Jurca Sirocco Explained
The Jurca MJ-5 Sirocco (named for the Sirocco wind) is a two-seat sport aircraft designed in France in the early 1960s and marketed for homebuilding.[1] It is one of many wooden homebuilt designs from Romanian born designer Marcel Jurca. Jurca, a Henschel Hs 129 pilot in World War II marketed the plans in Canada and America through Falconar Aviation.[2] It is a low-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration and wooden construction throughout.[3] The tandem seats are enclosed by a bubble canopy, and the tailwheel undercarriage can be built as either fixed or with retractable main units. Marcel Jurca died on 19 October 2001, at which time plans were still available from the designer's website.
Plans are supplied by Avions Marcel Jurca[4] and Manna Aviation of Australia.[5]
Variants
- MJ-5
Basic variant
The type of engine fitted, and the type of landing gear, are indicated by suffixes to the designation. For example MJ-5K2.[6] [7]
A - 670NaN0 Continental C90-8 or -14F
B - 74.50NaN0 Continental O-200-A
C - 78.50NaN0 Potez 4 E-20
D - 115hp Lycoming O-235
E - 125to Lycoming O-290
EA - 140hp Walter
F - 145hp Continental
G - 150hp Lycoming O-320
H - 160hp Lycoming O-320
J - 165hp Franklin
K - 180hp Lycoming O-360
L - 200hp Lycoming O-360
M - 220hp Franklin:
1 - Fixed landing gear, 2 - retractable landing gear
- MJ-50 Windy
All-metal version with retractable landing gear (never built)
- MJ-51 Sperocco
("Special Sirocco") - performance version with wing taken from the Jurca Gnatsum
- MJ-52 Zéphyr
(English: [[Zephyrus|Zephyr wind]]) - utility version with converted Volkswagen automotive engine or Continental A65
- MJ-53 Autan
(English: [[Autan|Autan wind]]) - version with side-by-side seating - two built
- MJ-55 Biso
(English: [[Bise|Biso wind]]) - aerobatic version with the wings of the Jurca Gnatsum without flaps. It had a smaller tail and a fixed aluminium blade landing gear. Only one was built, with a 180hp Lycoming engine. First flown in 1998, it crashed in 2000 due to gluing errors in construction.[8] References
- Popular Science. June 1970. All these planes you can build from plans. 99.
- Plane & Pilot. Marcel's Mini Fighters. Nick Stasinos. February 1972.
- Air Progress Sport Aircraft. Winter 1969. 76.
- Web site: Avions Marcel Jurca . Marcel-Jurca.com . 20 October 2019.
- Web site: Manna Aviation - MJ-5 Sirocco Blueprints. mannaaviation.com.
- Book: Taylor . John WR . Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1986-87 . 1986 . Jane's Publishing Company . London . 0 7106-0835-7 . 577-580 .
- Web site: Les Avions Marcel Jurca 1956-2016 (PDF in French) . Avions Marcel Jurca . 22 October 2019.
- Web site: MJ-55 Biso . Avions Marcel Jurca . 26 October 2019.
External links
