Jester (oz7733)

About this Plan

Jester. Radio control sport model. Class II proportional bipe for .40 - .51 power. Wingspan 48in, area 684sq in. Weight 5lb 10oz.

This Class II contest biplane is capable of out-pointing the one wingers, yet is an excellent sport job. It flies easily inverted and does perfect axial rolls. Ken suggests: Try a bipe, the change of pace airplane. Jester, by Ken Bonnema.

It never fails that whenever I finish a flight. Someone comes up to me and says - Boy, the bipe is really something, have you got the ailerons in the top wing or the bottom wing? Even after I've told them and they've examined both wings carefully, they still find it hard to believe that there are no ailerons. But I really can't blame them, for I sometimes wonder myself.

Obviously, the outstanding characteristic of the Jester is its rolls. With full rudder and properly timed up and down elevator, it will do continuous axial rolls for as long as you like. With half rudder and only up elevator, it will do the most realistic barrel-rolls you've ever seen. Yet, bring it down to low speed on the landing approach and it will turn just as gently as you please.

Unlike most new airplanes you see today, the Jester doesn't have a long ancestry of Jester I's and Jester II's and so on. The airplane pictured in this article is the one and only. It's only forerunner was a rudder-only .049 biplane with a tricycle gear. I called it Tripe, which is a shortened form of Tri-Bipe.

One night in August 1964, I had nothing to do, so 1I sketched a little bi-plane on a paper napkin. l looked at it for a little while and decided it was worth building, so I took i t downstairs to a drafting table and drew it up full size. I built it in four days and had it ready to go that weekend. After waiting for calm, I fired it up and it was hand launched it took off in a gentle climb slightly to the left, I corrected with some right stick, the actuator responded, and the plane almost rolled right into the ground.

Luckily, it barely cleaned the ground and started back up. By this time I had learned that breathing on the stick was quite sufficient, I took it up and decided to see what it would really do. I pointed it into the wind and gave full 'on' signal. It did one tight barrel-roll then, as it lost a little speed, it tightened into axial rolls. After two or three. of these and more loss of speed, it went into a true spin. Well, I had learned what it would do, and from then on it was a real pleasure to stunt that little ship all over the sky...

Update 24/05/2016: article pages, text & pics added thanks to ffrankie.

Update 24/01/2017: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, thanks to ffrankie.

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