Napier Heston Racer

You mean the Richard Seeley/Ron Souch one that is a new one to me!

I hear that the Seeley / Souch Travel Air, Model “R” Mystery Ship G-TATR is going to move to Old Warden to live and fly in there Airshows, will look great with the Comet.;)

I hear the Mystery Ship is very nice. 🙂

I wonder who did the work on it? 😉

It would be great to see the Mystery ship flying from Old Warden with the Comet……………………..;)

Bombs Away.

They’ll be OK as long as they haven’t been moved to Lympne….;)

[QUOTE=civil aero;1986502]The 71 built by Ron Souch is now stored in his hanger roof.

Lets just hope the Germans don’t bomb the place :diablo:.

Bob T.

AFIK Mike built the DH71 as accurately as he could with the info available at the time, though I believe that he made the fuselage wider than the original at the cockpit, due to the lack of room on the originals. I seem to remember him saying that he was going to rebuild the fuselage, & make it a fair bit lighter.
No manufacturing drawings are known to exist for the DH71, so both Mike M, & Ron S, have built their replica’s using 3 view drawings & photo’s etc of the original aircraft. I believe that the structure of Ron’s DH71 is more accurate than Mike’s, as he found a bit more info on the originals, after Mike had built his one.

Bob T.

The 71 built by Ron Souch is now stored in his hanger roof. What news on the new build Mew Gull….I think it was painted red and gold…

That would be me

The reason I left the note about the Napier Heston Racer as a future post was that while I am in contact with the prospective builder, it is still at the planning and drawing phase.
The builder has currently collected all of the required wood, and has the vast majority of the drawings now completed, but has yet to start cutting wood.
They have collected a great deal of the required parts, and most importantly also have on hand a RR Griffon engine, in place of the next to impossible to source Napier Sabre Engine.
I would think that based on the progress to date and determination of the builder, we will soon see a “Griffon” Heston Racer coming together.

RE the DH71 Replica mentioned above, the USA replica was built and flown by Mike Maniatis in Upstate New York. Mike still owns the aircraft, but chooses not to currently fly it as it is stored on a short and rather unsuitable field.
Mike is very complimentary of the flight characteristics of the aircraft, and from the photos I have seen the workmanship is of a very high quality.
Regards the comments of the replica not “built as per the original” I do not know enough details of the original DH racer to confirm how accurate it might be, but I know that Mike is very knowledgeable of DH history in general, and certainly carried out thorough research prior to building the aircraft.
I will say that it is very hard to determine just what “original” was, as details of the Golden Age racers are hard to pin down.

Regardless, my hat is off to any builder who has the skill and determination to complete and fly any Golden Age racer replica.

AFIK Mike built the DH71 as accurately as he could with the info available at the time, though I believe that he made the fuselage wider than the original at the cockpit, due to the lack of room on the originals. I seem to remember him saying that he was going to rebuild the fuselage, & make it a fair bit lighter.
No manufacturing drawings are known to exist for the DH71, so both Mike M, & Ron S, have built their replica’s using 3 view drawings & photo’s etc of the original aircraft. I believe that the structure of Ron’s DH71 is more accurate than Mike’s, as he found a bit more info on the originals, after Mike had built his one.

Bob T.

Thanks,canadair……Hats off to them if they’re making it from wood…..fibreglass and foam would be quicker (but heresy)….also they need to do a little wind-tunnel work to figure why the elevator had no effect….maybe lower the taiplane position?

That would be me

The reason I left the note about the Napier Heston Racer as a future post was that while I am in contact with the prospective builder, it is still at the planning and drawing phase.
The builder has currently collected all of the required wood, and has the vast majority of the drawings now completed, but has yet to start cutting wood.
They have collected a great deal of the required parts, and most importantly also have on hand a RR Griffon engine, in place of the next to impossible to source Napier Sabre Engine.
I would think that based on the progress to date and determination of the builder, we will soon see a “Griffon” Heston Racer coming together.

RE the DH71 Replica mentioned above, the USA replica was built and flown by Mike Maniatis in Upstate New York. Mike still owns the aircraft, but chooses not to currently fly it as it is stored on a short and rather unsuitable field.
Mike is very complimentary of the flight characteristics of the aircraft, and from the photos I have seen the workmanship is of a very high quality.
Regards the comments of the replica not “built as per the original” I do not know enough details of the original DH racer to confirm how accurate it might be, but I know that Mike is very knowledgeable of DH history in general, and certainly carried out thorough research prior to building the aircraft.
I will say that it is very hard to determine just what “original” was, as details of the Golden Age racers are hard to pin down.

Regardless, my hat is off to any builder who has the skill and determination to complete and fly any Golden Age racer replica.

Ref Post #34. Boy!!! Have I got a deal for you. Pass enough pictures of the Queen ( stirling or antipodean) and you can have the Dragon and I may even throw the Fox in if the pile is big enough.

Has anyone chased the blogger about the Heston Racer reference?

That would be me

The reason I left the note about the Napier Heston Racer as a future post was that while I am in contact with the prospective builder, it is still at the planning and drawing phase.
The builder has currently collected all of the required wood, and has the vast majority of the drawings now completed, but has yet to start cutting wood.
They have collected a great deal of the required parts, and most importantly also have on hand a RR Griffon engine, in place of the next to impossible to source Napier Sabre Engine.
I would think that based on the progress to date and determination of the builder, we will soon see a “Griffon” Heston Racer coming together.

RE the DH71 Replica mentioned above, the USA replica was built and flown by Mike Maniatis in Upstate New York. Mike still owns the aircraft, but chooses not to currently fly it as it is stored on a short and rather unsuitable field.
Mike is very complimentary of the flight characteristics of the aircraft, and from the photos I have seen the workmanship is of a very high quality.
Regards the comments of the replica not “built as per the original” I do not know enough details of the original DH racer to confirm how accurate it might be, but I know that Mike is very knowledgeable of DH history in general, and certainly carried out thorough research prior to building the aircraft.
I will say that it is very hard to determine just what “original” was, as details of the Golden Age racers are hard to pin down.

Regardless, my hat is off to any builder who has the skill and determination to complete and fly any Golden Age racer replica.

Has anyone chased the blogger about the Heston Racer reference?

There was a website in the US that went dark in 2008 called
www.project-napier-heston.com

You can see it here

http://web.archive.org/web/20080607225218/http://project-napier-heston.com/

I wonder if the project was still on going!

Nice photo of the UK Mystery Ship on this Blog……;)

You mean the Richard Seeley/Ron Souch one that is a new one to me!

Civil aero, I see you would have liked a “nice” DH71 Tiger Moth. I believe a chap in the USA built a replica and “nice” wasn’t a word he used about it’s handling. Apparently it was a real handful and most unstable. Feather #3 might be along to give more detail as I believe he saw it and spoke to the builder.

The said DH71 replica was not built as per the original, & was quite heavy as a result, all of which may well have affected it’s handling.
Another “more accurate ?” DH71 rep has been built by R.Souch, but was not completed due to unknown reasons, though it is believed to be about 90% complete.

Bob T.

Civil aero, I see you would have liked a “nice” DH71 Tiger Moth. I believe a chap in the USA built a replica and “nice” wasn’t a word he used about it’s handling. Apparently it was a real handful and most unstable. Feather #3 might be along to give more detail as I believe he saw it and spoke to the builder.

Would love to see some photos of this Widgeon, Have a friend looking for a instrument panel shot….

You and your friend are in luck: one of the two images of VH-UGI on Airliners.net is of one of the cockpits.

Dick Smith has a beautifully restored Widgeon which he no longer flies in Australia.

Would love to see some photos of this Widgeon, Have a friend looking for a instrument panel shot….

What news on the one in Sydney, Oz ( Two brothers owned it at one time )

Dick Smith has a beautifully restored Widgeon which he no longer flies in Australia.

I’d rather see something really unusual, like a Widgeon, Avian or Genet Moth, but I doubt anyone would do something like that.

A Widgeon & 1 or 2 Avians are being rebuilt here in the UK, I have also heard that some one had made a start on a Genet moth repro, but don’t know how far it has progressed.

Bob T.

Has anyone chased the blogger about the Heston Racer reference?

I’d rather see something really unusual, like a Widgeon, Avian or Genet Moth, but I doubt anyone would do something like that.

If only I had sometime to spare, what about a Dragon or Puss, or maybe a Redwing or …………..

We can dream…………..;)

What about a nice DH71 or Sparrowhawk …………….;)

I’d rather see something really unusual, like a Widgeon, Avian or Genet Moth, but I doubt anyone would do something like that.