whifferdill
Line Up and Wait
Just a little eye candy on what I was generously offered to fly this week. Prototype Wolf Pro 360. Not a Pitts. Baddest 4-cylinder acro bipe on the planet currently.
![2znmt83.jpg](/community/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi68.tinypic.com%2F2znmt83.jpg&hash=b07893f81c6376f7474535d020006eb2)
Steve was building a guy named Warren (spelling) one a couple years ago guy was a airline pilot. I took there courses there and got to see a lot of it built.Last airplane Steve built was his personal Samson Mite. Extremely cool. Steve built the basic airframe for this WP-360 prototype several years ago. Bully Aero in Burlington, NC invested a ton of work and talent in finishing the airplane. Steve recently sold the Wolf Pitts rights to Griggs Aircraft, so this is the one and only WP-360 he touched. #2 is currently under construction by Griggs. Few video clips from my first two and only short flights in the plane. Performance is phenomenal for a 4 cylinder acro bipe.
Ha - I'm not a famous airshow pilot so therefore no good anyway.![]()
Maybe this is a silly question, but why would someone design and build a biplane in the modern world of monoplanes? Is there something about the biplane configuration that makes them better? Is it just because biplanes are cooler?
Same reason Sean D Tucker still flies a biplane, they are just cooler!
'nuff said!You are correct - it IS because biplanes are cooler.![]()
Mostly because biplanes are easier to build and don't require the expense and development of specialized molds, tooling, and large curing ovens. You can't exactly build an MX/Extra/Sukhoi wing yourself. Except for a few carbon components for the cowl and tail surfaces, this WP-360 is constructed essentially the same as the classic Pitts S-1, which can be homebuilt with basic tools. There is a WP-360 kit under development. There are currently no kits for carbon monoplanes. The economics don't work out. So if you want a new one, you're stuck dropping close to a half mil for a factory MX or Extra. The performance of this WP-360 is on par with a carbon Giles, but with a higher power to weight ratio, but more drag. I've flown a Giles 202 and would take this WP-360 any day. This plane would have no trouble flying Unlimited competition sequences. I could just barely (mostly) eek them out in my stock Pitts S-1S. But even the hottest 6 cylinder bipe cannot match the performance of an MX or Extra 330SC. If you hired someone to build you a plane like Sean Tucker's, you'd be spending the same as what a new Extra would cost, but at that point it's not about the money. You are correct - it IS because biplanes are cooler.![]()
CAP 222, rebadged Giles per https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_G-202 also lost its tail.There was only one Giles that lost its tail inflight. Construction error and .......
CAP 222, rebadged Giles per https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_G-202 also lost its tail.