In Aviation We Tend To Remember Things That Came First, But An Airplane Named The Windecker Eagle Has Been Forgotten Until Now

Designed by Dr. Leo Windecker and his wife, Dr. Fairfax Windecker, both were Dentists, it started off as an attempt in the early 1960s to develop stealth technology and ended up taking a place in history. The Windecker Company started the trend towards composite construction that we know today. The original company based in Midland, Texas faded into history, but their airplane will fly again, and is headed towards production.

EAA has passed along a report that thirty-one years after it was damaged and rendered un-airworthy, N4198G, a Windecker Eagle, has been repaired, restored, upgraded, returned to active status, and flown. In the hands of test pilot Len Fox, the Eagle was guided onto the active runway on December 6. Fox advanced the throttle on the first all-composite aircraft certified by the FAA (in 1969) and gracefully lifted off for a brief flight.

Windecker Aircraft CEO, Don Atchison, recounting Fox’s debrief said, “Though it hadn’t flown for over 30 years, the Eagle had the look, smell, and feel of a new aircraft. It handles very smoothly with inputs from the controls and power being met with predictable responses. Visibility and ergonomics are excellent. The panel is all new, state of the art technology. It’s a good, clean design that would pass certification today and the Windecker Aircraft team’s workmanship is top notch.”

Fox, along with Hubie Tolson, will log 25-plus hours in the Eagle before the aircraft is disassembled and shipped to China where it will be used for demonstration and marketing purposes. Mr. Wei Hang, owner of the Windecker Aircraft production rights, will begin producing copies of the Eagle for domestic distribution at facilities across China.

“The Windecker Eagle is an historic aircraft,” Atchison said. “It was the first all-composite design that was certificated by the FAA. That has led to a lot of composite activity in aviation in North America and Europe. It was a trailblazer in its time and will deserve that title again as it becomes a familiar part of the emerging General Aviation industry in modern China.”

(Image by Windecker Aircraft provided by EAA)

FMI: www.eaa.org