The first Pioneer began as an aircraft construction project of Walt MacFarlane in 1965, but he did not complete the aircraft. The partially completed project was purchased by Bill Daniels and Jim Marske in 1967, who completed it and first flew the aircraft in 1968. That prototype, serial number 1, registered N7910 was still registered to Daniels in 2011.[4]
In its original configuration the Pioneer had a 401NaN1 wingspan. The aircraft was constructed with a wood and doped fabric wing, with the fuselage made from steel tube and fiberglass. The design features a fixed monowheel landing gear, flaps for glide-path control and spoilers for roll control instead of the more usual ailerons.
The original Pioneer was modified with wing extensions, bringing the span to 461NaN1 and it was re-designated the Pioneer IA. In this configuration the aircraft can fly as slowly as 280NaN0 or as fast as 1400NaN0.
The original design was simplified for homebuilt construction, retaining the wood and fabric wing construction, but the fuselage was changed to a fiberglass structure. The wingspan was shortened to 42.641NaN1 to allow the wings to be built in a standard 201NaN1 deep garage. Unlike on the original design, roll control was changed to ailerons, with upper surface spoilers paired with lower surface dive brakes for glidepath control. Because the aircraft is tailless the centre of gravity range is very narrow. To simplify weight and balance considerations the monowheel landing gear is located on the desired C of G and the pilot's seat is adjustable fore-and-aft. The pilot simply moves the seat until the aircraft balances on the wheel to ensure that the balance is within the center-of-gravity range. The empty weight is 3900NaN0 with a gross weight of 6300NaN0. The aircraft manages a 35:1 glide ratio and a minimum sink of 2.26ft/s.
Starting in 1972 the Pioneer II was made available as plans or as a kit. The kit included a pre-made fiberglass fuselage shell. Reported building times range from 600 to 2000 hours. At least one Pioneer II was modified with a 45.931NaN1 wingspan.
Marske has built a prototype Pioneer III, an all-composite variant of the basic design. The Pioneer III is intended to be 1000NaN0 lighter than the Pioneer II, produce a 20% drag reduction and be optimized for flight in weak lift conditions.[5]
Pioneer IIs have made flights of over 3000NaN0.
In March 2011 there were seven Pioneer IIs registered in the US, along with the original Pioneer IA and the prototype Pioneer 3.[6] [7] In March 2011 there were four Pioneer IIs registered in Canada.[8]
