Biplanes are our focus at DuRant Direct Drive. They are the elegant thread that reaches back to the early
days of aviation - before wind tunnels and gadgets - when it was just a pilot and his machine. And that
is the same thrill that attracts us to this hobby today...the freedom to push ourselves and the best machine we
can build to the limit and bring it back safely...and the adrenaline rush you get from knowing you've pushed to far!
The standard all biplanes are compared to is the Pitts. It was the short, high powered little plane that won every
competition in its day...and the hearts of everyone who watched it dance accross the sky.
Gordon Price flew the Pitts for years in competition...learning its strengths...and its weaknesses. He sought to
improve on the design, first by updating the wings to have more area and by adding sweep. The redesigned wings helped
the Pitts maneuver even faster while improving its stability. The hybrid Pitts flew so well that Gordon's
friends prodded him to develop his own design from the ground up, which he did. And that is how the Ultimate was
born.
The Ultimate was designed for unlimited competition, improving in every way on the 30 year old Pitts. A longer
tail made the plane track better, while the larger contols kept it nimble.
Unfortunately, the Ultimate came at a time when new composite materials gave the monoplane the advantage. The weight
of the second wing and wires were no longer necessary to achieve a rigid plane, so the biplane faded from front line competition.
To this day, however, the Ultimate remains the pinnacle of the competition biplane.
And that is why we chose to kit the Ultimate.
The swept wing gives stability to both upright and inverted flight. The full length ailerons on both wings provide
lightening fast rolls with perfectly linear tracking. Lots of wing area lets you turn on a dime, and the long tail makes
lines straight and elegant. But the greatest strength of the Ultimate is its rudder authority. You simply
never run out!
Our job at DuRant Direct Drive was to start with the best full size biplane design - the Ultimate - and make subtle changes
to refine it even more. These include:
- Larger tail surfaces for greater control in extreme maneuvering.
- Longer tail moment for straight tracking.
- Carbon reinforced truss construction for absolute rigidity.
- Direct Drive for the best in control power and precision.
- Ultra-light cowel and access covers.
- Functional carbon flying wires.
- Refined placement of tail surfaces to aerodynamically balance the aircraft.
There are only two kinds of pilots...biplane pilots and those who wish they were. When you are ready for the best competition
biplane on the market, then you have found it here!
