Marion Baker's "Baker MB-1
The Story Of My Delta-Winged iirplane
By Marion Baker, EAA 407
113 Pittsburg Ave., Huron, Ohio
H OW SHOULD I start this story about a homebuilt
airplane? Well, I have been interested in airplanes
since I was a boy and of course built many models, some
rubber-powered and a few gas. A fair number were my
own designs and this was a good lesson in aeronautical
engineering for me. When I was about 14 years old I
tried to build an airplane but met with no success at all.
In 1952 a friend of mine and an aeronautical en-
gineer. Dave Thompson, used to do a lot of talking about
airplanes and we became pretty good at rambling on until
the wee hours of the morning. Dave really has creative
ability . . . just a few hours of doodling and we'd have
a dream ship all designed!
At about that time both of us were thinking of air
racing. Small racers powered with 85 hp engines were
Marion Baker and his model.
4 JANUARY 1962
hitting some high speeds and I got to thinking of ways
in which to design a plane that would have a chance of
keeping some of the day's best ones in sight. The more
I considered it the more it seemed that reducing frontal
area was the most promising avenue of investigation.
Pretty soon I was interested in delta wing aircraft as a
means of achieving this end.
I built a few delta gliders, and soon got started on
some ideas. Then Dave would point out the good and bad
points, I'd build another model for us to fly and we
could study the results. In all I built 18 models. In
1953 Dave left the Dayton area and this nearly put me
out of business. But with all the information I already
had it was no sense in giving up so I studied everything
I could from NASA about low aspect ratio wings and
deltas. I eventually learned about the Lippisch glider and
found it very helpful.
Anyone who builds his own airplane will mee^ people
who will insist he is wasting his time. My answer to that
kind of discouragement is that scrap aluminum brings a
fair price so at least I shouldn't lose too much cash! I
started scrounging at local airports for material; I really
enjoy getting into hangar lofts and corners and can easily
spend all day just snooping among the aircraft plunder
to be found there. Well, on one of these jaunts I came
upon the remains of a Cessna 140; the engine, propeller
and wheels were good and that was all I needed . . . after
four years of models and a lot of dreaming I said, "This
is it"!
Deciding on the symmetrical NASA 0012 airfoil, I
then got some oak wood to make one wing with; this
was to provide a form of accurate shape with which to
do the actual metal bending. When it was done I took
it apart and made the ribs and spars over the wooden
forms. I used non--alclad aluminum and Dural for these
parts. The ribs were all .035 in., the spars .040 in. The
spars are backed up with .064 in. material from the roots
to four feet out on each one. In doing all this work I
found that the scale models I had made were a big help,
and when it was all done my impression was that boy,
is that delta wing strong!
The main landing gear legs were made of truck spring
leaves half an inch thick and three inches wide but I
wouldn't recommend the stuff to others; 6150 steel is
much better for home airplane builders.
I used conventional controls with the elevator in the
center of the delta's trailing edge and ailerons outboard.
Ailerons and elevator are all push-pull rod controlled and
are hinged to the top surface of the wing with piano
hinge. All controls are sealed off, a very important detail
in all-wing airplanes. The rudder has cable control.
When the wing was finished I set the cockpit on
top of it. The skin here is .032 in. thick and attached
with Vs in. flush rivets. The main landing gear wheels

Baker MB-1 at the 1961 Rockford, III. EAA Fly-in

We would fly the length of the runway and then ease

back on. After a few weeks of this came the big day
in July, 1960 when we got three flights off. All were
successful and with a few adjustments the ship was flying
very well. There were some problems with nose wheel

Clecoes give a porcupine appearance during construction.

were forward at first but on the first trial I found things

to be too touchy and changed over to tricycle landing
gear. The new one is fine with no problems any time.
The nose leg is attached to the plane via the engine
mount, which works out fine and saves changing the
basic fuselage.
It was my good fortune to have flight testing help
from a man who was a real pro in that line, Capt. O. P. ' \ ,.,-
Arquilia, at that time a fighter plane test pilot at Wright- Here it is after many hours with many more to go to finish.
Patterson Air Force Base. He had rebuilt the 190 cu. in.
racer, Miss Dara, doing up a new fuselage from scratch. shimmy and engine cooling but Capt. Arquilia helped me
Well, we set up a plan for test flying the delta job — over these. I owe him a lot for his help, along with the
which had been named the MB-1—and first on the list was many others who lent a hand during the construction
a number of taxi runs which revealed the need to change period.
the center of gravity location. Then came many lift-offs. continued on bottom of next page

Note the rib angles in this uncovered view. Ribs, gas tank, and tail-wheel installation are clearly shown
SPORT AVIATION 5
 A Recipe For Wing-Root Receptacles
By Tom Roddy, EAA 3705
Box 92, Rockwood, Tenn.
W ANT TO BE sure you have a snug fit between the
wing root and the fitting on the fuselage? Then
combine the following, as in the accompanying photo-
graph:
1. Cut sheet stock for fuselage fitting; fit into wing
root before wing root has been bolted into wing; secure
with C clamps.
2. Weld up accessible seams; tack-weld any others. Re-
move clamps from structure and finish welding re-
maining seams.
3. Place structure back inside wing root, block up under
drill press and drill through the two at once for main
wing-root bolt to fit into.
^^^^^^•^•Mi V «M^M»^^^^^V ^B. B^——
»:«*.
A recipe for wing-root receptacles
on Tailwind by Tom Roddy.
STORY OF MY DELTA WING . . .
continued from page 5
The FAA went all-out to be of assistance to me, too.
Ernest D. Miller, our FAA manufacturing agent, came
out to look at the job several times and later Mr. Swine-
hart of the same office issued my airworthiness cer-
tificate. These men are a credit to FAA and aviation in
general and I certainly appreciate the help and patience
they showed in my project.
While I was flying off the first 50 hours I carried
out a complete test program to show up any flying bugs
the plane might have but the ship had no adverse handling
or flying problems. I've checked out four people in it,
ranging from a Cub pilot to a jet man and none of them
had any problems; the main requirement for flying the
6 JANUARY 1962
4. Separate pieces again and cut pieces of tubing for
compression member in fuselage fitting; weld com-
pression member in place.
5. After wing-root fitting has been fastened into wing,
slip fuselage part of fitting into the wing-root part,
insert bolt through pre-drilled hole.
6. Position wings in correct attitude, butted against the
fuselage, as shown in accompanying photograph. Tack-
weld fuselage part of fitting to fuselage, using several
ply of sheet asbestos to prevent scorching wing. Pull
bolts; remove wings.
7. Jig fuselage fittings securely to prevent any shifting
during welding; complete welds.
Wing-root receptacles on Tailwind by Tom Roddy. Gene
Lewis is preparing fitting for welding with sheet asbestos.
ship is that you have to be fairly small to fit into the
cramped cockpit. To date the plane has over 100 hours
on it and it is certainly a real thrill to fly one's own crea-
tion, to say the least. Many airport spectators, of course,
add to the fun with the inevitable question, "Will it
fly?"!
I now have another MB-1 under construction, ba-
sically like the first with some small changes such as a
larger cockpit. In closing I would like once again to ex-
press my thanks to the many who helped me and to a very
patient wife and two small daughters. To others who are
trying to get started on a plane, I will say—plan ahead,
and don't hesitate to ask for advice from competent
mechanics and engineers, most of whom you'll find are
very willing to help get another dream ship into the air!