Thorp Air Command - T18.net

I noticed a straight wing Thorp for sale on BS.
Was there plans for a straight wing?
Any advantages to doing this?
Disadvantages?
Any idea on the change in flight characteristics?

Thanks

plus, its set up to fly from the right seat.

WISC,

No official plans
No advantage other than aesthetics, you may also notice the modified fuselage on that one.
Disadvantage, more drag, more weight, and regarding the fuselage mod, altered the " magic ratio" which could also add drag.
Can't imagine any change other than more drag/ less speed and potential stall characteristics

This plane has been on the market before, evidently didn't sell. Homebuilts that deviate from the plans in extreme ways such as this are difficult to sell.

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

The primary reason we have bent wings is for ease of construction. Obviously you need some dihedral. That was Johns way of making it happen. Our design is extremely strong. I'd really have to look at the wing attach method of this plane to see if it is as strong.
Cubes

The bend in the wing is one of the attributes that makes the Thorp so so good lookin, it stands out in the cluster of homebuilds, and it's perfect, can't improve somthing that is perfect, just 2 cents..Dan

Since the T-18's wing normally meets the fuselage at a 90 deg angle, that reduces the interference drag between the two surfaces. The straight-wing T-18 in question will have higher interference drag between the two because the angle is less than 90 deg.

Spanky

Hence point #3 above.

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD