Cornelius Mallard

Mallard
Role	two-seat light aircraft
National origin	U.S.A
Manufacturer	Cornelius Aircraft Co.
Designer	George Cornelius
First flight	18 August 1943
Number built	1

The Cornelius Mallard was a single-engined light aircraft of very unusual configuration, tailess and with a swept forward wing of variable incidence. It flew between 1943-4.

Design and development

The Mallard was the third aircraft type produced by Cornelius Aircraft^[1]. The first two, the FreWing and the LW-1 were conventional in layout but unusual in using independently variable incidence wings for pitch and roll control. The wings of the Mallard could also be adjusted in the air^[1][2], but they were of low aspect ratio with marked forward sweep. The trailing edge carried conventional ailerons near the tips and elevators close to the fuselage. The Mallard was also a tailess aircraft, in the sense of lacking a horizontal tailplane. The rest of the aircraft was conventional, with single fin and rudder and a side by side cockpit for two behind a flat four engine. The undercarriage was fixed and of the tailwheel type. Like other Cornelius designs, the sole Mallard was built by the Spartan Aircraft Co.^[1]

The Mallard first flew on 18 August 1943, flown by Arthur Reitherman^[2], though some sources^[3] suggest that most of the subsequent 18 flights were in the hands of the Romanian aerobatic pilot Alexander Papana. The first public flight was on 7 September 1943^[2]. It was reported to have been 700 lb (320 kg) overweight^[1] and there were plans to install a more powerful engine. The designer claimed that the Mallard was stall and spin proof, though the later loss of the much larger but similarly configured Cornelius XFG-1 in an irrecoverable spin has cast doubt on this^[4].

Specifications

Data from ^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Wingspan: 38 ft 0 in (11.58 m)
• Gross weight: 2,470 lb (1,840 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Franklin flat four, 130 hp (97 kW)

Performance

• Cruise speed: 125 mph (200 km/h)

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Flight January 1990
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Flight December 1989
3. ^ Flight September 2002
4. ^ Flight November 1989

Bibliography

• "Cornelius' experiments.". Flight (24 January 1990): 47. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1990/1990%20-%200181.html. 
• "Underpowered and overweight.". Flight (13 December 1989): 72. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989%20-%203900.html. 
• "Out for a duck". Flight (24 September 2002): 47. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/2002/2002%20-%202859.html. 
• "Straight & Level.". Flight (15 November 1989): 63. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989%20-%203551.html. 
• Miles, George. "The Tandem Monoplane". Flight (27 April 1944): 444–7. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1944/1944%20-%200855.html.