Cranfield Production

Single-seat cantilever low-wing monoplane aerobatic aircraft. The one-piece wing is of light alloy skin-stringer construction, fabric-covered aft of spar, with machined extrusions for centre of front spar. Some fail-safe features. Light alloy mass-balanced Frise-type ailerons are fitted, with a ground-adjustable tab on port aileron. No flaps or spoilers. The fuselag is a of welded T45 steel tube structure, with light alloy floor and wooden formers, fabric-covered except for plywood top-decking. A non-retractable tailwheel undercarriage is fitted, taken from a de Havilland Chipmunk, fitted with hydraulic disc brakes. Accomodation is for one pilot under sideways-opening (to port) jettisonable bubble canopy in aerobatic configuration. Two seats could be fitted for training and ferrying. The original canopy was made from two scrap Fournier RF4 mouldings, but this was later replaced by a purpose built blown canopy in May 1977. One Rolls-Royce Continental IO-360-D powerplant, with the main fuel tank in the fuselage and two auxiliary tanks in wing leading-edges.Flight results were sufficiently encouraging to justify the replacement of the original powerplant with a 280 h.p. Lycoming AEIO-540-D (Special), with a Christen wet sump inverted oil system, driving a Hoffmann three-blade variable-pitch metal propeller with spinner, first flying with this new power plant at the end of August 1977.

As the A.1, fitted with modified ailerons and a rudder with increased height and horn balance.

A.1 Mk.II Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Endurance	Service Ceiling
32 ft 10 in	26 ft 5 in	8 ft 10 in	161.5 sq ft		2205 lb		239 mph/ 208 kn	1hr 30min	16000 ft
10.01 m	8.05 m	2.69 m	15 m2		1000 kg		385 kph		4877 m

2-seat aerobatic trainer, converted from the A.1 Mk.II. Modifications included a second seat forward of the original, a new canopy and trailing edge flaps.

A.1-200 Eagle with the fin, rudder and dorsal fillet redesigned substantially with monolithic Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) spar and rib construction with GFRP skins.

Experimental Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) to investigate the characteristics and suitability of various flight control laws and strategies when applied to unconventional aircraft configurations. A diamond-shaped blended wing-body aircraft with dorsal engine intake forward of the single fin and rudder. The basic structure consisted of a single piece Styrofoam core wing, with hand laid-up carbon skin. A central bath tub in the wing housed the engine (with tail pipe and inlet duct) and the welded aluminium fuel tank. Two removable carbon-fibre panels formed the closure for the top of the fuselage over the fuel tank bay and the engine bay, the latter incorporating the engine air intake into the panel.The XRAE crate (note 1) was mounted on a carbon channel beam extending forward of the wing. Eight separate control surfaces along the trailing edge of the wing and tail fin structure were made from foam, skinned with carbon fibre. Both the nose and the main undercarriage legs were of the retractable conventional sliding oleo design. The spring and damping was achieved by using a standard telescopic damper unit. Both the main undercarriage legs contained a pneumatic braking system within the wheel rim. One AMT Olympus jet engine, producing a maximum thrust of 43 lbf thrust.

Experimental Unmanned Air Vehicle designed for the acquisition of real-time reconnaissance imagery of ground targets which required minimum operator skill. A UAV system that “de-skilled” the entire operation would, it was claimed, reduce workload and training costs. The aim was therefore to develop a small, automated, brigade-level system capable of being operated by a single unskilled controller. Cranfield Aerospace was responsible for the air vehicle, avionics and design of the control system while DERA Farnborough maintained responsibility for the overall programme.A rugged delta target, Observer featured a bullet-shaped fuselage with pusher engine; mid-mounted, anhedral delta wings with sweptback winglets at the tips. Of all-composites construction, it was designed with an inset rudder in the central fin and each winglet. Elevons were fitted for pitch trim. It was launched using a bungee-launcher and later skid-landed, initially using an external pilot controlling bank and pitch then, as part of developing the de-skilling factor, by an automatic parachute/ airbag method. One 6.2 h.p. BH88 two stroke piston engine driving a two bladed prpeller.

Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Range	Service Ceiling
7 ft 10.5 in					66.1 lb	67 mph/ 58 kn	78 mph/ 68 kn	15.5 mi	8200 ft
2.4 m					30 kg	108 kph	126 kph	25 km	2499 m

A scaled-down “back-pack” man-portable UAV system based on Observer, developed by the QinetiQ UAV Systems Group and Cranfield Aerospace Ltd developed. Although based on Observer, MinO had no wing controls. Only one MinO is thought to have achieved true flight and that was for approximately just one minute. MinO proved to be far too heavy and the concept was swiftly abandoned.

Specification
Span	Length	Height	Wing Area	Empty Wt	Max AUW	Cruise Speed	Maximum Speed	Endurance	Service Ceiling
4 ft 6 in					22 lb		89.5 mph/ 78 kn	1hr
1.37 m					10 kg		144 kph

Experimental Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) used to DEMONstrate a number of technologies of the BAE SYSTEMS FLAVIIR (Flapless Air Vehicle Integrated Industrial Research) programme into advanced UAVs, to support the design of low cost (both to acquire and operate) flapless UAV’s.Technologies include fluidic thrust vectoring, circulation control devices, and advanced flight control algorithms. Another key goal of the demonstrator was to trial cheaper, more modular UAV technology, exploring designs have been generated through cross-disciplinary interactions. The aircraft is essentially a 115% geometrically scaled version of the original Eclipse, but featuring a fluidic thrust vectoring (FTV) system. By controlling boundary layer conditions, the fluidic controls can also generate either greater lift or drag during the take-off and landing phases of flight. This system uses a combination of engine exhaust gas, which is redirected using a thrust vectoring nozzle, and bleed air, which is precisely controlled to provide control over the same aerodynamic forces that would be traditionally provided by numerous flight control surfaces, including flaps, ailerons and elevators. This functions by directing air from a rectangular exhaust nozzle over upper and lower surfaces, using the Coandă effect to establish control over pitch. For roll control, bleed air is blown over a Coandă surface installed on the trailing edge of the wing. A source of secondary air flow for the FTV systemin addition to the engine bleed source is provided by a small APU, driving an air compressor. The payload bay floor was constructed from aluminium alloy and provides locations for the nose landing gear APU, batteries, and ballast. The aircraft's secondary power is provided by batteries fitted in the nose of the aircraft, to minimise ballast requirements.
FLAVIIR was a very collaborative program: FTV and Circulation control (CC) devices were developed by Manchester University and built by the Apprentice School of BAE SYSTEMS. The APU and compressor system were designed and constructed by WREN turbines and the flight control system by Bluebear Systems Research. Advanced flight control algorithms were from from Leicester University and Imperial College. The aircraft design, integration and alternative CC devices and airframe manufacture were performed by Cranfield University. Beyond the novel flight control system, the Demon was used to trial various other technologies, such as the manufacture and assembly of a fully bonded structure. The complete structure used biaxial fabric with strips of unidirectional tape laminated between fabric layers in all of the spar flanges. One AMT TITAN jet engine, producing a maximum thrust of 88 lbf thrust.