Starr's ''Bumble Bee I and II'', yet both flew.
Specifications
References
External links
{{Commons category
Flight test video
1980s United States sport aircraft
Biplanes with negative stagger
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1988
Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear
Buble Bee II
T-tail aircraft
Single-engined piston aircraft