The Ongoing Mystery Aircraft Thread Part Deux.

That, Jim, is a mock-up of the Silvansky I-220. The resulting aircraft never really flew properly, due mainly to sloppy design !
 
It is ! Mr Silvanskii must qualify as the most incompetent aircraft designer ever : the undercarriage was too long to fit into the wheel wells, and when shortened to fit, the propeller scraped the ground, when they hacksawed the required amount off the prop it did manage to get off the ground for one test hop, but never flew again .......
Over to you ! :very_drunk:
 
OK, this is a mystery. There is an answer ( or many) but none provide a definitive solution, so I'll grant a lot of leeway.
 

Attachments

  • SOH 8-10-21.jpg
    SOH 8-10-21.jpg
    10.1 KB · Views: 82
The photo is real, and was taken in the western USA.

At one time it was a resident somewhere in the Lone Star state
 
I think we need Kevin to step in here to give us the family tree of the Regent/Johnson/Texas Rocket/Bullet, 185/260/400 or whatever, built in Fort Worth/Tyler/McAllen/Edinburg TX !

(and I thought I/Ding French aircraft was bad.....:banghead:)

Only comment about this one is that it appears to have a non-retractable tailwheel, which would rule out most of the above !
 
I told you it was a mess!
FF gets the slightly chilled :very_drunk:

The photo is from an advert that had a lot of people wondering - it is a rename, a change of owners, a marketing gimmick? The ad can be found in the latter pages here: https://books.google.ca/books?id=_eU_AgqE0poC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false



From another source: https://imgur.com/3udND3I

It DOES get a mention in Aerofiles - very vaguely (under "Regent")

Texas Bullet 1950 = 4pClwM rg; 205hp Continental E-185; span: 28'0" length: 23'2" load: 950# v: 190/180/80. R S Johnson, from Johnson Bullet. All-metal. POP: 6. Advertised in 1960 as Sky Gem by Gem Aircraft Inc of Rexburg ID.
 

Attachments

  • Sky Gem aka TexasBullet aka Johnson Rocket--2.png
    Sky Gem aka TexasBullet aka Johnson Rocket--2.png
    152.2 KB · Views: 78
Interesting! I had heard of the Texas Bullet before, but somehow my brain had saved it with a different look so it took a while before the penny dropped. :very_drunk:

On with a biplane.
 

Attachments

  • 91F48F25-7D1E-47AB-957C-5B0C9C390864.jpg
    91F48F25-7D1E-47AB-957C-5B0C9C390864.jpg
    54.7 KB · Views: 79
Back
Top