Radial Rocket Kitplane Offers Style, Performance

by Aero-News Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. 'Hognose' O'Brien

Maybe you don't remember The Rocketeer, a movie that was steeped in Art Deco, comic-book futuristic imagery, and set in a sort of imaginary version of the 1930s. The airplane that the movie was missing is here at Oshkosh, and it even has the right name: Radial Rocket.

From the name you might guess that it has a radial engine, and goes like the devil. If that's what you guessed, go to the head of the class. The Radial Rocket is powered by a Vedenyev M-14P radial, a once-exotic Russian powerplant becoming more and more familiar to Western pilots every day thanks to its strength, simplicity, and, best of all, reasonable price.

Jeff Ackland, who's one of the guys behind this speedster (the other is his partner, Mark Burrow), proudly answers questions for all the people who are drawn to the Radial Rocket -- and nobody gets by without being drawn to the gleaming white and red machine. It cruises at 200-230 miles per hour (he flight plans at about 175 kt). He usually flies it at about 7,000 feet, although it could make better time at altitude.

Nothing on the ramp looks quite like the Radial Rocket, and its ramp appeal is undeniable. The tightly cowled radial (nothing's been this tightly cowled since the A6M2 Zero) and scimitar-bladed composite MT-prop first draw the eye, which then naturally flows back past the slick canopy to the tall tail which resonates with the ghosts of Grumman Bearcats past.

The tapered wings span 25.2 feet, but their planform betrays to the informed observer the airplane's modern heritage.

The construction is, likewise, modern: composite, which accounts for the smooth skin (a lot of sanding and prep work is also involved). "Some carbon, some regular E-glass," Ackland says. The kit is provided as fuselage halves, wing skins, a spar, and tail and control surfaces, and is assembled more or less as a big model plane. "Expect it to take about 2,000 hours," Ackland says, which is in line with similar fast-glass class aircraft.

The basic kit is $44,850, which is a basic airframe kit (no engine, no panel). Some options and builders' assistance are available. Like other fast glass airplanes.

"Is it available with retracts?" a passerby asks. It isn't; retracts would add significant weight and complexity, without doing anything proportional for speed, considering how well-streamlined the landing gear and wheel fairings are. The ground handling of the plane, says Ackland, is unremarkable. He himself has a lot of experience with experimental amateur-built planes, but other than that his flying experience is in, as he puts it, "the usual spam cans."

The nine-cylinder, 360-hp M-14P delivers the performance promised by the machine's styling. According to factory figures, the Radial Rocket climbs at 2000 FPM at gross weight and an ear-popping 3500 FPM when flown solo.

FMI: www.radialrocket.com