| Lesher Teal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lesher Teal | |
| Role | Homebuilt aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Designer | Edgar J Lesher |
| First flight | 28 April 1965 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Lesher Teal is a home built experimental aircraft that at one point held seven Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) class is C-l.a records for speed and distance.
The Teal was designed to beat the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) class is C-l.a records for speed and distance.
Construction started in 1962. The aircraft was configured as an all-aluminum single-place aircraft with retractable landing gear, powered by a 100 hp Continental O-200 engine driving a 64-inch Hartzell ground-adjustable propeller. [1] By 28 April 1965, the airframe was complete. On that day, Lesher made the aircraft's first flight at Willow Run Airport. That August, he flew Teal to the 1965 EAA Fly-In in Rockford, Illinois, where he won an award from the EAA for his achievements.
After two years of testing the Teal, Lesher flew the aircraft, on 22 May 1967, to a new 500 km closed-course Class C1a speed record of 181.55 mph. On 30 June 1967, he set a new 1,000 km closed-course speed record of 169.20 mph and on 220 October 1967, he set a new 2,000 km closed-course speed record of 141.84 mph. [2]
On 6 May 1968, while flying Teal near Ann Arbor, he experienced a loss of power. Not being able to make it to a nearby airport, he made an emergency landing in a field. The airplane was badly damaged, but he was unhurt. [2] After rebuilding Teal, on 9 September 1970, he set a new Class C1a closed-circuit distance record of 1554.29 miles. [3] Later, on 29 September 1973 he set a new Class C1a 3 km speed record of 173.101 mph and the next day he set a new 15–25 km speed record of 169.134 mph. [4] Finally, on 2 July 1975, he set a new Class C1a record for distance in a straight line by flying 1,835.459, flying from Florida to Arizona. [5] He continued to fly Teal for many more years, but never made any more record attempts. For his record-breaking flights, he won the FAI's Louis Bleriot Medal four times [6] and was inducted in the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988. [7]
The Teal was donated to the EAA Airventure Museum in 2002. [8]
Data fromJane's All the Worlds Aircraft 1967–68. [9]
General characteristics
Performance
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