By Gerard Killam, EAA 63155
I own a Beachboy, a negative stagger cabin biplane. The name Beachboy came from the fact that it looked a bit like the Beech Staggerwing. This machine was one of a few of these built at St. Andrews Airfield, near Winnipeg, by a company called Lightair Aviation. I spent the first two weeks of February 1989 with the owner of the company and his family.
Each day during this time, he and I would be in the shop at 7 a.m. and I spent my days assembling and riveting together the wing panels. Occasionally, I did some flying with an instructor in a high-wing monoplane version called the Lightair Coupe. This machine flew well but with a with a rather mediocre roll rate. The Beachboy on the other hand has four ailerons and a span of 24 feet so the roll rate is wonderful!
I did the first ever flight of my Beachboy on 13 June 1989, and am the only person who has flown it. The first flight was rather exciting but as I put on a few hours I realized that the handling was nice, with a quick roll rate and lots of rudder and elevator authority, but as slow as cold molasses. It would take off in around 300 feet and climb at about 700 feet per minute with the Rotax 532, slurping fuel at nearly 8 gallons per hour! The glide ratio is similar to a manhole cover on edge and what you see below the leading edge of the lower wing at 1000 feet is likely where you will be landing if the engine should quit. It will land in very short distance and will sideslip very nicely. I am now starting to install a Rotax 582 with a 3.47:1 E gearbox and am hoping it will give a bit of improvement in performance. Since it hasn’t flown in many years it will be exciting to get it back in the air.
