{{Short description|British racing plane}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox aircraft |name=Beta |image=G-BADC Rollason Beta B.2A (9670532337).jpg |caption=An amateur-built Beta |type=Single seat racing monoplane |manufacturer=Rollason Aircraft and Engines |designer= |first_flight=21 April 1967 |introduction= |retired= |status= |primary_user= |more_users= |produced= |number_built=4 (factory-built)<br>5 (homebuilt) |variants= }}

The '''Rollason Beta''' was a British midget racing monoplane developed from a competition to build a Formula One air racer in the 1960s in England.<ref name = "Jackson288">Jackson 1988, p.288</ref> The Beta was first flown on 21 April 1967. The aircraft were successful air-racers in England during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

==Development== The Beta was designed by the Luton Group (who were young technicians employed by the British Aircraft Corporation at Luton)<ref name = "RonSmith">{{Cite web|url=https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/SmithRon/13387.htm|title=Rollason Beta B1}}</ref> in a competition to design a racing aircraft, the Rollason Midget Racer Design Competition 1964.<ref name = "Jackson288"/>

The Beta is a fully aerobatic wooden low-wing cantilever monoplane with a cantilever tailplane with a single fin and rudder, powered by a Continental engine of between 65 and 100&nbsp;hp. It has a fixed-tailwheel landing gear and an enclosed cockpit for the pilot. The original prototype '''Luton Beta''' was not completed.<ref name = "Jackson288"/> The design was built commercially by Rollason Aircraft and Engines who made 4 aircraft at Redhill between 1967 and 1971.<ref name = "Jackson288"/><ref name = "Jones1">Jones 2002, p.7</ref> Plans were also available for homebuilding; although 55 sets of drawings had been sold by early 1974, five aircraft have been registered but just three aircraft are known to have been completed, all in the UK.<ref name = "RonSmith"/>

==Operational history== The first Rollason-built Beta (registered G-ATLY and named ''Forerunner'') won the Manx Air Derby in 1969 and the second Rollason-built aircraft (registered G-AWHV and named ''Blue Chip'') won the Goodyear Trophy air race at Halfpenny Green in 1969.

G-ATLY was written off in an aerial collision with a Tiger Moth at Nottingham on 29 September 1973, killing the pilot,<ref name = "avsafety1">{{Cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/18985|title = Accident Rollason Beta G-ATLY, 29 Sep 1973}}</ref> G-AWHV was destroyed by fire in 1995<ref name = "RonSmith"/> and G-AWHW crashed on 17 December 1987 at RAF Wattisham, Suffolk, killing the pilot.<ref name = "avsafety2">{{Cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/174176|title=Accident Rollason Beta B2a G-AWHW, 17 Dec 1987}}</ref>

==Variants==

;B.1 :Powered by a 65hp Continental A65 engine, one built by Rollason later converted to B.2<ref name = "RonSmith"/> ;B.2 :Powered by a 90hp Continental C90 engine, one by Rollason and one conversion from B.1<ref name = "RonSmith"/> ;B.2A :As B.2, but with steel sprung undercarriage,<ref name = "RonSmith"/> two built by Rollason ;B.4 :Powered by a 100hp Rolls-Royce Continental O-200-A engine, none built.

==Specifications (Beta B.2)== {{Aircraft specs |ref=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971–72 <ref name="Janes 71 p206">Taylor 1971, p.206.</ref> |prime units? = imp |crew=1 |length ft=16 |length in=8 |span m= |span ft=20 |span in=5 |height m= |height ft=5 |height in=0 |wing area sqm= |wing area sqft=66 |aspect ratio=6.15:1 |airfoil=NACA 23012 |empty weight kg= |empty weight lb=560 |gross weight kg= |gross weight lb=850 |eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Continental C90 |eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines --> |eng1 hp=<!-- prop engines -->90 |fuel capacity={{convert|10.5|impgal|USgal L|abbr=on}} |max speed kmh= |max speed mph=202 |max speed note=at sea level

|cruise speed mph=160 |cruise speed note=at {{convert|7000|ft|m|abbr=on}} |stall speed mph=60 |stall speed note=(without flaps) |range miles=320 |ceiling m= |ceiling ft=20,000 |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin=1,800 | }}

==References== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} *{{cite book |last= Jackson|first= A. J.|title= British Civil Aircraft 1919-1972 Volume 3 |year= 1988|publisher= Putnam|location= London|isbn=0-85177-818-6}} * [http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1967/1967%20-%202052.html?search=Rollason%20Beta Flight International 19 October 1967] * {{cite book |last= Simpson |first= R. W. |title=Airlife's General Aviation |year=1995 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |location=Shrewsbury |page=431 }} *{{cite book |editor-last= Taylor|editor-first=John W. R. |author-link=John W. R. Taylor |title=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971–72 |year=1971 |publisher= Jane's Yearbooks|location=London|isbn=0-354-00094-2 }} *{{cite book |last= Jones|first= Michael|title= Tiger Club - The Redhill Saga Volume 3 1977-1989|year= 2002|publisher= Cirrus Associates|location= Gillingham, Dorset|isbn=1-902807-12-X}} {{refend}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070211100118/http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=766 Rollason Beta] – British Aircraft Directory

Category:1960s British sport aircraft Category:Homebuilt aircraft Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft Category:Low-wing aircraft Category:Aircraft first flown in 1967