Steen Skybolt

{{Infobox aircraft begin

| name=Steen Skybolt

| image=Steen Skybolt 300 (1).jpg

| caption=

}}{{Infobox aircraft type

| type=Aerobatic biplane

| national origin=United States

| manufacturer=Steen Aero Lab Inc

| designer=Lamar Steen

| first flight=October 1970

| introduced=

| retired=

| status=Plans available

| primary user=private owner pilots

| number built=over 400

| developed from=

| variants with their own articles=Starfire Firebolt

}}

The Steen Skybolt is an American homebuilt aerobatic biplane. Designed by teacher Lamar Steen as a high school engineering project, the prototype first flew in October 1970.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 121. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16, page 128. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. {{ISSN|1368-485X}}

File:Steen Skybolt I ps-Lightroom-1.jpg

File:Steen Skybolt cockpit (G-ENGO) at Cotswold Airport England 29Sept2018 arp.jpg

Design and development

The aircraft has a classic structure consisting of a welded tube fuselage and wooden wings, all fabric covered. It is a tandem open-cockpit two-seat biplane and is stressed for normal aerobatics. The cockpits are frequently constructed as a single tandem cabin with an enclosing bubble canopy. Some aerobatic competition aircraft are built as single seaters with the front cockpit closed off.

File:The Original Steen Hale Wallace Skybolt named Yellow Bird.jpg

thumb

The original Skybolt had a {{convert|180|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Lycoming HO-360-B1B engine, but powerplants of {{convert|150|to|260|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} can be installed.Simpson, 2001 p.521

Operational history

The Skybolt has become popular as an amateur-built sporting biplane, with over 400 aircraft having been completed from construction plans sold in over 29 countries. A Skybolt won the Reserve Grand Champion Custom Built for 1979 at the Experimental Aircraft Association airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin.Sport Aviation, Oct 1979, page 71 Sixteen examples were registered in the United Kingdom in January 2009.Pither, 2009, p.650

Variants

File:SteenFirebolt.jpg

;Skybolt (S)

:The standard Skybolt as originally released for home-building{{cite web|url=http://www.steenaero.com/Skybolt/|title=Steen Aero Lab|last=Whaley|first=Mike|accessdate=25 August 2011|location=USA| website=steenaero.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210413165557/http://www.steenaero.com/Skybolt/|archive-date= 13 April 2021|url-status= live}}

;Skybolt (D)

:A revised structure and capability to have engines from {{convert|180|to|350|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} fitted.

;Skybolt (R)

:A radial engined derivative, with revised fuselage plus the improved structure of the (D), fitted with either a {{convert|360|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Vedeneyev M14P or a {{convert|400|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Vedeneyev M14PF nine-cylinder radial.

;Skybolt 300

:A derivative of the Skybolt fitted with a {{convert|300|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} engine.

;Super Skybolt

:A two seater version created by John Shipler by amalgamating a Pitts S-2 with a Skybolt, the prototype of which is named Storm Warning.

;Starfire Firebolt

:A development of the Skybolt with a {{convert|300|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Lycoming IO-540 powerplant that gives a cruise speed of {{convert|202|mph|km/h|0|abbr=on}} and an initial climb rate of 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s).Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 257. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. {{ISBN|0-9636409-4-1}}{{cite journal|journal=Sport Aerobatics|date=October 2007|title=This One is for George…Firebolt N4GW is a flying tribute to friendship}}

Specifications (Skybolt (D))

File:Steen Skybolt C-FSOJ 01.JPG

File:Experimental homebuild aircraft Steen Skybolt D-ERCL and D-EHHH.jpg

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=Simpson 2001

|prime units?=imp

|genhide=

|crew=one

|capacity=one passenger

|length m=

|length ft=19

|length in=0

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|height ft=7

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|empty weight kg=

|empty weight lb=1080

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|max takeoff weight kg=

|max takeoff weight lb=1650

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|more general=

|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Lycoming HO-360-B1B

|eng1 type=piston

|eng1 kw=

|eng1 hp=180

|eng1 kn=

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|perfhide=

|max speed kmh=

|max speed mph=145

|max speed kts=

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|max speed mach=

|cruise speed kmh=

|cruise speed mph=130

|cruise speed kts=

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|stall speed kmh=

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|range km=

|range miles=450

|range nmi=

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|endurance=

|ceiling m=

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|g limits=

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|glide ratio=

|climb rate ms=

|climb rate ftmin=2500

|climb rate note=

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|wing loading kg/m2=

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}}

Notes

References

{{cite book|last=Pither|first=Tony|title=Civil Aircraft Registers of the United Kingdom|year=2009|publisher=Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd|isbn=978-0-85130-415-1}}
{{cite book|last=Simpson|first=Rod|title=Airlife's World Aircraft|year=2001|publisher=Airlife Publishing Ltd|isbn=1-84037-115-3}}