Ed, I talked to Fred quite a bit about the snubber cable and the
fairing also. As I recall he always thought that the snubber cable
did not belong on any Ercoupe. When another Ercouper at the 1988
Ercoupe Nationals in Talequah, OK Maintenance Forum said that his
plane was now faster since he put a very short snubber cable on his
nose gear, Fred stated loudly (I was sitting right next to him)
"That's not possible! The drag will be increased by the short snubber
cable." He later said that any snubber cable will increase the drag.
As for the nose gear Fend-Air fairing, he said he was comparing an
Ercoupe with the fairing to the same Ercoupe without the fairing. The
snubber cable was not part of that situation at all, since no Ercoupes
had any in 1946.
That's the way I remember it.
Syd
On Nov 1, 2009, at 10:40 AM, Ed Burkhead wrote:
Fred Weick said in a recorded interview that having the fairing on
the nose gear made almost exactly one (1) mph difference in speed.
What we didn’t explore was, isn’t that 1 mph difference comparing
the nose gear all the way extended with the scissors snugged up to
the back of the strut tube?
In that case, the scissors wouldn’t make much extra drag as it is
hiding behind the tube.
When the strut extension is limited, then you have some shortening
of the tube, hence less drag. But you also have the scissors
hanging way out where it commits drag all on its own.
Could there be as much as two (2) mph difference between having the
nose gear extended with the fairing versus having it 2/3rds down
with the tube and fairing both providing their maximum aerodynamic
drag?
Just wondering.
Ed
