The Ekin WHE Airbuggy is a British single-seat autogyro designed and built by the W. H. Ekin (Engineering) Company in Northern Ireland.

Development

The company was formed in 1969 to manufacturer six McCandless M-4 Gyroplanes under licence. The company improved the design to produce the Airbuggy which was first flown on 1 February 1973. It was a conventional single-seat autogyro with a rear-mounted 75 hp (56 kW) Volkswagen flat-four motor car engine. It had a fixed tricycle landing gear with an open cockpit in a nacelle forward of the rotor pylon. The first Airbuggy was delivered in December 1975.^[1]

Specifications

Data from Jane's all the world's aircraft, 1975-76^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
• Height: 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
• Empty weight: 355 lb (161 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 650 lb (295 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × 1600-1800cc Volkswagen air cooled engine 4-cyl. air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 75 hp (56 kW)
• Main rotor diameter: 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
• Main rotor area: 405.0 sq ft (37.63 m²)
• Propellers: 2-bladed Hoffman pusher propeller, 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) diameter

Performance

• Maximum speed: 69 kn (80 mph, 128 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 52 kn (60 mph, 97 km/h)
• Never exceed speed: 69 kn (80 mph, 128 km/h)
• Range: 121 nmi (140 mi, 225 km)
• Rate of climb: 1,000.6 ft/min (5.083 m/s)
• Disk loading: 1.7 lb/sq ft (8.5 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.188 kW/kg (0.115 hp/lb)