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The sky is the limit for Extra Aircraft. For 30 years now Walter Extra is engineering outstanding airplanes. And that's how it all began...
Walter Extra, born and raised in Cologne, a major City of Germany. Walter and aviation, - these two are matching since Walter's early childhood: „I was really fascinated by birds. I was admiring them for their skills up in the air.“ At every turn Walter tries to get to the bottom of aviation. He is experimenting on kites, on flying models with or without remote control.
As an adolescent at last his dreams come true, he starts to learn flying gliders. „What I had experienced with my flying models I considered to be absolutely normal. So I tried to do loops and rolls with the full size glider. My flight instructor was appalled, almost shocked, but it was my passion!“ - Another flight instructor finally teaches Walter the first aerobatic manoeuvres. At that time aerobatic airplanes aren't really technically mature so the range of aerobatic manoeuvres is limited and one hour flying requires three hours of maintenance.
„I remember very well how I took part in Oshkosh in the US in 1980. It was my first International Aerobatic Championship. For the first time I was able to compare the technical standard of that time, as to quality and characteristics of the different aircraft. One airplane I liked a lot was the aircraft of Leo Loudenslager, at that time US-Champion. Leo called it 'Laser'. It was a monoplane with wooden airfoils, steel tubing fuselage and very good flight qualities at that time. - I myself had a 'Pitts'-Special in my very beginning; a small biplane, that couldn't keep up with international standards. - After the championship was finished I went back home to Germany. And I knew I wanted to have a similar monoplane. - I didn't have money to buy one, so I decided to build my own. - Back home I bought steel tube and met a friend - to think about how an aircraft had to be engineered in detail. We were sitting in a bar and were drafting different parts of an airplane on beer coasters...“
The two young men keep on discussing, the sketches become more precise. Walter (as a student of Mechanical Engineering) strolls about lumberyards and gets pine wood test pieces he subsequently converts in pressure-, draft- and bending tests at the university. He derives the characteristic values and starts assembly – just like that! In the beginning he works at it in a garage at home, followed by a small chartered hall at a Cologne sport airfield. As the material for the plane is too expensive, Walter comes to a forward-looking decision: He is not just going to build one aircraft, he will double the plan: „I resolved to sell one of the two airplanes, in order to afford my own. Retrospective I think it was quite audacious, because I really didn't know, whether the aircraft would lift off at all..“ - But it does! The new aircraft showcases very convincing, the airshows become more and more spectacular. Other pilots get aware of the quality and they ask Walter to build another one - and another and another and another aircraft. - And that's how the story goes and the EXTRA-Company grows pretty fast.
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The First Decade: in the Fast Lane
In the beginning there is a single, rather incidental order: Nicola Colangelo, an Italian aerobatic pilot is convinced by the ideas of young Walter Extra. He really believes in Walters consideration and is ready to invest in a new venture. He orders an EXTRA aircraft, not knowing what it will be like.
But it shows: Walters concept is not just useable: in fact his first engineering and design, the EXTRA 230, leads the way to another dimension in aerobatics.
The outstanding flight quality of the first EXTRA aircraft spreads like wildfire among airmen. Wolfgang Hawickhorst, a German aerobatic pilot remembers his first impression: „Even on the ground the design was very impressive. But even more impressive were the lines the EXTRA aircraft was drawing up in the air. Moreover an enormous vertical performance and the rate of roll was astounding!“ Journalists become observant too: „Who's that man always hitting a high position with his airplane in aerobatic championships..?“
Walter Extra is not the type of guy to go airborne personally – not even up to date. He is able to explain the EXTRA success: „If you have two pilots of the same skill level competing, the one flying an EXTRA-Aircraft will win, since my airplane can be handled more easily. So you can pay more attention to the aerobatic manoeuvres and sequence.“
Together with a small team Walter Extra is constructing aircraft. At first still at the City of Cologne, later on in the current manufacturing plant at Dinslaken airfield. There is an increasing number of fresh orders. - Alongside Walter Extra is flying championships, takes part in air shows and provides his aerobatic knowledge as national team coach of the German Aerobatic Team for almost 10 years.
