Flitzer Homebuilt Biplane: The Perfect Boredom Fighter!
Monday, July 8, 2013 at 07:58AM 
Totally non-authentic and perfectly awesome: the Flitzer biplane (photo: flitzerbiplane.com)
Back in the late 70's a homebuilt airplane emerged that had a WWI feel to it and was small and relatively easy to build... it was called the Boredom Fighter. I was in the process of building a Pober Pixie at the time (that I started in 1978 when I was a junior in High School) and I remember thinking that the Boredom Fighter was a great concept, but the reality of the design never really clicked with me. Then this morning I get an email from a friend asking if I'ver ever posted anything about the Flitzer Biplane from the UK. Hmm, I've never even heard of it (I can't know everything!) but when I checked it out I realized that the Flitzer Biplane is the PERFECT realization of the Boredom Fighter concept!
There's no connection between the Boredom Fighter and the Flitzer, but what I see in the Flitzer is a perfect balance of faux WWI styling along with a small, primarily wood airframe that also is a great little flying machine. It's pretty much everything that the Boredom Fighter was meant to be but never really attained. The Flitzer was design by Lynn Williams in the UK, and from what I can tell that was about 10 years ago. A real emphasis was put on designing a stout airframe with really good flying characteristics. With an empty weight of around 500 pounds, this little 18' wingspan retro fighter was designed to be powered with a VW engine. With that in mind, its easy to imagine a variety of powerplants in the 50-80hp range being acceptable in a Flitzer.
Small and VW powered, the Flitzer biplane is cheap retro thrills (photo: facebook)
There's a good resource website run by a fan of the design (flitzerbiplane.com) with info on the history of the Flitzer plus a wide range of additional info. The Flitzer Variants page there is a great place to get the basics figured out while also planting the seeds for some serious infatuation of this homebuilt that's perfectly suited to individual personalization. You'll also find Lynn Williams' email address near the top of that page in case you're interested in finding out about buying a set of construction plans.
If I had the time and money I'd start up a network of resources here in the US to encourage a large squadron of these little weekend warriors... I think it would be especially well-suited to a group of people getting together and building 4 or 5 of them, that way you have a built-in network of 'help and encouragement' along the difficult path of making it all the way thru a homebuilt project.
In fact, if I had known about the Flitzer back in 2009 when I started the AirPigz Project VP (modified Volksplane) project, I'd probably have me an unfinished Flitzer in the garage right now! Btw, PVP remains unfinished due to my nagging financial recovery issues stemming from the 08/09 economy collapse, but I'm getting closer to the day when I'll finally have that chapter of my life closed (without filing for bankruptcy : )
Anyway, the Flitzer is a homebuilt design worthy of consideration for anyone looking for a reactively easy to build head-turner that won't cost you an arm-and-a-leg. It's one of the most creative designs I've ever seen to capture great nostalgic lines and a wonderful retro-war look while also being affordable and really fun to fly. Now I just need to figure out if I'm more obsessed with the Skyote or the Flitzer! #littlebiplanesforever
Flitzer Biplane by Australian Mark Crawford: check out his Flitzer construction website
Reader Comments (7)
Wow! That was quick!!! Nice write-up, Martt.
Yeah, I'm on a little Flitzer jag right now. There are so many possibilities with the design and it sounds like a sweet flyer. I kinda like that it's NOT a replica, but it carries the same nostalgic "golden age" essence. I can see myself in one of those.
The VW is the practical power plant. I'd go that direction. But if I had a rich uncle leave me a pile of money, the Rotec would be amazing!
Mike- Thanx, I was needin' something sweet to post today and the Flitzer was the perfect answer, thank you!. As usual I had to weave the post into my regular work day, but I was very pleased to get it up before noon (I started the post before 8am but it didn't go live til almost noon)
And I love going from 0 to 100 on a post like that... never heard of it to writing about like it was a life-long in about an hour : )
I started building the flitzer Z-21 last winter, and I have to say that the designer support has been extraordinary and the prints are virtual works of art, I would highly recommend this design.
Ross Dilts
Ft Wayne Indiana
ross- Wow, the AirPigz world headquarters is just down the road from you in Warsaw... I need to see if you'll let me come over and check out your Flitzer project : )
Hey there,
can anyone tell me, why the plane is called Boredom Fighter and who it got that name from and why?
martt,
I would be glad to show you the flitzer project I hosted the EEA chapter 2 meeting this month and had a great showing, my email is [email protected] just let me know when it would be convenient, the empennage, and most of the fuselage is complete at this time
cheers
Ross
This is in response to Stephanie-
Don Wolf was my grandfather, he had retired from Grumman and didn't know what to do with his time. He always wanted to build his own plane. This is how the boredom fighter was born. It was a labor of love. He built it in my basement at his draft table and work bench. Our basement still has the "reject" propeller on the wall. I watched him build it as a little girl, he loved it dearly. Hope that answers your question.