In late 1979, Gene Sheehan and Tom Jewett, co-founders of the Quickie Aircraft Corporation, builders of the successfulQuickie tandem-winged kitplane, started development of an aircraft to attempt to make the first unrefuelled round-the-world flight. This would require a flight of at least 22,800 miles, almost double the existing unrefuelled flight distance record of 12,532 miles set by a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber in January 1962. While Quickie Aircraft had made their name with the tandem-winged Quickie, their design for the round-the-world flight which was initially known as the "Big Bird", but later was named "Free Enterprise", was a more conventional single-engined high-winged monoplane of tractor configuration. Its high-aspect ratio all-metal wings were based on those of the Laister Nuggetsailplane, while the slender fuselage and empennage were of Kevlar/fiberglass/Urethane foam composite construction. The aircraft took off using a tricycle trolley which would then be jettisoned, the aircraft landing on a ventral skid. Two large fuel tanks were mounted in the fuselage which, together with tip-tanks on the end of the wings, held 365 US Gallons of fuel. It was powered by a 135 hp PZL-Franklin air-cooled flat-sixpiston engine, chosen for its superior fuel economy. The pilot sat in an enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy. The plan was for Jewett to make the flight at high-altitude, to take advantage of jetstream winds, with an average 50 knot tailwind expected. He was to carry out the flight on oxygen, using an autopilot to allow some sleep during the record flight, which was estimated to take about 80 hours. Sophisticated radio navigation gear was fitted to pinpoint the aircraft's position and to warn Jewett if it drifted off-course. The flight was planned to start and finish at Houston Intercontinental Airport, Texas, flying eastwards over the Atlantic and Mediterranean, then using the jetstreams over China and the Pacific Ocean.
Operational history
The Free Enterprise made its first public test flight on 8 March 1982, with the record flight scheduled for autumn to take advantage of stronger prevailing winds. It crashed, however, on 2 July 1982 while carrying out a test-flight near Mojave, California, killing Jewett.
