The E-1, current holder of the world non-stop distance record for an aircraft weighing less than 500 kg, is now on display at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The E-1 was initially designed in 1960 by Seattle-area pilot Arnold Ebneter as a senior project for his aeronautical engineering degree at Texas A&M. A career as a U.S. Air Force pilot and a second career as Boeing engineer kept him from beginning E-1 construction until the mid-1990s.
The aircraft’s first flight was on July 9, 2005, from Ebneter’s home airport, Harvey Airfield in Snohomish, Washington. Another four years of tinkering made the aircraft ready to set the record, however weather caused another year of delays.
On July 25, 2010, Ebneter, then 82 years old, departed Paine Field in Everett, Washington, and flew nonstop overnight across the U.S., landing at Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 18 hours later, traveling 2,328 miles.
In addition to setting the world record, Ebneter earned the prestigious Blériot Medal from the Fédération-Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the international aviation record adjudicating body. The National Aeronautic Association also selected his record as one of the “Ten Most Notable Aviation Records of 2010.”
Ebneter donated the E-1 to the EAA Aviation Museum in the fall of 2016. The aircraft was on display outside the museum during the 2017 AirVenture fly-in and moved into permanent quarters at the end of 2018. It joins dozens of other famous homebuilt aircraft.
Ebneter recently retired from his third career as a Designated Pilot Examiner after giving 1,000 checkrides to pilots in the Seattle area. His feats and details on the design and construction of the E-1 are chronicled in “The Propeller under the Bed: A Personal History of Homebuilt Aircraft,” written by his daughter, Eileen Bjorkman.
This should answer most of the above questions….
https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/across-continent-homebuilt-distance-180957787/
The spinner looks like a fixed pitch prop. Seemingly an endurance not efficient blade for 129 MPH. What’s the trick? Wet wings? What gross weight? Anybody?
528 pounds EW for the record flight. Go to this link http://thepropellerunderthebed.com/?page_id=366
August 3, 1990 – At 28 years of age and 10 months to the day after earning my private pilot’s license, you’ll find an entry in my log book for 10.5 hours of dual from this very man, my uncle, Arnold Ebneter (Uncle Arnie)
FCM-GGW-S43 in his Beech B35 Bonanza. I had never flown a complex aircraft and never flown with an HSI.
Along the flight, my Aunt Colleen inquires (referring to the HSI) “Shouldn’t that needle be centered?” In Arnie’s never-get-rattled persona, he turns to her and says “he’s doing just fine”
I was physically and mentally exhausted when we reached Harvey Field and I’m convinced Arnie would have been just fine with flying another 10.5 hours.
It is a day I will never forget and a hangar flying story I have told many times.
Thank you for what you taught me and congratulations on an awesome life in aviation!
Dan
What a great story. Thanks for sharing.
Well, here’s a question: the plane certainly is beautiful, but looks like a lot of other homebuilts- what specifically is there about it that allowed to set a distance record? Does the FAI take prevailing winds into account (which are generally westerly in the northern U.S.)
I don’t think it looks like a lot of other Homebuilts, I think a lot of other Homebuilts look like IT. Don’t forget, this airplane was designed almost 60 years ago. There weren’t ton’s of Homebuilts on the market then as there are today. Nowa days, they are called Experimentals. This was an awesome feat not to mention he did it at night where its hard to see weather in remote area’s.
Missing and important to the story: How much fuel does the craft carry and what is its fuel burn and cruise speed?
And Arnold is a member of EAA Chapter 84 in Snohomish, WA and flying in his 90’s!! Eileen lives near Washington DC, but is still a member of Chapter 84 and is an active pilot. The book is a great read. I read it while camping at AirVenture 2017, spending an hour each morning in the homebuilt camping area with my coffee and many welcome interruptions.