De Bruyne Snark
Aero Research Limited · United Kingdom · first flew 1934 · light aircraft
The de Bruyne DB-2 Snark was a British experimental four-seat cabin monoplane designed by N. A. de Bruyne and built by Aero Research Limited of Cambridgeshire. It was built to test low-weight, bakelite-bonded plywood, stressed-skin wing and fuselage structures.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Low-mounted, tapered |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × piston, nose-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Stressed-skin bakelite-bonded plywood wing and fuselage |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Conventional-looking low-wing cabin monoplane
- Stressed-skin bakelite-bonded plywood wing and fuselage
- Nose-mounted de Havilland Gipsy Major engine
Apart from its structure it looks like an ordinary four-seat low-wing cabin monoplane with a nose-mounted inline engine. Its loaded to unloaded weight ratio was 1.82.
Specifications
- The De Bruyne Snark has a length of 7.49 m (25 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 12.95 m (42 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 198 km/h (123 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
Registered G-ADDL, the Snark first flew from Cambridge on 16 December 1934, flown by de Bruyne. It was claimed at the time to be the first aircraft designed with full stress calculations including loads carried by both wing and fuselage skins.
Variants
Only one Snark was built, powered by a nose-mounted 130 hp de Havilland Gipsy Major piston engine.
Where you'll see it
In May 1936 the Snark was transferred to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, with serial number L6103, for research into the aerodynamics of thick-wing monoplanes. It was sold on 8 June 1938 and destroyed by German bombing at Croydon Airport in 1940.
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