The Little World

Plywood wing, tube-frame fuselage, tiny 4-cylinder engine. What could possibly go wrong?

Well you have to hand it to Hillson Praga. They were stylish. The little Air Baby looks good from many angles, and if the history of the type in Australia is to be believed, the three examples that got here were successful.

Part of that success was the fact that the war put an end to a lot of speculative private flying – security and petrol rationing – and the three planes were stored up in sheds and hangars for most of the time. They were on-sold quite a few times.

I love the leading edge that folds back to let someone ease themselves into the cockpit. Presumably it had a latch sturdy enough to prevent it peeling back during flight – or perhaps air pressure keeps it down. I don’t know enough engineering to tell you.

Suffice it to say that the rest of the gear seems to have been designed to slip through the air pretty readily. The odd position of the little 4-cylinder engine looks like it would make poor air sense but it is there to keep the drive line through the centre of the aircraft. No variable pitch and probably not a lot of throttle control either. On or off.

There is a tiny logo on the starboard side: ” Leo Junior ” that is a local application.

I hope more of these little inter-war planes come from the specialist makers. This one was a pleasure to build.