G-BMSL was snuggled up nicely to Guy’s Isaacs Fury project on arrival in Devon in 2016.

Guy Smith has been working diligently in his spare time to get Clutton FRED G-BMSL flightworthy since purchasing the plane from me last summer.  One of the key items on his punch list was finding a better alternative to the tailwheel spring that broke when the plane was delivered to me by the previous owner.  Guy also points to this “Tailwheel Shimmy” article by a Bearhawk builder as a useful reference for getting the tailwheel geometry right.  Here are some notes and pictures of his recent progress.

Here is the offending broken tailwheel spring, originally a Slingsby glider skid as per the plans.

April 11, 2017

Hi Matthew, Just a note to say hi, and I have begun working on Fred to make him flyable this season. I have sourced an Aeronca tail spring, designed to fit a tail wheel, that fits a treat (throw away one leaf) and shortly it will be back on the ground, in fact a few nuts and bolts came this morning. I have some issues with the fuel gauge leaking, so intend to blank it off in the shorter term. The inspector is ready to go, so watch this space.  I hope to have it permitted in the near future.  Hope all well with you and your flying. All the best, Guy

Here’s the old Slingsby skid, which was never designed for a tailwheel, and the new Aeronca tailwheel spring as delivered (left) and with the tailwheel attached but minus one leaf for the lighter load of a single-seat FRED (right).

April 12, 2017

Hi Matthew Here are a few details.  I bought it from LAS in the UK.  [EDIT:  It is actually sourced by them from Univair.]  It is from an Aeronca 7AC or 11AC, according to the web site:  Aeronca part number U3-428-1 130302 and U3-428-2 130303.  It is LAS part number 06-14400 and comes with 3 leaf springs. I have binned the short one. I enclose a picture, which shows the difference in angle compared with the Slingsby Glider skid spring, which is specified in the FRED drawings. The problem with the glider skid, is that it was never designed for a tail wheel, and mounts the tailwheel king pin at too shallow an angle, and it is prone to shimmy. I have the same problem on my T31M and will change that one soon as well. This new spring is a greater angle, and as you can see, mounts the king pin more vertically.  I will follow up with a picture when it is fitted. Kind regards, Guy

Here is G-BMSL’s new tailwheel spring installed.

April 14, 2017

OK it is on, and I have a tail wheel for the first time since I bought it. It looks really good, as you can see the king pin angle is much better. It remains to be seen if it shimmys. I have also made a longer plate to fit right under the whole thing on the bottom of the fuselage. The idea being to spread the load of the spring bouncing against the wood. I did the same on my T31m, because it was never designed for the loads of a wheel, just a skid. Pictures enclosed. Guy

And here is another shot of the final installation.

May 18, 2016

Hi Matthew, Just a quick Fred update.  I have been working on it this spring, and have had a few small jobs to do prior to permit. I have fitted a nice Aeronca tail spring, and it now has a tailwheel again.  I have replaced the fuel gauge with a new one from Aircraft Spruce, and that looks super. The latest thing to hold it up now is a very small hairline crack in the prop tip, so the prop is off and about to go back to Chris Lodge tomorrow.So not yet flown it, but it gets gradually nearer. It runs and starts very well indeed, so will be a good flyer, I have also rigged it several times by myself, so all very promising. All the best, Guy

Keep up the great work, Guy, I can’t wait to see your (formerly, briefly “my”) FRED flying!

BONUS:  Here are a few comments from Eric Clutton himself on the tailwheel in the original prototype FRED:

FRED never had an aircraft tailwheel.  They were too big and too heavy, not to mention too expensive!  It was intended for only a 4" wheel  (off a shopping trolley ) with a urethane solid tyre.  I only used two in fifty years because FRED's ground speeds are not sufficient to warrant something off an Aeronca and similar but the steering is excellent and I figure if I fastened a pencil to the tailwheel I could write my name on the runway with a bit of practice!  The shopping trolley wheel is easy to modify with a ball bearing centre if desired.  It was so much lighter than the wheelbarrow device in your photos that the fastening etc was perfectly adequate.  ERIC.

Clutton FRED G-BMSL snuggles up to Guy Smith’s lovely Isaacs Fury project.

Regular readers will remember when Clutton FRED G-BMSL came up for sale last summer.  I later updated that post to say that I had bought the plane myself!  Not long after, former owner Tim Darters delivered G-BMSL to Nayland in Suffolk, England for safekeeping.

