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I first met Bob Bailey in the early 80's. He was working for Highcraft
Aeromarine who were producing the Buccaneer Amphibian XA. While Bobby was
not the designer of the Buc, in my opinion if it were not for him the
design would never have come to market. He took the "concept or
idea" of an amphibious ultralight and made it come to life. Every
time there was a problem Bobby came up with a fix, every time a tool was
needed he would design and build it. Not only was he helping design and
build the plane, but he was also "the chief cook and bottle
washer," if you were a customer you didn't waste your time talking to
the "owners" - to get the real story you went looking for Bobby. Since
the XA Bobby has been involved in a number of other designs including the
Buccaneer 2, The Buccaneer SX, and Carrera series of aircraft. His heart
and sole though has always been hang gliding. To that end he developed his
"Dragonfly" and it's tow system for launching hang gliders. When
he decided he wanted better performance than a hang glider would give him
- he designed a number of "ultralight gliders" which could be
towed up behind the Dragonfly. While traveling through Florida prior to
Sun N Fun looking for a motor home I came across an airfield just north of
Orlando. I dropped in just to see what it was all about and low an behold
there was Bobby, working away on his latest design - the Connie!
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Russ Brown seated, Bob Bailey standing with the
Connie! |
The Connie is an amphibious single center float ultralight, with wing
tip floats on the wings. It uses the same style of wing used on Bobby's
glider, and features a main aluminum boom tube like the Dragonfly.
The
pilot sits in front of the wing, in a seat on top of the float. The single
lever retract system retracts the two main wheels and the tail wheel in
one quick and easy motion. Bobby reports a climb rate using the 447
Rotax engine of over 1,000 feet per minute with a cruise of 55 mph at 5200
rpm, stall comes in at 25 mph. Controls are standard stick and
rudder with a center mounted stick and left hand throttle. The
Connie uses bolt and rivet together construction, covered in dacron sail
cloth, with estimated building times in the 100 hour range.
For more information contact:
Quest Air Soaring Center
6548 Groveland Airport Road
Groveland, FL 34736 |
