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Marske Monarch C

  Like Charles Fauvel in France, Mr Jim Marske of Michigan City, Indiana, is an advocate of the tailless configuration for sailplanes and designed and built his first Monarch single-seater ultra light glider in this form during ДальшеMore>>> 1973-74; this made its first flight on 4 July 1974. The Marske Aircraft Corporation was formed to make plans and kits available to amateur constructors, and 71 Monarchs were under construction by early 1979, of which at least four had been completed. The Monarch prototype was later test flown successfully with a 12hp McCulloch engine fitted behind the pilot's seat driving a 2ft 1 in diameter push propeller, but it is felt that any homebuilt powered version to be marketed would need an engine of about 20hp. The current production version is the Monarch C, which has now replaced the earlier Monarch B, and the type is of wood, glassfibre and foam plastics construction. It is a braced high wing monoplane with a single steel strut on each side, and a forward sweep of 3° at the quarter-chord line. There is a glassfibre front spar and a moulded glassfibre D leading edge, and wood and foam plastics ribs between the front spar and the wooden rear spar and trailing edge, the wing aft of the front spar being fabric covered. Both the ailerons in the conventional outboard positions and the elevators inboard of them have single Sitka spruce spars with foam plastics ribs, and there is a fixed tab in each elevator; all the control surfaces are Dacron-covered and there is an aluminium spoiler above each wing. The fuselage is a simple minimal pod-and-boom type structure of laminated glassfibre, moulded in two halves and joined at the centreline; the forward section carries the pilot seated in the open without a transparent canopy, with a nose fairing over the instrument panel, and the rear boom section also forms the integral fin leading edge. There is a cg towing hook on each side of the nose fairing. The fin and rudder extend below as well as above the wing level, the fin having a glassfibre leading edge and the rudder a wooden trailing edge; both have foam ribs and fabric covering. Landing gear consists of a single wheel below the pilot's open seat, and a reinforced underfuselage landing skid. The pilot has a conventional floor-mounted control column.


Data: Monarch C
Span: 42 ft 0 in
Length: 11 ft 6 in
Wing area: 185.0 sqft
Aspect ratio: 9.5
Empty weight: 220 lb
Max weight: 450 lb
Max speed: 70 mph (smooth air)
Min sinking speed: 2.70 ft/sec at 30 mph
Best glide ratio: 19:1 at 40 mph