Pobjoy Pirate

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Pobjoy Pirate was a three seat, high wing monoplane designed to compete with the de Havilland Leopard Moth using a low power but light Pobjoy radial engine. Flight tests showed the Pirate to be uncompetitive and its development was rapidly abandoned. The success of the three seat, high wing de Havilland Leopard Moth, introduced in 1933, had proved that there was a market for this class of aircraft. Until 1935 Pobjoy Airmotors Ltd had not previously built an aircraft, but concentrated successfully on engines. In June 1935 the company name was changed to Pobjoy Airmotors and Aircraft Ltd and at the same moment they introduced their only original aircraft design, the Pobjoy Pirate, aimed at the Leopard Moth market. They naturally chose to power it with one of their own seven cylinder radial engines. At the time, the most powerful variant was the 90 hp (67 kW) Niagara III, much less powerful than the 145 hp (108 kW) Gipsy Major 10 of the Leopard Moth.