replica Bugatti 100p crash

[tmetal]

a little over a week ago; the only bugatti 100p to ever take to the air (replica or not) crashed shortly after take off; killing the pilot and project lead, Scotty Wilson as well as destroying the plane.

http://www.flyingmag.com/pilot-killed-in-crash-bugatti-100p-replica

For those not familiar with the 100p, it was Bugatti's one and only airplane design that made it off of the drawing board and into the real world, however the German invasion of France forced Bugatti to stash the plane in a barn out in the French countryside before it was ever test flown.  It wasn't until the 1970's that the original plane was discovered and now resides in the EAA museum at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.



Blue skies and tail winds Mr. Wilson

[DaveBB]

I read an article that said the plane took off, went into a left hand descending turn and never pulled out of it.  I wonder what could have caused it? It had to have been some kind of control problem. 

[icepac]

I'm not sure that plane had enough power and that a steep banking turn while maintaining altitude slowed him down too much...........or one of the engines had issues.

[tmetal]

From the article I linked in my first post:

"Video of the takeoff showed the airplane struggling to gain altitude before it turned sharply left and crashed in a fireball in a field near the airport."

faultering engine after starting the take off roll and the pilot decided he didn't have enough runway left to stop so he went for the "go around"?  Just my uneducated guess, which is all we can do right now anyway.

[GScholz]

Tragic on so many levels.

[Devil 505]

Unfortunate loss of the plane, tragic loss of the pilot.

[pembquist]

Reminds me of the H1, can't argue with a man following their passion even if it doesn't end well.

[Oldman731]

From the article I linked in my first post:

"Video of the takeoff showed the airplane struggling to gain altitude before it turned sharply left and crashed in a fireball in a field near the airport."

faultering engine after starting the take off roll and the pilot decided he didn't have enough runway left to stop so he went for the "go around"?  Just my uneducated guess, which is all we can do right now anyway.

I expect that was a stall.

- oldman

[icepac]

It seems it was a good handling plane from the first 2 flights but I think having 1/2 the horsepower of the original might have been it's undoing.

Those high revving engines only make big HP up top while the original engines made thier rated hp at low rpms.

[MiloMorai]

original
Powerplant: 2 × Bugatti Type 50P Straight 8 4.9L, 340 kW (450 hp) each

replica
Powerplant: 2 Suzuki Haybusa

seems it was underpowered.

[GScholz]

First flight.

[GScholz]

Second flight. Doesn't look under powered to me. Remember this replica was much lighter than the original from using modern materials.

[MiloMorai]

Second flight. Doesn't look under powered to me. Remember this replica was much lighter than the original from using modern materials.

Two engines probably in the replica put out as much power as one engine in the original. Loose an engine and now the replica is down to 1/4 power of the orginal.

[Mister Fork]

What I cannot find on this replica is what kind of testing they did to ensure that the aircraft was of sound design.  Now a days, all aircraft designs are wind tunnel tested with a small replica first ensure that it had positive or a least neutral stability  or at least simulated on a computer.

We have all seen the videos of the late 40s and early 50s a variety of aircraft designs not able to get off the ground properly because they did not do windtunnel testing and crash.

It looked like a beautiful plane

[tmetal]

it certainly doesn't qualify as official proof but... 

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,309351.msg4013103.html#msg4013103

12th post in the linked thread has one of the project builders (yeti) briefly discussing small scale wind tunnel testing. 

"There have been various scaled models made and wind tunnel tested, and whilst the results showed some instability in a couple of axis, there didn't seem to be much of a worry regarding twisting. If you could see how the spars have been built up, you would believe there is almost no chance of them twisting, but the thing is we will not know until we fly her in the summer. There are some good pics showing construction on the website -  page 2 of our gallery page "