Oregon Air and Space Museum
The BD-5 Micro is a series of small, single-seat homebuilt aircraft created in the late 1960s by US aircraft designer Jim Bede and introduced to the market primarily in kit form by the now-defunct Bede Aircraft Corporation in the early 1970s.
The BD-5 has a small, streamlined fuselage holding its semi-reclined pilot under a large canopy, with the engine installed in a compartment in the middle of the fuselage, and a propeller-driving engine - or jet engine in the BD-5J variant - mounted immediately to the rear of the cockpit. The combination of fighter-like looks and relatively low cost led to the BD-5 selling over 5,000 kits or plans, with approximately 12,000 orders being taken for a proposed factory-built, FAA-certified version.vHowever, few of the kit versions were actually completed due to the company's bankruptcy in the mid-1970s, and none of the factory built "D" models were produced, as a result of the failure to find a reliable engine for the design.In total, only a few hundred BD-5 kits were completed, although many of these are still being flown today.
BD-5 Specifications:
Length............................ 13 ft 7 in (4.13 m)
Wingspan....................... 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Height..............................4 ft 2 in (1.28 m)
Maximum speed........... 232 mph (Turbo prop)
325 mph (Jet)
