(From Sport Aviation, 05/1964, Page 6) By Wayne Streeter Photography by Wayne Streeter, except as noted By Wayne Streeter, EAA 11931 Rt. 6, 905 Staniford Ave., Modesto, Calif. About five years ago I was driving home on Sylvan Ave. here in Modesto when one of the smallest airplanes I have ever seen caught my eye. [...]
(From Sport Aviation, 04/1964, Page 20) Photography by Leo J. Kohn Anderson & Babcock "Knight Twister", N-979. (Leo J. Kohn Photo) "I had been flying about two years and had only flown an L-2 when I found this 'Twister' for sale, and not even knowing what a 'Knight Twister' was, bought it. After [...]
(From Sport Aviation, 09/1963, Page 29) By Gus A. Limbach Photography by Leo J. Kohn By G. A. Limbach, EAA 6911 Brussells 1, Belgium The purpose of this article is to attempt to set the record straight on a very famous little homebuilt -- the "Knight Twister." From the time I was just a starry-eyed [...]
Report on Crash of Redfern Knight Twister (Described in Jan. 56 Experimenter) (From Sport Aviation (Experimenter), 01 (?) 1958 (?), Page 15) Steen Aero Lab Note: While we present this article in the interest of completeness, we strongly disagree with the suggestion that the Knight Twister design has "questionable flying and handling qualities". The collective experiences [...]
(From Sport Aviation (Experimenter), 02/1958, Page 5) By Tony Sablar Tony Sablar, 540 Ray Ave., NW, New Philadelphia, Ohio, has completed his version of the Knight Twister and now has 50 hours of flying time on it. The excellent workmanship on this aircraft is very evident from the fine photos Tony sent in. He writes: [...]
(From Sport Aviation (Experimenter), 01/1956, Page 11) Walter Redfern's snappy little "Knight Twister" is shown snuggled under the mammoth wing of a B-36, at a recent "open house" at the Spokane Naval Air Station. Walter Redfern of P.O. Box 159 in Tekoa, Washington is having a world of fun flying his little straight-wing [...]
(From Sport Aviation (Experimenter), 01/1955, Page 12) By Leo J. Kohn Photography by J.S. Zagoroday Speeds up to 250 mph. in a dive and 200 mph. in level flight have been chalked up by this "Knight Twister", another classic example of this popular breed of sport airplanes. This beautiful version came into being through the [...]
(From Experimenter, 12/1953, Page 4) By Leo J. Kohn Photography by Leo J. Kohn "KNIGHT TWISTER" Tail View (Photo by L. Kohn) "KNIGHT TWISTER" Nose View (Photo by L. Kohn) There seems to be a marked influx, in the last few years, of the famed "night Twister" [sic] into the home-built [...]
Designed by Vernon W. Payne (From Air Trails, 07/1949, Page 34) By Air Trails Staff [one_third last="no" spacing="yes" center_content="no" hide_on_mobile="no" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" border_position="all" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="" animation_speed="0.1" class="" id=""] [/one_third][two_third last="yes" spacing="yes" center_content="no" hide_on_mobile="no" background_color="" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" background_position="left top" border_position="all" border_size="0px" border_color="" border_style="" padding="" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" [...]
(From Air Trails, June or July 1938, Page 19) Pilots who have flown the Twister "hands off" in bumpy air, say it is the most stable "little ship" ever built. This tiny single-seater is a single-bay biplane of unequal span which may be fitted with a variety of engines developing between 70 and 75 h.p. The [...]
Here it is, fellows! It's your old Knight Twister of three years ago but it's all dressed up now, performance and all. Designer Vernon W. Payne again has done a real job. (From Popular Aviation, 10/1937, Page 35) By Vernon W. Payne Light, though extremely rugged, this new Knight Twister is for a Pan [...]
P.A. feels a great interest in the performance of this vest-pocket pursuit ship because it is the outcome of a conference with Mr. Payne in our office and the original drawings were first published by us. Our faith in Mr. Payne and his design has been justified. (From Popular Aviation, Probably 1934, Page 101) By Vernon [...]
