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The
Hosler Fury is a plane that stands out immediately because of its remarkable
aesthetics. Its modern, stylized lines were the result of Russell Hosler
inspiration. It is not beautiful on account of the usual curvy lines associated
with racers, but more in the way of a geometric, clean and angular Art Deco
style. It had a Curtiss D-12 engine, a non-protruding canopy, an exiguous
cantilever wing of very thin airfoil and retractable landing gear.
This
pre-war design (reportedly aimed to participate in the 1938 Thompson air race)
had a series of tests with a bit of flying really involved when the war
prevented further development. Sadly enough, it slowly degraded until reaching
an unrecoverable state.
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images below to see larger images
The model: a
fuselage was made of wood and then vacuformed parts were created from it
with the Mattel Psychedelic Machine; this allowed the wheel wells and the
recess for the retracting landing to be created easily. The
double-surfaced flying surfaces were made of styrene sheet. The radiator
was fashioned with wood, brass mesh (thanks Keith) and styrene. Aeroclub
prop and wheels were added and decals were of course home-made.
The photos
as customary describe the building process.
Skyways magazine (a very good publication, by the way) has an article on
the Hosler design in the April 1997 issue. They sell back issues.
For
what can be inferred from the not many photos available, there were a few
changes during is life. The wing can be seen with and without stiffeners and
with two distinct registration arrangements; an air scoop was at some point
above the front fuselage, there are minor variations in the cockpit glazing
(round corners and square corners of the canopy), radiator and so forth.
I was
impressed by the graceful and racy lines and had to make a model to vindicate
such outstanding design, hopefully helping to make it better known and
preserving its gleaming beauty a bit more.
Gabriel Stern
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images below to see larger images
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