RE: Skybolt hangar and clubhouse
There is a full size Skybolt flown by Randy Harris that uses that same Pearl Purple in his color scheme...very good looking plane. I've included an exerpt from his website. He mentions how he first saw the skybolt as a model...cool!
By Randy Harris
Although many in the aerobatic community are moving swiftly to trade in their biplanes for monoplanes, there are still those of us who relish the attributes of a mature biplane design. The Skybolt is just such an airplane. It possesses many of the basic features a biplane is chosen for, and with some further development, it can become a solid performer in both competition and airshows.
Our Skybolt 300 was created with all of the latest available technology and the results are outstanding. The advantages of the monoplane can clearly be seen in aircraft like the Sukhoi SU-29 and Extra 300. Many times I have compared our Skybolt to the Extra 300 as they are similar in size and powered by the same 300-hp Lycoming engine. (See Table 1.) As you can see, the Skybolt empty weight is 75 pounds lighter than the Extra 300 even with the additional weight of a metal propeller. The Extra 300 and Skybolt 300 have similar performance. But I will concede that the Extra's seating and visibility are much better than in the Skybolt.
Starting with a Model
I got excited about the Skybolt some years ago when my uncle built and flew a one-fifth-scale R/C model of it. Flying qualities were exceptional. The control response was smooth and it was very easy to fly, and I wondered if the full-scale version flew similarly.
Later I flew Dean Hall's fabulous Skybolt, and I was hooked. In 1989 I sold my EAA Biplane and went searching for a partially completed Skybolt. What makes the Skybolt even more appealing is its large size, which is perfect for airshow work. For the last few years I had considered the possibility of getting into this exciting area of flying, and with a Skybolt I could get serious.
While attending airshows in the past, I have overheard several airshow spectators comment on the difficulty of determining the attitude and orientation of the smaller biplanes. The Skybolt would solve that problem, but it would require aerodynamic and control modifications to improve its agility to the standard set by the monoplanes.
Jaybird