Wing Root Fairing

[Bill Poynter]

I've attached an old photo of my first Cadet, circa 1966.  Note the wing-to-fuselage fairing.  This was on the plane when I purchased it.  It was constructed from aluminum and the workmanship looked really good.  There was nothing in the paperwork concerning it.  Has anyone ever seen one of these on another Cadet?

Also note the nose of the Pitts Special sticking out from behind the hangar door.  This was Gene Soucy's first Pitts (N8J) before it was repainted red.   

[Neal LaFrance]

Bill, I would be very intrested in seeing a larger picture of the wing root fairing. Did you fly the airplane with the fairings on? Notice any difference in performance? It would be intresting to tuft that area and see what the flow is at verious angle of attack. Neal la France

[Bill Poynter]

I'll look through some old photos this evening to see if I have a better one of the fairings.  I left the fairings in place and never flew it without them. 

This particular Cadet wasn't a very fast one.  I always attributed that to the fact that it had an Aeromatic prop on the Franklin engine.  I later had a Cadet with a C-75 Continental turning a Beech Roby prop.   By that time the Cadet in the photo had been through two owners and was again back in Louisville.  I had many opportunities to fly the Beech-Roby/Continental Cadet along side the Aeromatic/Franklin one.  The Beech-Roby/Continental model would run away from the Aeromatic/Franklin one.  I always attributed the difference to the props.

The FAA records for N41710 are on the website.

[Neal LaFrance]

Aero-Propelers, Jim Rust owner, has the hangar net to ours, so Jim told me he  has made a ground adjustable that fits a Cont.0-200. Blades are  carbon fiber with an aluminum hub. Will ask him if i can try it on the Cadet. I have found the Mc Cauley metal prop 71 inch diam X 52 inch pitch works well. Always looking for metal props to fit  the 0-200 Cont. With this prop the  Cadet climbs 1000 ft min, around 80 MPH, cruise at 2350 near 130 MPH. Pays to keep the drag as low as you can.

[Tim Lunceford]

I restored my first Cadet in 1974, N 41722,  installed Mooney M-20 root fairing that fit perfectly.  I am in the process installing same on N-41726 along with stinger tailcone.  722  was very fast with 90 Franklin, stinger tailcone and lowered  (3'') wingshield.  I also had installed molded fiberglass doors.  Paint was Imron.  Propeller was a McCulley off of a C-150 using an adpter that was about 3 inch thick.  Tim

[Bill Poynter]

Here's another shot of the fairing.  It doesn't have much more detail than the first one.  Scanning 45 year old snapshots doesn't produce very detailed images.

[Paul Rule]

Some of my aero design books talk about wing root fairings and when to use them...   Looking that over, it seems that they are most benifical when the fuselage has a marked taper in the wing root area or because the fuselage is rounded, there is quite a bit less then a 90 degree angle between the fuselage and wing.  The Cadet is more or less a straight and square fuselage betwee the FWD and AFT spar attach points and begins to taper rather slowly after that so the value would be much then some other shaped fuselages.  Mooney was thinking speed all the way...  got to think he considered that, or that he built the fuselage as he did to reduce the need for fairings.