The Extra company is growing. Three members of staff in the beginning, more than 60 within a short time. They are team-minded, highly trained employees, very reliable. „Reliability“, Walter Extra points out, „can not be prized enough in aircraft construction. The person taking a seat in an EXTRA aircraft has to be sure, he is surrounded by high level on safety.“ This is brought out by the type- and production certificate run by the German Federal Office of Civil Aeronautics and later on by the American FAA. In the United States too, pilots keep an eye on the aerobatic aircraft from abroad. The first EXTRA airplanes are shipped to Miami, Florida. Soon a professional distribution is organized for the United States and Canada. In his modest way the German company founder explains the boom years: „I was lucky most of the time to come off well with the respective airplanes I flew. Consequently other pilots became interested. Basically my personal hobby worked as a permanent sales promotion for me and my engineering everywhere I went.“
In spring-time 1988 there is a notable presentation: The 'EXTRA 300' is launched. A high performance two seat aerobatic aircraft. Wing and empennage are made from carbon fibre. Equipped with a powerful 300-HP Lycoming engine the '300' develops to a best- and long seller. Soon the EXTRA 300 becomes inherent part of aerobatic challenges. It sets the standards – up to now.
Alongside to the sensational success in Europe the first decade of the EXTRA company ends with a drumbeat in the United States: Well-known aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff wins the U.S. National Aerobatic Championship flying her EXTRA 260 in 1991 . She is the first woman to achieve this; and the only woman to repeat this success for two more times. - You will find Patty's Extra 260 in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
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We are now in the 1990s:
Fibre compound materials start their victory in many areas, so in aviation. Walter Extra performs basic research with a material which had received little attention so far: it is this new stuff, carbon, which finally makes the difference. An aircraft meant for aerobatics must be stiff. So, that its wings are not elastic, do not bend easily. You will not accomplish this with wood since its stiffness is not very high. Different with carbon: it is very stiff, has a very high tensile strength and – well engineered – provides for comparably light components. This is what you want for aerobatics. What Walter has in mind are high performance machines made from high performance materials. “With the results coming from the research I started designing a wing made from carbon meant to be used in a two-seater-plane. – Because I wanted to cater to a new segment: two-seat-aerobatics.” The result was the Extra 300, a strong, light plane, housing two people. The Extra-Team designs the prototype. Its first appearance the WAC in Red Deer in Canada, the 300 creates high attention. Swiss pilot Eric Müller wins a gold medal right from the start. And: also from a different standpoint the Extra 300 sets new standards: in flight training. Not only provides its new material for new maneuvers, with this two seat machine you can train in a new way. An experienced instructor can demonstrate novice pilots maneuvers even in “unlimited” level.
What is it that fascinates Walter in aerobatics? “The quality of a sequence is mainly oriented on a theoretical definition based on geometrical criteria. You are permanently facing a varying environment: wind, visibility, temperature keep changing. This matters for you performance since you are supposed to fly maneuvers such that they look perfect from the ground. So, for example, flying with crosswind is totally different from flying with headwinds or in calm air if you want to look perfect from the ground. This means you have to introduce an intuitive component into a maneuver. And you need a technical component for the basic understanding. And then you need a physical component in order to sustain the g-forces.
Aerobatics is highly demanding but also pays back a lot. It forms the character.” Aerobatic pilots” says Walter, “are a species of their own. This mixture of sportive and technical environment has made me travel the world and wherever I was I found lots of interesting and pleasant people with one thing in common: their passion for aviation. They all have a very liberal mentality and are open to the world.” As an aerobatic pilot Walter meets lots of equal minded people on the airports of this world. At the same time in his company he stands with both feet firm on the ground – and again thinks one step ahead: “Two up in a plane are great, but sometimes you may ask a little more. A little more family, friends or colleagues “. So Walter decided for another project: the six seat business tourer Extra 400/500. Because: There is a pilot’s life besides the wildest aerobatic maneuvers.
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Meanwhile the Extra 500 certified by EASA is exceptional in comfort and performance which, again, is not exceptional for Extra aircraft. As in many areas there is hard competition in aviation. Still the experienced pilot and CEO Walter Extra is not worried about future. His long experience proofs him right: “I have learned, by the time somebody copied me, I had moved on to the next idea which, in most cases, was better. So those copying me came in second.”
May it stay like this. All the best, Extra Aircraft, to your 30th anniversary.
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