ACEYDEUCY

By John C. Powell (EAA 4880)

4 Donald DriveMiddletown, Rhode Island

BUILD YOUR OWN AIRPLANE? You must really besome kind of a nut!" The foregoing is the typical

response received when you are introduced as "that manbuilding an airplane in the basement (or garage)." It isamazing how many people nowadays associate airplanesonly with a 707 or, if they are well-informed, a 747. Allother small aircraft, whether a light twin or a six-passengersingle-engine aircraft, are "Cubs" to them.

As a teenager in Oregon in the 1930's, I would lookwith envy at the small, light, homebuilt aircraft that waspresent on nearly every airport in Oregon. I always wantedto get into the construction of such aircraft because it wasthe next stage after building gas-engine model airplanes.Unfortunately, events did not allow me to do any morethan dream of such a thing until 1958. At that time I hadthe space, time, and enough money without straining thefamily budget too much to proceed with a project. Thosethree ingredients, plus one other which is perhaps the mostimportant of all — that of being a member of the Experi-mental Aircraft Association and an active member in a localChapter, are a prerequisite to the successful completion of ahomebuilt. The camaraderie found with EAA people isseldom found anywhere in other organizations.

I completed a Baby Ace D in 1960 after 14 months oflong hours in a mighty cold garage. I was fortunate enough

to fly it to the 1960 Fly-in at Rockford with several otherBaby Ace pilots. After three years of flying the Baby Ace inthe New England area, I put about 250 hours on theairplane. I then faced the problem, due to military orders,of stowage of the airplane or selling it. It was sold, and atlast report is still flying around the New England country-26 JULY 1971

The famous U.S.S. Constitution forms the backdrop forthe Acey Deucy, N-12CP, in the Boston Naval Shipyard.

Six instrument panels were made before all interferencewas eliminated, and the final fitting of the rear cockpitpanel is that shown.

A screw jack is used for stabilizer trim, andother details of the tail structure are seen here.

side. I can still remember my first comment after the firstflight: "It's a wonderful little airplane but it has one basicproblem — it is a single seater." There is really not muchjoy flying around by oneself.

In 1967 all the ingredients were again pulled togetherand all my thoughts and planning for the previous severalyears began to take shape. I would build one morehomebuilt, but it would be a two seater and would be anoriginal design (or as original as one can be with a normalappearing airplane). It would also be big enough so as not

to crowd the passenger or pilot. It would be a "fun"airplane, strictly for sport flying, landing on beaches andunimproved fields. It was hoped it would perform well onno more than 65 to 85 hp. In the beginning, it was to haveswept-back wings which could be folded for easy stowage

or trailering to and from an airport. However, in theinterest of getting the airplane done within a reasonabletime, those two features were abandoned early in theconstruction period.

Formal drawings were not made right away. Thetandem seating arrangement was chosen because I like foreand aft seating. The space for two people was sketched outand an airplane was built around those dimensions Most of

the information concerning airfoils, wing loadings, propor-tions of wing to fuselage length, tail surface areas to use,etc., were obtained or confirmed from the pages of SPORTAVIATION.

Construction was begun in the summer of 1967 and,after two years of sporadic construction and one year ofall-out construction, the completed aircraft was delivered to

the airport in June, 1970.After a final inspection by the FAA safety agent, an

airworthiness certificate was issued and the moment oftruth was at hand. At this point I want to say that the FAAin this area does an outstanding job in cooperation withhomebuilders. Mr. Derwin Hyde (who recently retired fromgovernment service) headed up the local office for manyyears. All of the members of his staff have conductedinspections of homebuilt aircraft. They are certainly thor-ough and meticulous and business like in the performanceof their duties. I had several EAA members, including EAADesignees and A&E's go over the aircraft to insure thatevery bolt, nut, cotter key, etc., were properly placed andsafetied, that all controls were smooth operating. In spite ofthis, Mr. Davison, the FAA inspector, came up with a boltthat was adrift in the bottom of the fuselage. The enginewas previously run on the ground for one-half hour at90-percent power to test cooling baffle arrangements. Theoil temperature stabilized at 178-degrees F on the groundwith a 70-degree air temperature. In the air the engine runsat 180 degrees, which tends to prove the baffling system ofthis newly majored engine. The Acey Deucy had beenweighed prior to moving to the airport. The worst possibleloading CG was computed to be at 33 percent of the wing

The first engine run-up was performed before the air-craft was covered. The center section has a metal lead-

ing edge.

Full-chord gussets are employed on the wing ribs,and ailerons are of the Friese type and balanced.

The Acey Deucy undergoes final assembly at the airport.

chord. All other loading weights move the CG forward fromthere.

