Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

General Aircraft Owlet

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Top speed
  
201 km/h

Length
  
7.5 m

Retired
  
1942

Manufacturer
  
General Aircraft Limited

Wingspan
  
9.88 m

Introduced
  
1941

First flight
  
1940

General Aircraft Owlet httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

The General Aircraft GAL.45 Owlet was a 1940s British single-engined trainer aircraft built by General Aircraft Limited at London Air Park, Hanworth.

Contents

History

The Owlet was a training version of the Cygnet II built as an attempt to produce a cheap primary trainer for the Royal Air Force. The main change was a modified fuselage with a tandem open cockpit (the Cygnet had an enclosed cockpit with side-by-side seating). The same outboard wing panels were used, but due to the slimmer fuselage, the resulting wingspan was reduced by 24 inches (61 cm), and wing area was reduced.

The Owlet prototype (registered G-AGBK) first flew on 5 September 1940. It did not attract any orders, but ironically it was impressed into service (with serial number DP240) with the Royal Air Force as a tricycle undercarriage trainer for the Douglas Boston, which was the primary use to which unmodified Cygnets were also being put.

The only Owlet crashed near Arundel, Sussex on 30 August 1942.

Military operators

 United Kingdom
  • Royal Air Force
  • No. 23 Squadron RAF

    • Specifications

    General characteristics

  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 24 ft 7 in (7.5 m)
  • Wingspan: 32 ft 5 in (9.88 m)
  • Empty weight: 1,563 lb (709 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 2,300 lb (1,043 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Blackburn Cirrus Major I 4-cyl. inverted air-cooled in-line piston engine, 150 hp (110 kW)

    • Performance

  • Maximum speed: 125 mph (201 km/h; 109 kn)

    • References

    General Aircraft Owlet Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA