Willoughby Delta

Designed by Percival Willoughby, this plane was known as the Willoughby Delta 8 which was a scaled development of the much larger and unbuilt Willoughby Delta 9. It first flew on the 11th March 1939 and was demonstrated at the Royal Aeronautical Society's garden party at the Great West Aerodrome, Heston. On the 10th July that year, unfortunately, the plane crashed killing the pilot and Peter Willoughby and due to this and the prospect of a forthcoming war no further development took place.

Span 34'6" Length 26'1"
Empty weight 1,585 lb Gross weight 2,350 lb

Max speed 185 mph Cruising speed 165 mph Range 340 miles

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The Willoughby Delta was a two-seat, twin-engine, twin-tail boom design with a fixed undercarriage

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Quoted from British Built Aircraft by Ron Smith: "The Willoughby Delta was a two-seat, twin-engine, twin-tail boom design with a fixed undercarriage, powered by two 125 hp Menasco engines and registered
G-AFPX. The name Delta reflects the tapered triangular fairing between the outer wing panels and the tail booms. The crew sat in a pod at the wing center section.

The design, although unconventional in appearence, was backed up by careful wind tunnel testing, and was intended to be a sub-scale demonstrator for a larger transport aircraft. G-AFPX was constructed at Minster Lovell between Witney and Burford, and first flew in April 1939 at Witney, demonstrating remarkable good performance. Unfortunately, the prototype was destroyed in a fatal accident on July 10, 1939, and no further development took place.

The Willoughby Delta Co. Ltd, which developed the machine, had registered offices in Moorgate, London."

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