The Cosmic Wind has always been one of my favourite aircraft but I have never been able to discover the complete history of all 4 airframes.
The history of Ballerina and the rebuilt Ballerina II is pretty well known but I have never been able to find out much about the fate of Minnow and have never known much about Miss Cosmic Wind either.
Was the shoulder wing rebuild of Minnow actually the fourth airframe known as Miss Cosmic Wind or were all four airframes originally fairly identical low wingers.
I am also puzzled by the identity of Slick which finished 3rd in the 1947 Goodyear Trophy.
I also read years ago in Pilot Magazine that Filly (G-BAER) incorporates parts of Minnow – Is this correct?
Any info on the above and any of the Cosmic Wind airframes in general would be greatly appreciated.
By: WJ244 - 15th November 2009 at 22:31
Little Toni has a fairly straightforward history as does Ballerina although Ballerina has had a rather chaotic life at times.
The Chino airframe is Miss Cosmic Wind whiich has a shoulder wing and her history was part of the mystery as at one time this airframe probably incorporated the wing from Minnow. The history and final fate of Minnow appears to be linked to the history of Filly which was built by Robin Voice in England.
I think I have most of the history pretty much straightened out now but there are a few areas connected with the period when Milton Blair owned Cosmic Wind airframes and parts which may never be completely confirmed.
By: ZRX61 - 13th November 2009 at 20:10
Isn’t one of them at Chino? Sure I saw one someplace this year…
By: Arabella-Cox - 13th November 2009 at 18:17
You don’t mention Little Toni which was in the UK for some years.
There are also some good stories from the pen of Neil Williams who flew airshows and aerobatic competitions in Ballerina
By: WJ244 - 13th November 2009 at 17:36
I know I posted this a long time ago but as a result of this thread I was contacted recently by the current owner of G-BAER Filly which is now under rebuild to fly again. He gave me some names of people involved in the later history of the Cosmic Winds and further websearches led me to a US forum where I got enough contacts to piece together most of the history I wanted.
It just proves what a great and widely read forum we have. Even though I didn’t get a direct response from the forum it did produce a lead to solve most of a mystery which had puzzled me for years.
By: WJ244 - 10th February 2008 at 17:30
Hope no one minds if I revive this one. Hoping there is someone out there who can help solve this mystery which has puzzled me for years now. Thanks
By: WJ244 - 25th November 2007 at 13:46
Thanks for the post but I had already found that article. What I can’t work out is which aircraft was named Slick. I suspect it was actually Minnow but I am not 100% sure.
While both articles I have found on the web and the Charles Mendenhall book The Air Racer give a fair bit of information I have yet to find anything which gives the full story of Minnow and Miss Cosmic Wind (the last one built by Le Vier Associates) nor have I been able to work out exactly how Filly (G-BAER) fits in.
By: wieesso - 24th November 2007 at 23:31
The Goodyear Trophy 1947
‘Third place was taken by Herman Salmon in the Cosmic Wind plane “Slick” (race number 10) with a speed of 158.8 mph (256 km/h). The Cosmic Wind was entirely constructed of metal. It was designed and built by a group of Lockheed employees, which included the famous test pilots Herman Salmon and Tony LeVier.’
http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2000/10/stuff_eng_bruun_goodyear.htm
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November 24, 2007 at 11:02 pm