Comper Streak

Nicholas Comper had always hoped for wins in prestigious air races and the low wing, single-seat Streak was built to that end.

[1] Originally the Streak was intended to compete in the Portsmouth International Races of 1933 but, owing to political and economic problems of the time, these were not held.

This determined the choice of engine, as the competition rules set a limiting capacity of 8 litres, though supercharging was allowed.

The mass balances, not fitted for the initial flights, were conspicuously mounted on extended upward arms from near the aileron root.

Comper was an early adopter of retractable undercarriages for light aircraft at a time when the balance of advantage between drag loss and weight penalty was not obvious.

Pairs of cross braced struts, joining the legs a little way above the axle and hinged at top and bottom, rotated to retract the wheels rearwards.

Apart from aileron flutter at speed, cured by installing the mass balances, the sole Streak, registered G-ACNC[4] flew well enough, but made no impression in the King's Cup races of 1934 and 1935.

Comper Streak 3-view drawing from NACA-AC-194