Development
The Dyke Delta is an example of an experimental amateur-built aircraft.
Dyke is reputed to have said that the Delta "flies like other planes should but don't", probably referring to the benign (virtually non-existent) stalling characteristics at low all-up weights.
Designer John Dyke said his inspiration for the aircraft came from Alexander Lippisch's delta designs, specifically the LP-6 glider and later the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger. The double delta layout of the Saab 35 Draken was incorporated into the design. A lifting body fuselage was incorporated after tests.
For research into the proposed layout, Dyke built models mounted on the front of his car and flew radio-controlled models to determine aerodynamic qualities. When the original Dyke JD-1 Delta was destroyed in a garage fire, after 145 hours of flight-testing, his wife persuaded Dyke to build an improved version as the Dyke JD-2 Delta.
The Dyke Delta JD-2 is among the most successful delta-wing civilian aircraft ever designed, flying for the first time on July 18, 1966, with the prototype flying over 2,000 flight hours in 40 years.
Read more about this topic: Dyke Delta
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The American has dwindled into an Odd Fellow—one who may be known by the development of his organ of gregariousness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)