Here are the final details of that interesting little biplane called the 'Knight Twister.' As soon as the ship has passed its flight tests we will be pleased to publish the performance data. (From Popular Aviation, 03/1934, Page 172) By Vernon W. Payne In the former two articles on constructing the Knight Twister, we have [...]
Here, Mr. Payne answers an oft repeated request. He shows how to calculate the location of the center of gravity, with particular reference to the 'Knight Twister' lightplane. (From Popular Aviation, 02/1934) By Vernon W. Payne FIGURE 1: Location of the various centers of gravity and the total C. G. of the "Knight Twister." [...]
In response to many requests from our readers, we show the details of the wing structure employed with the Knight-Twister Vest-Pocket Pursuit ship. (From Popular Aviation, 01/1934, Page 37) By Vernon W. Payne And now we show the wing details for the vest-pocket biplane to which I have given the name, "Knight Twister." Together with [...]
The fuselage details of the 'vest-pocket pursuit ship' are given here in response to many requests for the data. The stresses and sizes of materials have been worked out with great care. (From Popular Aviation, 11/1933, Page 319) By Vernon W. Payne There have been so many inquiries for further details on the vest-pocket pursuit [...]
New ideas are incorporated in this tiny biplane which should appeal to the lightplane fan, and the author tells you how he arrived at this design. (From Popular Aviation, 07/1933) By Vernon W. Payne A SINGLE-SEATER small biplane, with big performance! Have you ever had a friend tell you that a small plane just landed [...]
Return of a Legendary Standard (From Sport Aviation, 01/1999, Page 94) By Budd Davisson What's the old saying? What goes around comes around? In the case of the Pitts Special that saying could have double meanings, both in the airplane's basic purpose in life (goin' round and round) as well as the come back phenomenon [...]
(From Sport Aviation, 12/1990, Page 33) By H.G. Frautschy Photography by H.G. Frautschy, Budd Davisson, EAA Now and then ... Curtis in 1990 and 1945. The day didn't look very promising. Low clouds, with a few rain showers, the leftovers of a tropical storm that had fizzled out in the Gulf of Mexico. [...]
(From Sport Aviation, 05/1973, Page 26) By Tom Poberezny LATE IN MARCH, I had the opportunity to attend an EAA Chapter Council Meeting at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. At the evening banquet, I showed the film "We Came To Win", which is a documentary on the United States victory at the 7th [...]
(From Sport Aviation, 07/1969, Page C) Photography by Jean Seele ON THE COVER: "Mr. Midnight", already one of the best known Pitts "Specials" around, was a standout at the 1968 EAA Fly-In. N-7021 is flown by Richard C. Darcey of Orlando, Fla., and it received the award for being the "Most Outstanding Pitts" at [...]
A round engine gives this Skybolt character (From Sport Aviation, 12/2002, Page 28) By Budd Davisson Photography by Leeann Abrams and Jim Koepnick Why did I buy the airplane? asks Vincent Grasso of Oak Hill, Florida. That's easy. I was born too late. I should have been born in the era of round-motor biplanes. But [...]
Steen Skybolt G-BVXE - 1998 Air Squadron Trophy winner (From Popular Flying, 11/12 1998, Page 32) By Ed Hicks Photography by Ed Hicks and Trevor Reeve As well as being a play on words, the title of this piece could easily describe how Trevor Reeve felt about the news informing him he was this year's recipient [...]
Hale Wallace's Skybolt (From Sport Aviation, 06/1998, Page 74) By Budd Davisson Photography by Jim Koepnick and Leslie Hilbert My mind was in biplane mode: Head back, vision foreshortened and out of focus so my eyes were staring straight ahead, my peripheral vision watching both sides of the runway at the same time. I was [...]
The third time is also a charm for Henry Pierce. (From Kitplanes, 01/1998, Page 10) By Howard Levy Photography by Howard Levy and Dick Block In our May 1993 issue of KITPLANES, we ran a story on Henry Pierce and his award-winning, 200-hp Ford-powered Spezio Tuholer. Now this 75-year-old, 950-hour private pilot has done it [...]