Meanwhile, back at the Taunton, Massachusetts air-port, all inspection plates had been replaced, the tires werekicked for the last time, and we were ready for the first realflight. I had previously made several taxi runs to test outcontrol response on the ground, brakes, visibility, etc.These only confirmed my suspicion that this little aircraftreally wanted to fly. Finally it was out to the end of therunway, a last check all around, move out to the take-offposition, and pour on the power. The Acey Deucy was offthe ground in about 200 ft. and climbing nicely. I keptplenty of speed, about 75 mph in a slow climb, and madeshallow turns to remain over the field. Oil pressure andtemperature were right on the money! At 1500 ft. I leveledoff, throttled back to cruising rpm, and proceeded to find

out about this little airplane that I had built.Only those who have built an aircraft themselves can

know the thrill of making the first flight. When the airplaneis also a one-of-a-kind, the thrill and excitement are justthat much greater. After about 15 minutes of feeling outthe airplane, I moved to a good position to make anemergency landing and tested the stall characteristics inpreparation for the first landing. Stalls were straightforward with no complications. Now, for the landing. Theapproach was normal, except that I picked a touchdownpoint about halfway up the 5000-ft. runway as insuranceagainst loss of power on the approach. All went well,however, and except for a slight tendency to "floaf'thelanding was normal, including my usual bounce. As all theparts seemed to be hanging together, it was back to thedownwind end of the runway and off again, just to makecertain that the first flight was not a dream. It really was adream, however — a dream come true! After another tenminutes or so of checking out trim and various flight

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SP O RT A V I A T I O N 27

A C E Y DEUCY .. .(Continued from Preceding Page)

attitudes, I discovered the first flight was really in anose-high position. It flew a bit faster—85-90 mphindicated — with the tail cranked up a bit. This time thelanding was made without quite as much runway insuranceand no bounce! I turned off to the crowd of spectators whomade the long trip to the airport to witness the first flightand also get the thrill of the first flight from the ground.

Acey Deucy is home-ported at the Newport Air Park inMiddletown, Rhode Island. I hope before the end ofsummer to visit all the airports within 250-300 miles ofRhode Island. That is no small task as they dot thecountryside here. I like to show off the Acey Deucy. Ibelieve it is a real sport airplane.

This report will not be complete without giving creditto those without whose assistance the final completion ofthe Acey Deucy would still be in the future and it would bejust another unfinished homebuilt conversation piece.

First and foremost, no married person can complete ahomebuilt aircraft without the support of his wife. I amhappy to report that my wife, Cathy, is my biggest booster.I also know there were many times when she must havebeen tempted to put a match to the whole project becauseof the great amount of time 1 spent out of the house in thegarage or basement putting the Acey Deucy together.However, like every good EAA wife, she just grinned andbore her anguish (mostly in silence, but not always) andremained my best publicity agent. The initials "CP" in theregistration number are a tribute to my wife, Cathy Powell.Thanks, honey! Next, the members of the local EAAChapter — Chapter 106 in Boston — all have given greatmoral support and a lot of material support in getting theAcey Deucy in the air. Jack Denison, our past president, isreally a one-man procurement and delivery service. As amember of an airline flight crew with regular flights to theCalifornia area of homebuilt goodies, all that was requiredwas to give him the requirements for material and heprocured and delivered the goods. Just a few of thosewhose support was unselfishly given are: Al Moran and RayDeStefano, both A&E's without peer in my book; BobMacDonald, then-current Boston Chapter president; FrankHart, who provided the transportation to the airport; andBob (Omar) Skeppa, who is always available to assist whereneeded. As another example of how diversified the home-builders assistance can be, the final trimming and sanding of

the wing ribs was done in Bob Burbick's basementworkshop while he lived in Arlington, Virginia.

The EAA Headquarters' staff must also be recognizedby every amateur homebuilder. Without their constantsupport in the background at all times, few homebuiltswould ever be completed. I am certain that the monthlyreceipt of SPORT AVIATION has done more to gethomebuilt aircraft finished than any other single fact. Keepup the good work!

Acey Deucy, N-12CP Specifications

Wing span . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 ft.Wing chord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 in.Wing area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 sq. ft.Airfoil section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NACA 4412Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.5 ft.Empty weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758 Ibs.Gross weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275 lbs.Fuel capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5 gals.Powerplant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Continental A-65 @ 65 hpPropeller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74x43Take-off speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 mphLanding speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 mph

All but fully assembled, the Acey Deucyis ju st about ready for its first flight.

Real antique, but accurate, scales wereused for the weigh-in of the Acey Deucy.

WE SHA LL REMEMB ER THEM

JACK L. COHEE (EAA 48557) of Huntertown,Indiana. Died April 18 in the crash of hisgyrocopter.

OLGA DARDEN (EAA 14846-A) of Cayce, SouthCarolina. Passed away on April 20. Well knownin antique aircraft circles.

DONALD L. MCNAMARA (EAA 10122) of Nichols,New York. Passed away on April 25 of suddenheart attack. Completed attractive EAA "Bi-plane."

DON SIMPSON of Yakima, Washington. Died onApril 7. Former officer of EAA Chapter 206.

SALLY WAGNER (EAA 25556/IAC 299) of Erin,Ontario, Canada. Died in the crash of herdeHavilland "Chipmunk" shortly after take-offon May 23. One of best known Canadian womanpilots, and well known in the aerobatic area.

28 JULY 1971