Bowers Fly Baby 1A
The Bowers Fly Baby was the winning design of the Experimental Aircraft Association's first and only homebuilt design contest, entered by Seattle aviation writer Peter Bowers and first flown on 27 July 1960. Built from wood and fabric to EAA's brief for a cheap, easy-to-build aircraft with folding wings that owners could tow home on a trailer, it cost Bowers about $1,050 and 720 hours of labour to complete. Sport Aviation magazine began publishing its plans in January 1963, and the open, low-wing 1A monoplane configuration proved adaptable enough that Bowers himself later reworked it into biplane and seaplane versions. More than 500 have been completed to date.
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Did you know?
Winner of the EAA's first homebuilt design contest, the Fly Baby had folding wings so owners could tow it home; Bowers' first cost about $1,050.
Specifications
| Length | 5.6 m (18 ft) |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 8.5 m (28 ft) |
| Height | 1.9 m (6 ft) |
| Persons on board | 1 |
| Maximum take-off weight | 0.4 t |
| Range | 200 NM (370 km) |
| Service ceiling | 14,000 ft (4,267 m) |
| Optimum ceiling | 10,000 ft (3,048 m) |
| Rate of climb | 1,050 ft/min (5.3 m/s) |
| Take-off distance | 100 m (328 ft) |
| Landing distance | 120 m (394 ft) |
| Fuel capacity | 60 l |
Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.
In CatchFlights
In CatchFlights the Bowers Fly Baby 1A starts as a Rare catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.
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