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The Umbrellaplane is prepared for a flight attempt, exact date unknown. via Bill Rose flew with difficulty several times during 1913, it was not a success and the project was finally abandoned towards the end of the year. The fate of this aircraft is unknown, but it was probably scrapped. Arup Inc In 1930 Dr Cloyd Snyder filed a patent for a promising aircraft design and, with the help of Raoul Hoffman, established a small aviation company called Arup Inc at South Bend in Northern Indiana. Snyder made up the name of his company from the words ‘air’ and ‘up’, which described their intent quite well. He hoped to introduce an aircraft that would be ailerons were added and appear to have the equivalent of the Model T Ford automo- _ been repositioned as trials continued. Snyder | bile and make flight accessible to the middle __ flew the aircraft on a number of occasions, as H classes. Despite the Great Depression that fol- did James Doolittle, and it was also loaned to lowed the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Snyder NACA (National Advisory Committee on still hoped that his concept would become a__ Aeronautics — the forerunner of NASA), who successful commercial product. briefly tested it at Langley. Arup Inc began construction of a small In 1934, the Arup S-3 was built and com- heel-shaped aircraft called Arup | although it — pleted. This was essentially a slightly larger is often referred to as the Dirigiplane, possibly _ version of the Arup S-2 having a span of 22ft because it was intended to contain a lifting (6.7m) and a length of 17ft 6in (5.33m). A gas. This was an extremely basic wooden 70hp (52kW) LeBlond SDE engine was fitted glider that used wingtip ailerons and had no and the ailerons were positioned flush with cockpit canopy or even a windshield to pro- the wingtips. The Arup S-3 completed one tect the pilot, who sat in the centre of the air- _ test flight and was then destroyed ina fire that craft. was thought to have been arson. Testing began in 1932 and about 40 flights Also during 1934, Hoffman built a compa- were completed, which proved the STOL rable aircraft for J Leslie Youngblood of concept to be valid. It was eventually decided — Chicago, with dimensions similar to the Arup to install a small Heath-Henderson internal a combustion engine, although this modifica- tion was apparently not very successful. Sny- der and Hoffman then progressed to construction of the Arup 2 (or Arup-Snyder 2), which was completed in 1933. The Arup S-2 was altogether much more sophisticated than its predecessor with a proper enclosed cockpit and a 36hp (26.8kW) Continental A-40 engine for propul- sion. The aircraft’s dimensions were 19ft (5.8m) span and a length of 17ft 14 in (5.2m). Gross weight is believed to have been 780Ib (354kg) and maximum speed in level flight was about 97mph (156km/h). Wingtip Above right: US Patent 1,855,695 filed in 1930 by Cloyd Snyder, which shows design features used in the first Arup wooden glider that began testing in 1932 and completed about 40 flights. A small Heath-Henderson internal combustion engine was fitted in 1932. via Bill Rose Right: Arup S-2 in flight during 1934. NASA archives / Bill Rose flew with difficulty several times during 1913, it was not a success and the project was finally abandoned towards the end of the year. The fate of this aircraft is unknown, but it was probably scrapped. ailerons were added and appear to have been repositioned as trials continued. Snyder flew the aircraft on a number of occasions, as did James Doolittle, and it was also loaned to NACA (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics — the forerunner of NASA), who briefly tested it at Langley. In 1934, the Arup S-3 was built and com- pleted. This was essentially a slightly larger version of the Arup S-2 having a span of 22ft (6.7m) and a length of 17ft 6in (5.33m). A 70hp (52kW) LeBlond SDE engine was fitted and the ailerons were positioned flush with the wingtips. The Arup S-3 completed one test flight and was then destroyed ina fire that was thought to have been arson. Also during 1934, Hoffman built a compa- rable aircraft for J Leslie Youngblood of Chicago, with dimensions similar to the Arup Above right: US Patent 1,855,695 filed in 1930 by Cloyd Snyder, which shows design features used in the first Arup wooden glider that began testing in 1932 and completed about 40 flights. A small Heath-Henderson internal combustion engine was fitted in 1932. via Bill Rose 17 The Umbrellaplane is prepared for a flight attempt, exact date unknown. via Bill Rose Right: Arup S-2 in flight during 1934, NASA archives / Bill Rose Early Circular-Winged Aircraft