FREDtoFlorida

After more than 50 years, Eric Cluttons

original prototype is still flying.
By Geoff Jones

Eric Clutton is no longer a name well

known in homebuilt and Experimental
aircraft circlesexcept to a small, some
would say elite, group of homebuilders.
This light-aircraft designer from Stoke-onTrent, England, is responsible for FRED
(Flying Runabout Experimental Design),
a plans-only design that was most popular with homebuilders in the 1970s and
80s. Clutton recently sold FRED, his
prototype aircraft, to a new owner, Mike
Young, of Vero Beach, Florida. Clutton,
now 86 years old and still in good health,
has decided that after a lifetime of aircraft
designing, building and flying, he will
now retire from aviating, and FRED will
go to a new home.
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KITPLANES April 2015

Clutton had been a high school teacher

in the U.K. specializing in machine shop
and technical subjects. The long school
holidays enabled Clutton to spend most
of his vacation time in the U.S., and in
February 1983 Clutton bit the bullet,
retired from teaching and immigrated to
the USA, initially to Punta Gorda, Florida, then to Oklahoma, before he settled
in Tullahoma, Tennessee. He worked
for a while as a project engineer and
shipped his prototype FRED, originally
registered G-ASZY in the U.K., with
him to the USA. It was re-registered and
regularly flown as NX4499Y in Florida,
Oklahoma, and then Tennessee, with
regular side trips to Alabama. Clutton

also bought a Continental A-65-powered

Luscombe 8A while living in Tennessee, an aircraft he still flies occasionally,
although he has increasing difficulty
climbing aboard, so that will have to be
sold as well, he told me.

Meet FRED

Cluttons prototype FRED is a fairly

basic single-seat design with open cockpit, parasol wing and taildragger undercarriage. For anyone who has honed
their skills building traditional model
airplanes, FRED is just like a giant
model, and because it was designed
in the U.K. in the 1950s and 60s, all
dimensions on the plans are imperial
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FRED with Continental A-65 engine in the U.K., spoof WW-I lozenge color scheme, and mock
machine gun forward of the cockpit.

feet and inches. Construction of the

wings, tail, and fuselage is mainly wood,
plywood, and fabric, with the inevitable
metal fittings, wing bracing wires, and
metal engine bearers. It can mostly be
built in a standard single garage on a
couple of large, flat worktables. With its
wings folded and tail removed for towing behind a vehicle, FRED is 4 feet, 3
inches wide. If it had to be compared
to a better known U.S. design it would
be the Pietenpol Air Camper, Pober
Junior Ace, or Heath Parasol, although
as FRED is a design in its own right, its
not exactly like any of these.
FRED has a maximum takeoff weight
of 800 pounds (364 kilograms) with
a 65-hp Continental A-65 engine. As
with any homebuilt project, it is important to ensure that little extras dont
multiply and you find that the projects
empty weight is greater than it should
be. The fuselage sides are flat, and the
dimensions can be drawn out on the
construction table. Jig blocks can then

be screwed to the table and the spruce

longerons placed, before inserting the
diagonals and verticals, and then gluing
the whole shebang. The drawings show
a 22-inch cabin width, but most buildersbeing more amplemodify it with
an extra couple of inches width. Gussets
are glued at right angled joints for extra
strength. Before long you have a coffinshaped wood framework with the rear
fuselage a Warren girder structure. Next
on the flat table can be the tail feathers,
followed by the wings, which are spruce
and plywood, with a torsion-box leading edge, auxiliary rear spar and drag
spar, provided youve already built the
Gttingen 535 profile wing ribs (a lot of
under-camber but lots of lift, thickness/
chord ratio of 17.2%). The prototypes
wings when fitted had no dihedral and
as Clutton says, looked a bit droopy so I
altered them to 2-degree dihedral under
each wingtip, which visually improved
FRED, but made no difference to
handling. FRED is a semi-cantilever

Rebuilt in 1975 in the garden of Erics home in Stoke, U.K.note the simple wood wing
and tail structure.
Photos: Geoff Jones and Eric Clutton

KITPLANES April 2015

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Another U.K.-built example, G-BKZT with many modifications

including the rounded vertical tail/rudder.

FRED
Plans price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $50 plus postage
Estimated completed price . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,500$11,500
Estimated build time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500600 hours
Number flying (at press time) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6070
Powerplant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Continental A-65
Propeller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wood, fixed-pitch
Powerplant options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15001835cc VW

Airframe

Wingspan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 ft 6 in
Fuel capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 gal
Maximum gross weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800 lb
Typical empty weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 lb
Typical useful load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 lb
Full-fuel payload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 lb
Seating capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Cabin width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 in

Performance

Cruise speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 mph

Maximum rate of climb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700 fpm
Stall speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 mph
Takeoff distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 ft
Landing distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 ft
Specifications are based on the configuration of the
prototype aircraft.

