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#21
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BD-5 historical questions
"Peter Dohm" wrote That article is a genuine *must read* for anyone interested in alternative power! Although not stated, some of the issues discussed go far toward understanding some of the risks associated with shortened and/or repitched propellers on certified engines. Thanks for posting an outstanding link. It has been awhile since I read that, but it is a good one. I wonder if that guy asking about a shaft driven system a couple weeks ago is still reading the group. I have a feeling his eyes would pop out, like Burt's almost did right before he left Bede. -- Jim in NC |
#22
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BD-5 historical questions
"Maury Markowitz" wrote in message oups.com... Please coordinate any modification of the Wikipedia article on the BD-5 with me, if nothing else to make sure it's as complete as possible. As has been mentioned here, there are few people who know as much about the BD-5 as I do, and I can point you to people who can give you any info I cannot provide for you. You're going to get a lot of misinformation in this newsgroup from people who know next to nothing about the aircraft and are only interested in advancing personal agendas. You choose what you want to believe, of course, but there is only one comprehensive source of BD-5 information on the Internet, that's my site and my mailing list. You can get the BD-5 story straight from the horse's mouth at , but here are my answers to your questions: 1) when was the -5 first announced? 68 seems to be the number, but I've seen 69 and 71 as well. The all-metal version of the BD-5 was announced to the public on September 1971. There was a composite, v-tailed prototype in the late 60's. The switch to all-metal was done mostly for manufacturing reasons. 2) what was the original planned ship date? May 24, 1972. 3) can someone give me a rundown of the engine models? I seem to remember the article mentioning a version of the VW bug motor being used, possibly as an option? Kiekhaefer Aeromarine was the first engine. There were a few more, including Hirths and finally the Zenoah, which fell through when the lawyers and insurance company told the manufacturer that all engines (for exp and the certified BD-5D) had to be manufactured and tested to the certified standard. I had my doubts about that but have since confirmed it independently. Since then a large number of engines have been tried... Honda EB-1 and EB-2, turbo and normally aspirated, Rotax 532 up to the 618, various Hirths, VW's, Subaru EA-71 (?) and EA-81, Solar T-62 and variants, AMW, 2SI, Kawasaki 90hp (of which a model was available specifically for the BD-5), Mazda Rotary (though never truly successfully because of cooling issues), Yamaha 1100cc, Suzuki 3- and 4-cylinder, Mercury Marine, Propower, Honda CRX, Motogucci, Microturbo, Williams, Turbomeca, BMW, KFM, OMV, Hawk, Norton Rotary, "Polaris" (I think that's the Rotax out of the jet ski), NSU, Powersports, LATF, JFS-100, Lycoming (successfully!), Rotapower, Allison 250 and a few others I probably haven't heard about. 4) what was the problem with the original V tail? I believe the magazine article I read referred to the V-tail version AS the A and B (with the wings changed, as in the later A/B), is this correct? ... and at what point did they change it to the later design? The A is the 14 ft wingspan, the B is the 21 ft wingspan. As to the v-tail, this was posted on our mailing list: "...(Bede) had trouble with the V tail design being too small/ineffective, so he went to a conventional design with swept plan-form but it too was too small/ineffective. The swept tailplane did not generate enough down force for such a short tail moment, not to mention during high AOA it was blanketed by the wake from the wing, thus the larger unswept tail evolved." 5) am I right in reading that the BD-5D was a pre-built FAR'ed version of the kit? ...if so when did these plans start? ... and was Rutan brought in specifically for this part of the project? The BD-5D was to be the certified version, it was fairly well advanced into the certification process when the company folded. In June 1976, Dan Coen, who was brought in from Gates Learjet to head the certification program, produced a report for the newsletter on the status of certification. It is available he http://www.bd5.com/bdn760514.htm Rutan was brought in from McDonnel & civilian aerodynamics contractor status on Phantom F4 Wild Weasel conformance packs into the BD-5. Rutan was brought in to help iron out issues that the flight test program uncovered with the design, and he also participated in the certification effort. 6) when did work on the BD-5J start? ... was this primarily Rutan's work? Probably in 1973, when Microturbo made available the TRS-18 turbojet. It could be earlier, I don't have a specific date, and no, it was not primarily Rutan's work. He did work on it to help work out the kinks and made some design changes to handle higher airspeeds with the associated increase in loads, etc. 7) when did the kits actually start shipping? Yes, even in partial form... June 1972 is the date I have. They missed the schedule because of warehouse problems. I restored kit #22 (it is now in Spain and flying) and confirmed that with paperwork that came with the aircraft's documentation. 8) I have come across a claim about something like a one-crash-per-flight-hour figure. The claim is flat wrong. Just one Honda powered BD-5B in Canada had over 800 hours before it lost the throttle cable connection and unfortunately had to set down in a raspberry patch. The pilot walked away and is finishing his new aircraft. Bobby Bishop has close to 2,000 hours on the jets and flies damn near all the time for the military as prime contractor to all the services for surrogate cruise missile services. 9) were the deposits supposedly placed in escrow? Yes, and it was mostly swallowed up by the creditors after the company folded. 10) I have seen conflicting claims about the "completeness" of the kits as received. Some suggest it was just the drivetrain missing, others that large parts of the kit were missing. Most kits were shipped with everything except the drive system, drive shaft and prop, and the engine, of course. 11) The magazine article claimed a 210 mph cruise (max?) for the A model. I realize that it will be difficult to compare, but what sorts of speeds do people get with the B's with the larger (Honda typically) engines? Vne is 300 mph for all the models. The current world record holder for speed in the FAI 300kg class is Peter Schichenberger of Austria in a BD-5A (registered OE-CHM) with a Rotax 618 engine rated at 74hp and A wings (even though it is listed as BD-5B on the FAI web site, the wings can be interchanged in 10 minutes at most). The speed over a straight 3 km course at restricted altitude was measured at 351.39 km/h (just over 218 mph). 200 mph cruise with Turbo Honda is normal, but ONLY if you have the right cruise prop, or a variable pitch prop like the Quantum that BD Micro sells, and a clean, properly designed cooling intake. I know owners who regularly cruise at 180 mph with a Rotax 582. You can email me at bd5 at bd5 dot com If you have any further questions. My web site is full of historical info, www.bd5.com, and the BD-5 mailing list has 20,500 messages on the YahooGroups service (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bd5) and counts among its members Jim Bede and a number of the original Bede Aircraft Corp crew. Can't get any closer to the source than that. Juan |
#23
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BD-5 historical questions
Yes, BD-5S, it was a real dog.
"Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired" wrote in message news:Tcvlf.49375$sg5.29515@dukeread12... Wasn't there also a glider version? Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired |
#24
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BD-5 historical questions
"COLIN LAMB" wrote in message k.net... Wasn't there also a glider version? You are trying to pull something out of dormant memory cells. I vaguely recall a BD flyer that talked about a glider version - during the "extension" period. But, the B version wings may actually have been the glider version. Fact and fiction were often intermixed. Sorry, but that's incorrect. http://www.bd5.com/bd5sroll.jpg Bede was simply in the wrong field. He should have been a computer software guy, where it is now called vaporware. That's wrong too. http://www.bd5.com/bdbach.htm |
#25
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BD-5 historical questions
On Sun, 18 Dec 2005 08:26:12 -0400, "Juan Jimenez"
wrote: "Maury Markowitz" wrote in message roups.com... 9) were the deposits supposedly placed in escrow? Yes, and it was mostly swallowed up by the creditors after the company folded. The key word there is "supposedly". Proper definition of "escrow": es·crow n. Money, property, a deed, or a bond put into the custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified. I'm guessing that *your* definition is different, and subject to change if for example your own money was on the line buying a home. I'd like to see a BD5 "escrow" agreement which allowed anything other than return of deposits once it was clear that buyers wouldn't be getting what they'd ordered. To the OP: you'd be wise to take anything Juan writes with a grain of salt. Wayne |
#26
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BD-5 historical questions
Escrow funds cannot be swallowed up by creditors after a company folds,
or declares bankruptcy. 9) were the deposits supposedly placed in escrow? Yes, and it was mostly swallowed up by the creditors after the company folded. |
#27
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BD-5 historical questions
Not nearly as black and white as you think, particularly when you consider
that those people who placed deposits received substantially what they ordered (the kits). The BD-5D deposits are another story, I don't know what happened to those. Nevertheless, the implication is that Jim Bede stole the escrows. He did not. He came out of the bankruptcy damn near penniless. The company may not have been managed as well as it should have, but there is zero evidence anyone's money was stolen. It's that simple. "Huh?" wrote in message news:WOKpf.656833$xm3.82164@attbi_s21... Escrow funds cannot be swallowed up by creditors after a company folds, or declares bankruptcy. 9) were the deposits supposedly placed in escrow? Yes, and it was mostly swallowed up by the creditors after the company folded. |
#28
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BD-5 historical questions
On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 08:34:23 -0400, "Juan Jimenez"
wrote: The BD-5D deposits are another story, I don't know what happened to those. Nevertheless, the implication is that Jim Bede stole the escrows. He did not. He came out of the bankruptcy damn near penniless. The company may not have been managed as well as it should have, but there is zero evidence anyone's money was stolen. It's that simple. I don't understand. You say there is zero evidence that the money was stolen, but it did get gone, right? Where did it go? If it disappeared, isn't that prima faci evidence that "anyone's money was stolen"? Could it in fact be that simple? Corky Scott |
#29
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BD-5 historical questions
I don't understand. You say there is zero evidence that the money was stolen, but it did get gone, right? Where did it go? If it disappeared, isn't that prima faci evidence that "anyone's money was stolen"? Could it in fact be that simple? Corky Scott By that logic, every company that's ever gone bankrupt did so because money was stolen. That's just not so. As far as the integrity of Jim Bede, consider the BD-4, and you come to an entirely different conclusion. The BD-4 may be the best bang for the buck in a 4 place homebuilt ever offered. Still going strong 30 years later. Ron Webb |
#30
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BD-5 historical questions
Juan Jimenez wrote: Not nearly as black and white as you think, particularly when you consider that those people who placed deposits received substantially what they ordered (the kits). The BD-5D deposits are another story, I don't know what happened to those. Nevertheless, the implication is that Jim Bede stole the escrows. He did not. He came out of the bankruptcy damn near penniless. The company may not have been managed as well as it should have, but there is zero evidence anyone's money was stolen. It's that simple. Escrows are VERY, VERY, VERY black and white! It is possible that the terms of the escrow didn't adequately protect the consumer, but escrows are very black and white. This is one area of law that is pretty damn straightforward. The fact that Bede came out of bankruptcy "damn near penniless" is immaterial in evaluating whether customers were treated fairly. When companies go out of business, people suffer. It is unfortunate that most companies continue to receive merchandise from vendors and money from customers long after the decision to close the doors is made. The fact that there is "zero evidence anyone's money was stolen" means little when there is zero evidence that Bede was honest, either. Normally, there is presumption of innocence, but when customers do not receive goods they payed for, the needle starts to swing in the other direction. |
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