De Havilland TK5 Canard Research Aircraft

[johnbr]

The only info is late 1930's.
Aircraft: Collectibles - AbeBooks
General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 18 ft 3 in (5.56 m)
• Wingspan: 19 ft 8 in (7.83 m)
• Gross weight: 1366 lb (620 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy Major IC, 140 hp (104 kW)

 

[AMCKen]

de Havilland T.K.5 - Wikipedia

 

[ODonovan]

de Havilland T.K.5 - Wikipedia

From the Wikipedia article: "The only T.K.5, registered G-AFTK, was tested by Geoffrey de Havilland in 1939 but it refused to leave the ground and was scrapped."

It was singing, "I'm too sexy for the sky, too sexy for the sky, too sexy to fly."

Maybe if they put something more powerful than a lawn mower engine in it, it would have flown, but then they would have had to add a massive amount of ballast in the nose or extended the fuselage forward a few feet. Still, it's a sexy little thing for its time.


-Irish

 

[at6]

He should have taught them about power to weight ratios. Then again, what if they had gone with a total delta wing?

 

[fubar57]

Interesting little beast