Guy and FRED arrive safely in Devon, incidentally demonstrating the handiness of folding wings and quick removable tail feathers.

Well, after much soul searching and in light of my gypsy lifestyle and uncertain plans, i decided a few weeks ago to sell G-BMSL to FRED fan Guy Smith of Dunkeswell in Devon.  I didn’t want to see this great little plane become yet another sad old wreck languishing in the back of a hangar.

Look, he even found a spare propeller for FRED!

Despite a late start last Wednesday, a broken wing support cradle, and a trailer perfect for FRED but a tad too big for tow car, Guy and his new plane made it safely from on side of England to the other and back, arriving home in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Guy’s other toy is a gangly but charming Slingsby T31M Motor Tutor•

I take solace in the fact that the little plane will be in good hands with Guy, who already flies a neat Slingsby T31M in RAF colors and is making steady progress on an Isaacs Fury.  I wish him well with his many projects and hope to see “my old FRED” (sniff!) back in the air before long.

Clutton FRED G-BMSL is for sale!  See the link above for the ad at afors.com and see the link below for an article on the same FRED by former owner Steve Slater:

Eric Clutton is fond of saying that FRED may have been designed in the 1960s but is really a product of 1930s technology, since the reference materials which Eric could find at the time were all from that era. Steve Slater and friends underlined that fact by displaying Steve’s FRED G-BMSL with his 1933 Austin Seven at lat year’s LAA Aero Expo in Sywell. Steve, an unabashed fan of low and slow taildraggers, is not only a FRED fan, he edits the Luton Minor fan site www.lutonminor.com and serves as the current chairman of the UK’s Vintage Aeroplane Club www.vintageaircraftclub.org.uk. Enough from me, I’ll let Steve tell the story.

"The FRED and 1933 Austin Seven combination at last year’s Aero Expo event certainly drew a lot of comments in the UK Light Aircraft Association marquee, with a lot of people being good enough to comment it made a refreshing change from all the ‘plastic fantastic’ hot ships that dominate home built aircraft today. I guess a few people felt the same way about the car too!

I’d owned my 1933 Austin Seven for about 10 years and the FRED for about five although they hadn’t met until the eve of the show. The FRED was housed at Sywell in Northamptonshire, where Matt Boddington and I were also rebuilding the ‘Biggles Biplane BE-2c replica, although I live about 65 miles further south in Buckinghamshire.

We decided though that the combination would be a great attention-grabber for the LAA display, so I duly spent about three hours, trundling through quiet country roads to get to Sywell. The old Seven doesn’t cruise much faster than 35mph and as the Seven stands for the number of horsepower available, you can imagine the speed falls as rapidly as that of a climbing FRED if a hill gets involved. The term leisurely progress applies to both car and aeroplane!

Having got to Sywell, Matt, Paul Ford and I made a ‘jury rig’ steel frame to fit to the Austin’s spare wheel carrier in the absence of a proper tow-hitch. It was fine for the show, but I wouldn’t wish to drive anywhere, I’m not too sure the Austin’s cable-operated brakes would be much use with any added weight!

There are two post-scripts to the show. A week or so after the event, I hitched a ride in a friend’s J-3 Cub to go and retrieve the Seven. As he lives close by me, we decided to have a race home.

After swinging the Cub, I swung the crank on the Seven and headed south. Three hours later, I arrived back in Chesham, just a few minutes after Andy, who of course had to fly back to his airfield at White Waltham, arrange to put his aeroplane to bed and the drive home too. Mind you I suspect he also fitted in a drink in the flying club bar too!

The final postscript is a couple of months after all this I sold the FRED. I got a call from Tim Darters, who was keen to find a folding wing aircraft to operate from a farm strip in Northamptonshire. The FRED clearly fitted the bill, because in the last year, he’s flown it more hours than it did in the last decade. I’m not selling my Austin Seven though!”

Thanks, Steve, for sharing the FRED and Austin story and thanks, Graham Tiller, for contributing these photos. I hope to get in touch with Tim Darters to share his thoughts as G-BMSL’s new owner in a future post.

Cheers,

Matthew

Photos: Steve Slater’s FRED G-BMSL and 1933 Austin Seven at Sywell in 2011 courtesy of Graham Tiller.