Windecker aircraft

[hesham]

Windecker X-7 :low wing four seat light aircraft with fixed tricycle undercarriage
and a 290 hp Lycoming IO-500 engine (later developed into AC-7
with retractable undercarriage,redesigned the wing and 285 hp
Lycoming IO-520 engine).

 

[vulture]

Anyone here have color images of the old Windecker/USAF YE-5A Eagle aircraft from 1973? The only image I have access to is very grainy and B&W. Anyone?

Vulture

 

[Stargazer2006]

I'm not sure I ever saw a color pic of that one... Also, the information about that bird that is circulated is contradictory. According to the site Eagle behind the curtain, the YE-5A prototype was "destroyed during a classified test in 1985", but other sources such as Wikipedia state that it "is preserved in the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama"...

 

[Stargazer2006]

Bingo! Google is my friend... ;D

Source

 

[vulture]

Thanks you guys!!! I kjnew someone here had color images of that beautiful aircraft - and information to boot - again thanks!! B)

Vulture

 

[Stargazer2006]

Just got a mail from Ted Windecker, son of Leo, who was project Project Engineer on the design and development of the YE-5. Here is what he says about the aircraft at Fort Rucker Museum:

Good morning, Stephane.
The airplane in storage at the Army Aviation Museum is Windecker Eagle S/N 005, N4196G, not the YE-5. The YE-5 was a highly modified Windecker Eagle, S/N 009. Sometime in the late '80s (I don't remember the exact year off the top of my head) the YE-5 was loaned to a group for testing. During those tests, I am told, the pilot lost control of the YE-5 during an intentional spin and bailed out. (Because of the extensive modifications that significantly altered the airplane's weight and balance, the YE-5 was placarded against intentional spins.) The airplane was so badly damaged in the crash that I deemed that it could not be returned to flight. I suggested to the group that they buy '96G to complete the tests, which they did. They then returned '96G to the Museum, as was their agreement.

'96G was originally delivered to our dealer in Boulder, CO in early 1971. They sold it to an individual in Cincinnati, OH who sold it to the group testing the YE-5. I have not seen '96G since it was acquired by the Museum, but there are some hints in the photograph that it has been modified as a result of the tests back in the '80s.

 

[vulture]

Thanks Stargazer!! for the images and info - very helpful, especially the personal words of Ted Windecker.

Vulture B)