The BD-5
Even while the BD-4 was maturing, Bede turned to a more ambitious design, the BD-5 Micro.
The Micro was an extremely small one-seat design that looked more like a jet fighter than prop plane, with the pilot sitting in a semi-reclined position under a large fighter-like plexiglas canopy. The fuselage was originally meant to be constructed primarily from fiberglass panels over an aluminum frame, housing a two-cylinder air-cooled 40 hp engine driving a pusher propeller. The aircraft featured retractable gear, split flaps, spoilers to slow down for landing, and a V-tail for decreased drag in cruise. Two versions were planned, the BD-5A with "short" wings tuned for high speeds, and the BD-5B with 4 ft (1.2 m) longer wings for longer range and powered glider use. Performance of the BD-5A was predicted to be 210 mph (340 km/h) in cruise.
Although Bede had apparently first looked at the design as early as 1967, work on the BD-4 meant he was not able put any serious effort into it until about 1970. Work on a prototype started in earnest late that year, and they published an information booklet about it in early 1971. Magazine articles appeared even at this early point, most notably a very well known article in Popular Science. On 24 February 1971 the first $200 deposit to reserve a "place in line" to receive a kit was accepted, with the target shipping date being 24 May 1972. By the end of the year, they had over 4,000 such orders, making it one of the most popular aircraft in modern history. The economics of mass production convinced the designer to switch to hydroformed all-metal aluminum components in place of the earlier fiberglass.
The prototype flew briefly on 12 September 1971, powered by a 36 hp Polaris Industries snowmobile engine. The stability of the aircraft with the original V-tail was marginal at best, and clearly needed a redesign. In early 1972 Bede hired Burt Rutan to head the flight test department, and he quickly introduced a number of improvements. Most notable was a new "conventional" tail design of somewhat larger size, and a slightly lengthened and "pointier" fuselage. Spoilers and split flaps also disappeared during this period.
A most serious problem was the continued failure of the engines. In order to meet weight limitations the design required an engine weighing in at under 100 lb (45 kg). This wouldn't have been too much of a problem given the original goal of using a 40 hp engine, but as the design matured it was realized that much more power would be needed, around 65 to 70 hp. This made the use of any "off-the-shelf" aircraft engine basically impossible. Instead Bede selected a two-stroke engine which offered much better power-to-weight ratios. The plane entered testing with the 440 cc Polaris design, but this was replaced with a similar one from Keikhaefer Aeromarine. This engine proved to be extremely unreliable, and was itself replaced by an engine from Hirth Motoren available in 40, 65 and 70 hp versions.
By this point the basic aircraft design was already long considered complete, and Bede offered the kit with the engine to follow. Many took the company up on the offer, allowing them, hopefully, to simply put the engine into a completed airframe. At that point, Hirth unexpectedly went bankrupt. Once again the design lacked a suitable engine, but this time the search for a replacement ended with a Xenoah design from Japan. Kits continued to ship, but the engine ran into lengthy delays and by the time 5,100 kits had been shipped the company was insolvent.
During this time Bede was also involved in a project to build an inexpensive BD-4-based aircraft for use in Africa, but this project petered out. He also worked on new aircraft designs, including the Bede BD-8, a single-place acrobatic aircraft. One example was being built when the company went bankrupt, and was purchased and completed by Mike Huffman who showed it during Oshkosh exhibit of 1980. Bede also worked on an ultralight aircraft design, the Bede BD-9 Super Demoiselle, as well as an inflatable hang glider, the Bede Wing.
Although the company was effectively bankrupt at this point, work on the BD-5D continued for some time. The bankruptcy became official in 1979, by which point the BD-5 project was long dead. During the bankruptcy proceedings it was learned that the money ostensibly being used to build kits was instead being spent on a variety of projects, $9 million having disappeared in the process. As a result, Bede entered a consent decree with the FTC to no longer accept deposits on aircraft for a period of ten years.
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