The Stewart Headwind
is a single-seat high-wing tube-and-fabric construction homebuilt aircraft. The design was inspired by the Aeronca C-3.
The virtue of the Stewart Headwind is not high speed or altitude performance but utter simplicity of design and construction and ease of handling. In the words of the designer, Don Stewart, “It’s not quick and skittish like a lot of homebuilts, but in fact flies a lot like a J-3 or Champ with a very docile stall.”
The Headwind is described as an extremely simple airplane of steel tubing construction for the fuselage and tail. The wings are two wooden spars with either sawed plywood or formed aluminum ribs. All the fittings are flat, and only two of them require any preassembly. The engine bolts directly to the front of the fuselage, saving a separate engine mount. A 36- to 65-hp VW engine is used. The fuselage is triangular sections of welded tube steel covered in fabric.
The first Headwind was flown on March 28, 1962. It was one of the first aircraft to fly in the United States using a VW engine. The prototype flew with a Huggins VW conversion. To use a standard propeller, a patented PRSU (propeller speed reducing unit) was developed to keep the engine RPM high and propeller RPM at its optimum speed.
Specifications Stewart Headwind
- Crew: 1
- Length: 17 ft (5.2 m)
- Wingspan: 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
- Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
- Wing area: 110.95 sq ft (10.308 m2)
- Empty weight: 300 lb (136 kg)
- Gross weight: 650 lb (295 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 5 U.S. gallons (19 L; 4.2 imp gal)
- Powerplant: 1 × Volkswagen air-cooled engine automotive conversion engine, 65 hp (48 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed wooden
- Maximum speed: 74 kn (85 mph, 137 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 70 kn (80 mph, 130 km/h)
- Stall speed: 33 kn (38 mph, 61 km/h)
- Never exceed speed: 96 kn (110 mph, 180 km/h)
- Range: 169 nmi (195 mi, 314 km)
- Endurance: 2 hours
- Service ceiling: 7,000 ft (2,100 m)
- Rate of climb: 650 ft/min (3.3 m/s)
