Full size printed Scale Peanut plans Dean Delt-Air 250 model proved to be a very stable flier

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Dean Delt-Air 250

The first flight of this unique, advanced home-built aircraft resulted in tragedy for its designer / builder, Herbert F. Dean—for reasons that are still unknown. It's a delight for Peanut Scale.

Full size printed plan on a sheet 11” x 17”

Five page article with building notes and photos

Scale Peanut

Wingspan 13"

Power Rubber

by S. Lynne Buben

ON NOVEMBER 8, 1961 an experimental airplane crashed in my hometown of Flint, MI. Being three years old at the time, I didn't think much of the event. Years later, while attending the University of Michigan, I learned of the plane from a friend who had helped on its wing tunnel test. I still didn't think much about it. Then at the 1980 EAA Convention in Oshkosh, while digging through some ancient Sport Aviations, I found the Dean Delt-Air 250 on one of the covers. I was in love.

This model is especially attractive for the Peanut Scale event because a 13-in. span gives quite a bit of wing area, motor length, and room for detailing. At first glance, one might think that the model would be unstable because 1) it has no horizontal stabilizer, 2) the propeller is in the back, and 3) the full-size plane's total flight time was less than 30 seconds.

Participation in the Northrop Flying Wing Contest has shown me that tailless planes are not inherently unstable, once they are trimmed. Regarding the propeller location, my first Scale model was of a Lesher Teal, which was a pusher. Contrary to my concerns that flying it would be compared to backing a trailer as far as stability is concerned, it was very stable. In fact, the propeller's vertical area behind the center of gravity (CG) has some fin effect. As far as the model having scale flight performance, its first flight was longer than the original plane's total air time, and the model proved to be a very stable flier.

Thank you for your interest