ORIGINAL: dick Hanson
oh yeh - -FWIW I designed a large Tipo - (guys called it the Hippo Tipo -in83-) and it was soundly rejected -too slow - but I had designed it to fly and maneuver at slower speeds
I'd say you got caught up in the whole "it's not about the flying. It's about what the judges want and expect to see.". And that's the problem with any event where opinions rather than stopwatches or measurements are used. It takes time to bring a new appearance to the forum that the judges will get used to and accept.
I remember seeing your Hippo Tipo in the magazines back then. I thought it would have been you that named it that. And here it was your... *ahem*.... "friends" that named it for you....
This discussion reminds me of reading about why adapting the 30's racing planes for military duty just didn't work out. At first it seems like a great idea. The racers were far faster than the military planes. So great, let's just add some guns and call it a day......
But wait, the racers land pretty darn fast. Faster than our pilots are used to. And adding guns and ammo just made them heavier and land even faster. OK, we'll add some wing area, That'll slow them down to where they can land slow enough.... But wait, you just made the airplane heavier twice over with guns and ammo and increased size. Now there isn't enough fuel and range to fly the missions. OK, we'll add some extra fuel tanks... But wait, we forget the pilot armor and the weight of the self sealing gas tanks. OK, we'll make it a little bigger to handle the weight of those things and the extra gas we need to carry.... Oh, oh, the engine isn't big enough to fly the plane at the speed we requested. I guess we'll need to put in the bigger engine. And we'll need more gas to maintain the range now too. Oh, and while you're at it could you add racks for a couple of 500 lb bombs and make sure the plane can still take off? THERE'S A GOOD FELLOW!
OK! LEt's see what we've got now! ! ! ! Hmmmmmm........ It seem's like our Roscoe Turner flown Laird Meteor just turned into a P47 Thunderbolt..... WHERE DID WE GO WRONG! ! ! ! !
Actually no where. The two planes are designed to do what they need to do. It's just that the right answers for the two quetions are different.