Byron A-4 Skyhawk ducted fan jet.
O.S. 91DF engine, Byron Fan, Byron pipe, JR XP8103 radio system, Spring Air retracts.

Fully painted and ready for final testing.

A cluttered workbench is the sign of a sick mind!

Here it is sitting out at the field after numerous attempts to get the engine
to run just right.   

It was about 38 degrees this day with about a 30mph wind, so I'm not
surprised the engine was reluctant to start.  You know, the plane just
doesn't look as big out here as it does on your work bench...hmmm -
maybe it's time for a bigger plane :)

     
A nice day for an attempted flight.  Unfortunately this plane was plagued with
engine problems.  It did finally fly, but not very well.  See text below.
(By the way, I've lost about 60 pounds since then)

Here's something I had to do to keep the wing trailing
edge from fluttering.  A friend of mine, Ed Clark, made 
custom aluminum bushings for the brass rod to go through
the width of the fuse so the wings would have no chance
of moving in flight.  This is the trailing edge where Byron 
normally puts the aileron connecting rods but I'm using
servos in the wings for that.  

Here's a shot of the O.S. 91 DF engine and Byron Fan housing.
Dont' be fooled by the illusion of space...

It can get pretty crowded in there!  Notice the dual fuel
tanks just under the tuned pipe...pretty cozy!

** Update **
Well, it's now 2004, and this plane is long gone.  Here's the story...

First of all, I'd like to mention that mounting an engine upside down, 
especially a ducted fan engine, is just a bad idea.  It floods out too
easily before you get a chance to run it up, and it's just a pain in the 
ass to maintain.  Second, this particular Byron kit has a major flaw
in the elevator linkage setup.  They use a long plastic flexible pushrod
from the elevator servo in the cockpit all the way back to the tail.  That's a
bad idea due to the flexing possibilities and obviously can be detrimental
to the airplane.  This is exactly what caused the demise of my particular
Byron A4 during only the second flight.  The elevator was way too
mushy because of the pushrod setup.  If I had to do it again, I would mount
all servos no more than 6 inches away from any moving surface.  

Also, I don't know if my engine was just running poorly, (upside down, you know),
or if the jet was too heavy, but I never got this bird up to what I would call a safe
flying speed.  The first flight, after a dozen starting attempts, was scary as hell.
The plane was flying very slow after rotation so I climbed a little to setup for landing 
so I could tweak the needle.  I made a few passes and finally set her down.  Landing
was surprisingly smooth for such a heavy bird.  The second attempt was a little faster,
but not what I expected from a new O.S. 91DF engine.  The plane stumbled around
the sky, and I made one turn too sharp and the elevator gave out and the plane stalled
into a death spiral.  When it finally hit the ground, I was almost relieved.  I had spent
so much time and effort on this plane, and had expected it to blow me away with
speed and performance, that when I finally flew it and was so disappointed, I figured
ducted fans were not for me. 

The belly-in landing actually wasn't as bad as I thought.  I kept the gear up as I was
going down over rough grass and figured I'd try to save as much stuff as I could.
The plane broke in half right in the middle where to two halves of the fuse are joined
during construction, so not really a big deal there.  However, I was done with this brick.
I stripped it of all internals and donated the jet to the local hobby shop for display purposes.
Needless to say, it was a learning experience.  It's been a while, and a few planes since this
fiasco, and I can honestly say that I'm ready to get back into the game.  There's just something
about jets that pulls me into that magical world of speed and the freedom to fly around the
sky with no boundries (except 20/15 vision) .