| Beta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| An amateur-built Beta | |
| Role | Single seat racing monoplane |
| Manufacturer | Rollason Aircraft and Engines |
| First flight | 21 April 1967 |
| Number built | 4 (factory-built) 5 (homebuilt) |
The Rollason Beta was a British midget racing monoplane developed from a competition to build a Formula One air racer in the 1960s in England. [1] The Beta was first flown on 21 April 1967. The aircraft were successful air-racers in England during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Beta was designed by the Luton Group (who were young technicians employed by the British Aircraft Corporation at Luton) [2] in a competition to design a racing aircraft, the Rollason Midget Racer Design Competition 1964. [1]
The Beta is a fully aerobatic wooden low-wing cantilever monoplane with a cantilever tailplane with a single fin and rudder, powered by a Continental engine of between 65 and 100 hp. It has a fixed-tailwheel landing gear and an enclosed cockpit for the pilot. The original prototype Luton Beta was not completed. [1] The design was built commercially by Rollason Aircraft and Engines who made 4 aircraft at Redhill between 1967 and 1971. [1] [3] Plans were also available for homebuilding; although 55 sets of drawings had been sold by early 1974, five aircraft have been registered but just three aircraft are known to have been completed, all in the UK. [2]
The first Rollason-built Beta (registered G-ATLY and named Forerunner) won the Manx Air Derby in 1969 and the second Rollason-built aircraft (registered G-AWHV and named Blue Chip) won the Goodyear Trophy air race at Halfpenny Green in 1969.
G-ATLY was written off in an aerial collision with a Tiger Moth at Nottingham on 29 September 1973, killing the pilot, [4] G-AWHV was destroyed by fire in 1995 [2] and G-AWHW crashed on 17 December 1987 at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, killing the pilot. [5]
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971–72 [6]
General characteristics
Performance
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