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The Ekin WHE Airbuggy is a British single-seat autogyro designed and built by the W. H. Ekin (Engineering) Company in Northern Ireland.

WHE Airbuggy
Role	Light autogyro Type of aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	W. H. Ekin (Engineering) Company
First flight	1 February 1973
Introduction	1975
Developed from	McCandless M-4 Gyroplane

Development

The company was formed in 1969 to manufacturer six McCandless M-4 Gyroplanes under licence. The company improved the design to produce the Airbuggy which was first flown on 1 February 1973. It was a conventional single-seat autogyro with a rear-mounted 75 hp (56 kW) Volkswagen flat-four motor car engine. It had a fixed tricycle landing gear with an open cockpit in a nacelle forward of the rotor pylon. The first Airbuggy was delivered in December 1975.[1]

Specifications

Data from Jane's all the world's aircraft, 1975-76[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
• Height: 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
• Empty weight: 355 lb (161 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 650 lb (295 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × 1600-1800cc Volkswagen air cooled engine 4-cyl. air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 75 hp (56 kW)
• Main rotor diameter: 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
• Main rotor area: 405.0 sq ft (37.63 m²)
• Propellers: 2-bladed Hoffman pusher propeller, 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) diameter

Performance

• Maximum speed: 69 kn (80 mph, 128 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 52 kn (60 mph, 97 km/h)
• Never exceed speed: 69 kn (80 mph, 128 km/h)
• Range: 121 nmi (140 mi, 225 km)
• Rate of climb: 1,000.6 ft/min (5.083 m/s)
• Disk loading: 1.7 lb/sq ft (8.5 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.188 kW/kg (0.115 hp/lb)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Campbell Cricket

Related lists

• List of autogyro models

References

Notes

Bibliography

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