Shapley Kittiwake

The Shapley Kittiwake is a 1930s British two-seat gull wing monoplane designed and built by Errol Spencer Shapley at Torquay, Devon.

The Kittiwake was a monoplane with a gull wing and a fixed landing gear. The first aircraft, a Mark 1 registered G-AEZN, with a single-seat open cockpit was powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Continental A50 piston engine and first flown at Roborough in June 1937, but was damaged in a crash landing later that year. The second aircraft, a Mark 2 registered G-AFRP, was a larger two-seat cabin monoplane powered by a 90 hp (67 kW) Pobjoy Niagara III engine and first flown at Roborough in 1938.

The Mark 1 aircraft was dismantled before the Second World War. The Mark 2 was stored during the war only to crash on Dartmoor in December 1946.

Data from

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 1
• Length: 20 ft 10 in (6.35 m)
• Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.76 m)
• Empty weight: 901 lb (409 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,600 lb (726 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Pobjoy Niagara III , 90 hp (67 kW)

Performance

• Cruise speed: 110 mph (176 km/h, 96 kn)