Edgley EA-7 Optica

The Edgley Optica was an innovative light aircraft designed for observation and surveillance work. It was able to fly at very low speeds powered by a small piston engine that drove a ducted fan (which also made it very quiet). It had a cabin like a small helicopter with all round visibility.

(SDASM archive)

Information
Manufacturer:	Edgley
First flight:	1979
Propulsion:	Textron Lycoming IO-540-V4A5D piston engine
Number built:	22

The Optica first flew in 1979 and entered production in the early 1980s. Only a small number were built, and some of those destroyed in an arson attack on the factory. It is possible that production could resume soon after a very long break.

The Optica served with a number of police forces and could be fitted with an infrared camera and loudspeaker. The Optica can loiter at one hundred and thirty kp/h (about eighty mp/h).

(SDASM archive)

Boulton Paul P. 9

The Boulton and Paul P. 9 was a civilian utility plane with two seats. It was a development of the earlier P. 6 being larger and with an increased range. Both aircraft used components and experience which Boulton and Paul had gained from building Sopwith Camels.

Image [1]

Information
Manufacturer:	Boulton and Paul Limited
First flight:	1919
Propulsion:	RAF 1a V8 piston-engine
Withdrawn:	1930s
Number built:	8

To keep costs down it was fitted with a low power engine though had a reasonable performance with a cruise speed of over 130km/h and a range near five hundred kilometres. Despite the relatively lost cost of the P. 9 it could not compete with the glut of war surplus aircraft on the market and only eight were built.

Half of them went to Australia, one aircraft being used on newspaper and mail delivery flights between Hobart and Melbourne [2]. Others saw some use in air races popular in Britain in the early post-war years.

[1] "The Circuit of Britain", Flight Magazine Sept 7 1922 p. 513
[2] "Boulton Paul P.9", Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft (Orbis Publishing, 1985), p. 834