BD-4 Aircraft And Builder's Archive
This page lists builders and planes about which I received information through
third party. When you know anything about the people and planes that are mentioned
here please let me know. I will add it to the page.
The BD-4 has, over time, become more to me than an aluminum box with wings.
There is a life story attached to every single one. The dreams, the confusion
and discussions with buddies to find answers, the dreadful long building time
that demands such an incredible level of persistence and long term commitment,
the arrangement with spouse and family and job, the often difficult financial
challenges, the courage and concentration of flying it the first time, the
rush of being unbelievable fast and high on wings built with own hands. And
there are the family trips with kids on that spartan back bench and diapers
in the wings, trips to Oshkosh and nights under the wings. But there are also
the news of friends that have crashed and died (because we know it is not
without risk), the aging of the builders while the plane looks fine and without
wrinkles, becoming more and more demanding, and finally there are the survivors
of passed away builders who stand in front of one of these...aluminum boxes
with wings, knowing, it is not only that.
| N11DV, S/N 333, built by Don Phillips 104
Lindburg Ct, Dayton, NV 89403 |
Don's plane won an Oshkosh award. Pictures courtesy Hugo Schneider, received
through Bob White in Fall 2003:
Engine left view |
Engine front view |
Seat bottom with lightening holes in wood |
Solid link in main gear |
Solid
link close-up
|
Engine cowling |
Trim system |
Seat tracks |
bell crank trip system |
Bell crank close-up |
Solid link main gear |
Interior |
Interior |
Interior |
Interior |
Damaged, being pushed to repair tent |
Taking the gear out |
Don, J. Bede |
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| N213G, built by Hap Pischke 7255
Saffron Way, Citrus Heights, CA |
Pictures courtesy Hugo Schneider, received through Bob White in Fall 2003:
Composite ribs |
Side of fuselage |
Retractable tail wheel |
Retractable tail wheel |
|
| N231BF, S/N 007, built by Bjorn Floden |
The following text is from emails I received from Rita, Bjorn's daughter
in February 2004:
[...] Two years ago my father died, mother died
a couple of years before. I was raised on airports in both Sweden
and here in the US. Both parents flew gliders and power planes.
Flying was their life. I've been disposing of their miscellaneous
planes and the last remaining one is a BD-4. Dad built it when I
was in college and I had my first flight in it when I was pregnant
with my first son who is 27 now. When mom and Dad moved out to Colorado
(from New Jersey) the Lycoming engine on it was not strong enough
for the 8000 altitude in Colorado so Dad set about redesigning and
planning for another engine. The project never got done because
he got too old and couldn't do the work any more. He didn't admit
to this, so he just puttered in his basement with his beloved airplane
and probably didn't really care if it or he ever flew again. It
just kept him busy. [...]
It is a an interesting plane historically because Dad had a long
battle with Jim Bede about weaknesses in Bede's design, and I have
all the original correspondence, calculations and drawings between
them. I'm sure that jim Bede would cringe if he heard Dad's name
as there was no love lost between them. Dad, who was a bull-headed
engineer, made his own modifications and considered the plane safe
only after that. I'm not sure of all the details, only that it was
a very intense correspondence while it was going on. [...]
[...] Chris and I spent last night rifling through paper and notebooks
to get a grip on what is there. The actual correspondence is fascinating
and explosive, Chris said more than once that he couldn't believe
that Bede hadn't been locked up. I hadn't realized just how MUCH
modification Dad had done structurally. There is heated debate back
and forth and then there are multiple change bulletins from Bede
to all builders calling for the changes Dad calculated. Never any
credit to Dad of course, but I got the sense that Dad had a strong
behind the scenes impact. I remembered that Ed Mahler had been the
one to fly the plane first several times out, but I hadn't realized
that he was also the test pilot for Bede. I was there for the test
flight of course and was saddened later when Mahler died after removing
some element of his plane and taking off without it. He was an accomplished
aerobatics pilot. Mahler notes the oil got too hot. There were copious
notes written by Dad on every single step of construction., alteration,
testing ... amazing ... all dated and signed, all written in pencil.
[...] |
|
| N491JP, built by John Puent |
John Puent completed N491JP in 1986. It is now owned by Jack Arthur,
who has it up for sale. This aircraft has been flown around 200 hours.
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| N404BD, S/N 004, built by Ron & Delores Morton |
The following text is from http://www.eaa.org/homebuilders/list/BD-4_Morton.asp:
My wife and I started BD4 N404BD in January of 1998. The kit had been
in storage since 1969 and was SN 004. We used a Grumman nose wheel assembly
and an IO 360A1A engine of 200 HP. In order to keep it simple we used
a 4-blade warp drive prop. We chose the BD4 after finding it was the only
homebuilt that met our criteria for speed, payload and the biggie---cost.
I'm still tweaking the prop and installing gap seals, leg covers and vortex
generators but even now I'm thrilled with the performance. Thanks to Jim
Bede for much advice and a great design, our neighbors at Elm Creek Airpark
for their encouragement and a special thanks to our daughter, Laura, for
her week-ends home from college help" with sanding, riveting and
the many general assistance tasks needed when building an airplane.
|
| N919CV, built by Charles Valade 4081
TYLER AVE, BERKLEY, MI, 48072-1446 |
Pictures courtesy Hugo Schneider, received through Bob White in Fall 2003:
 |
| Mac McGinnis |
Mac builds the longest BD-4 we know of. He sold a project to Steve Craigle.
Pictures courtesy Hugo Schneider, received through Bob White in Fall 2003:
One streeeeeeeched BD-4 |
A Javelin Ford V6 |
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