A W Siskin again

Steven–

Hee hee hee (or should that be “hoah hoah hoah!”)…

Depends how you look at it. Both sides of my family are Norman-descended English; so, if you take me as Canadian presently, and my ancestry pre-1066 as French…then yep, I’m French Canadian.:rolleyes:

Those drawings are certainly interesting, and look like they’d be of use at the very least for establishing the geometry of a newbuild tube fuselage core for a Siskin. Hmmm. John Fairey did successfully reincarnate the extinct Flycatcher, didn’t he? And if there’s more than the one wing, for potential use as a pattern…hmmm…

S.

Siskins…Being Canadian I have a fondness for this big boxy bipe

You must be French Canadian….. 😉

(I like Siskins too, but because I built a model of one when I was a kid growing up in Australia)

Many years ago the “other” monthly mag ran a series of “blue-prints” for various classic types & the Siskin was one of those featured. It had some scrap views of fuselage joints and a cocpit layout diagram.

I have also loved these aircraft for years and would love to see one either static or even better flying!
I thought I had heard that a flying one wouldn’t be allowed in the UK due to the style of construction wood/metal/fabric. I’d love to be wrong on that.

Siskin Blueprint

This was given to me some time ago, apologies for the poor photographs, i’m pushed for time. Hope this is of some interest.

Dean

Siskin drawings

There was a chap in Warwickshire I used to have contact with, who was musing about building a Siskin replica. He was a former AWA apprentice and a pretty good engineer who fancied more of a challenge having rebuilt a couple of pre war classic cars.
He did manage to obtain a quantity of Siskin drawings through a contact with the Woodhams family, however on inspection they all appeared to be various GA and three view drawings rather than detailed construction plans.
He also obtained a number of other AWA related atrifacts all of which made me somewhat green with envy.
Sadly not seen him for a few years now, but would love to think all this material ends up in a good home !

In terms of remains, there are at least three top wings in existance, one at the Midland Air Museum on display and a further two in store at the RAFM store at Stafford.

Siskins…Being Canadian I have a fondness for this big boxy bipe–surely the esthetic antithesis of something like a Hawker Fury–since the Siskin IIIA was the RCAF’s first fighter type, serving in Canada from 1928-39. We could’ve preserved one, but sadly didn’t think to…there was supposedly a dilapidated Siskin airframe stored in the Kingston (Ontario) armoury as late as the second half of World War II. I think the wing frame held by one of the UK museums (Hendon?) is the only substantial Siskin “bit” left…

Re AW drawings, since AW up and junked the Scimitar prototype (Siskin descendant) in the late fifties, I’d tend not to be optimistic about prewar engineering drawings having survived, but it would be nice to be wrong. CAvM at Rockcliffe, and/or NMRCAF at Trenton, would love to be able to exhibit the Siskin, even in faithful-replica form.

But I think there’s a more expeditious way to arrive at something with the look and feel of a Siskin. A while ago I ran across a pulled-apart Schweizer AgCat fuselage in a storage yard. My mind wandered a bit and I found the AgCat’s stocky proportions and big uncowled radial (a P&W R985) reminding me of…a Siskin! Later I sketched up a rough GA diagram of a Siskin replica built around the core structure of an AgCat fuselage. The size and proportions (excepting the wing cellule, of course, which would be all-new-built anyway) worked out surprisingly well. Tried selling the idea to a pilot and Warbird buff friend of mine in the States, but no dice. (Yet.) :rolleyes:

Would be interested to hear more Siskin musings!

S.

…rather than the Olympuses, eh…

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.:D

Back to Siskins in a sec…

Plus the fact that I heard a lot of Lottery money is going towards funding the Olympics

Roger Smith.

Any drawings exist for the REALLY early types? I mean the AW stuff that was built and flown from West Moor, Newcastle….

Cees, you need a Jaguar for the Siskin, not a Jupiter.

Cheers

John

Cees – I think this might not be the right moment to mention money and aircraft to the lottery!