Philip Ritchie’s Celebrity Project

The intent of this page is to record my progress and to enable other people to follow my big fat hairy dream; to build and fly my own aeroplane.

My flying history is almost exclusively in sailplanes.  I have well over 1500 solo hours and have had good success in competition flying. Flying from A to B in a power plane is completely different to flying a glider. Sustained soaring requires the appropriate weather. Gliders almost never fly in a straight line. Continuing the flight requires finding new lift and the destination is, hopefully, the same place you took off from. This means every moment of the flight is pretty intense. If no lift is found then a safe landing must be performed usually in some farmers field. Racing adds another dimension to the flying, seconds and minutes can be shaved from the flight by using only the best lift and minimising time spent in sinking air, the quickest route is almost never the shortest route. The most relaxing time is spent when you’re as high as possible, meaning the risk of landing is put off for some time. Now however I want to fly something completely different.

As a young man I loved riding motorcycles; feeling the wind, smelling the air, the power and feel of speed; so I thought I’d like an open cockpit. I’ve always liked the look of biplanes. I’d like a second seat so I can fly family and friends. I enjoy building things.  I’d like my flying to be fun, not too intense and not too weather dependent. I don’t want to use the plane as an essential means of transport to go anywhere particular, so speed and the ability to carry luggage is not a priority. All those desires added up to a mission statement of sorts so now that personal circumstance and finances have lined up, it’s time to look for the right project.

My initial conclusion was to build the Murphy Renegade Spirit. Aluminium tubing and fabric with a clever pull rivet construction method made it strong and very enticing. However a very long waiting time ended up scotching that idea. Plan B was the Fisher Flying products Celebrity. It looked very similar however it is made out of wood, which initially I had some reservations about. It had several advantages, the kit is a lot cheaper and the waiting time was way more realistic. While doing my research I had fallen for the idea of putting a radial engine  up front. The main reason was how it looked placed up the front of a biplane – so cool. Having used that as the main reason I then justified it by saying the engine is manufactured here in Australia, it looks cool,  as it’s air-cooled no radiator is required and each cylinder has the same breeze blowing over it so cooling shouldn’t be a problem, it looks cool, the Celebrity has already been built with the radial so I know it can be done, it looks cool, Rotec (the manufacturers of the engine) make a mount for the celebrity. Plus it looks cool. That left only my concerns about building a wooden aircraft. I read “Kit Airplane  Construction” by Ronald Wanttaja and apart from construction time, which is longer with wood than aluminium, he expressed total confidence in the method. So with his vote of confidence and the fact that my shop is well equipped to work with wood the decision was made.

So now it begins. I’ve begun the ordering process. I’ve contacted my local branch of the Sports Aircraft Owners Association. Now it is up to me to see if I have the skills and the stamina to complete my big hairy audacious dream. Hopefully thes pages will document my successes and inevitable stumbles along the way. Wish me luck!

Philip Ritchie

Grange, South Australia