Wop Wop Wop
The Cloudwhopper was designed by
Maurice Geldhammer, a French biologist with a keen interest in
aviation. This is all the more remarkable, as he
was blind.
His low-wing tail dragger was
powered by a 65 hp Italian built Wop Wop Continental, with
wood prop, a wood monocoque fuselage, wings and tail feathers,
all fabric covered except for the engine cowling and on-board
potty. Geldhammer believed in travel comfort.
With 19 gallons of usable fuel,
the Cloudwhopper could carry two people and modest luggage at
a 115 mph cruise for over four hours. Ceiling was pegged
at 12,000 feet or 4,000 meters, whichever came first.
Alas, on the maiden flight, the
test pilot turned the controls over to his right seater, which
was a test dummy. On going aft to use the potty,
the test pilot put extreme aft CG into play, the dummy was
unable to maintain attitude, the plane stalled and crashed.
The dummy survived. The test
pilot died with his pants down.
I have the charred remains in
several crates, which I hope to restore upon retirement. It
should be a crappy project.
Wild Bill..
LOOK! up in the sky!
It's
a bird
It's a plane
It's the Wild Wopper
Wopper
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