A basic example of FRED G-BBBW built by Don Webster in Yorkshire and flying in the U.K.

design, which means that the apparent

lift wires do not take lift loads, but are
simply drag and anti-drag wires. Neither
are they wires, but quarter-inch steel
rods. The 9-gallon metal fuel tank is in
the fixed, wing center section, and gravity feeds the engine. The cabane is fixed,
but both outer panels fold flat against
the fuselage sides with their leading
edge downward, locked in position for
road towing and able to be unfolded and
prepared for flight by one person with
no other aids in a matter of minutes.

Airframe and Engine Improvements

All the main airframe elements are

as simple to construct as the fuselage,
and just like those aero-modeling
adventures of your youth. Many builders have streamlined the basic FRED
design, and the addition of a curved
and rounded tail and rudder does wonders to the aircrafts visual appeal. As
part of Cluttons design evolution of
FRED, he initially fitted bungees for
the undercarriage, but quickly changed
this to steel coil springs, which proved
reliable and maintenance free. Then,
when he decided to fit wheel brakes,

he also moved the main undercarriage

wheels forward by 2 inches. When
highway towing FRED, Clutton has
safely reached speeds of 70 mph, but a
little slower is probably advisable.
Clutton first flew his prototype
FRED at Stoke city airfield at Meir in
the U.K. on November 3, 1963 with a
27-hp converted Triumph 5T motorcycle engine. There were simply no other
suitable engines available to us at this
time, he said. Several alternative engines
were then tried, including a Scott A2S, a
Lawrence radial, a 1500cc VW, a Franklin AC4-150, and last, a Continental
A-65. Most of the FREDs now flying are
fitted with an 1800cc VW or A-65. The
aircrafts designation also changed as the
design was tweaked and new engines
fitted, to FRED Series II in 1966, then
after sustaining considerable damage
in a crash in 1974 and again in 1978, to
FRED Series III. The Continental was
fitted to Cluttons FRED in 1982, just in
time for one quick test flight in the U.K.
before the aircraft was dismantled for
shipping to the USA. During FREDs
gestations other design improvements
were made, including the installation of

Eric Clutton taxiing FRED on

the grass at Sywell airfield in
the U.K. in July 1977.

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KITPLANES April 2015

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Two FREDs at the annual homebuilders

rally at Cranfield, U.K. in 1989.

wheel brakes, a steerable tailwheel, and a

spring trim (which is not shown on the
plans). The undercarriage modifications
were done to make it safer when taxiing
FRED among a bunch of other aircraft
and obstructions. Various color schemes
were also adopted, initially Red Baron
Red, then a WW-I camouflage lozenge
scheme, and finally, the current scheme
of the aircraft as it was sold to ex-pat Brit
Mike Young , a wartime training yellow,
with roundels.
Even with all the changes and improvements, the design objective has remained
constant: to produce a simple-to-build,
wood/fabric, single-seat, sport, parasolwing monoplane with wings that fold for
towing behind a car using the aircrafts
own main undercarriage wheels, thus
enabling the pilot/owner to keep the aircraft in a garage at home and avoid expensive hangar bills. The inspiration was
definitely Henri Mignet and his Flying
Flea, but thats where the similarity ends.

Cluttons Other Designs

In 1969 Clutton subsequently went

on to design the EC.2 Easy Too, a lowwing version of the FRED with a beltreduction-drive 1500cc VW. This was
left part-finished in the U.K. when he
Appropriately registered by builder Tony
Oliver, G-OLVR is fitted with a VW conversion plus has an elongated nose.

KITPLANES April 2015

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Registered in the USA now, NX4499Y at Tullahoma in its most recent guise, an RAF training
yellow color scheme.

emigrated, but was badly stored and

has since deteriorated. Then in 1978
his EC.3 Special, a faster more streamlined version of the EC.2, was designed.
Neither of these was completed, even
though the registration G-CLUT was
obtained for the prototype EC.3.

Billie and The Fred Baron

On his visits to the PFA (Popular Flying

Association) fly-ins at Sywell, the WW-I
camouflage that he applied to FRED
got visitors and enthusiasts referring to
Clutton as The Fred Baron. He certainly succeeded in bringing the fun to
recreational flying at the time.
FRED has been well known since
arriving in the USA, with Clutton making many dusk aerial forays around the
airfield at Tullahoma in the calm evening air. Rather than folding the wings
and towing, Clutton preferred to keep
FRED in one of the airfield hangars. He
was often seen with Billie, his pet budgie (parakeet), on his shoulder on the
airfield at Tullahoma, and occasionally
when Clutton was flying the Luscombe,
Billie would come along in the cockpit.
Even though Billie goes everywhere

with Clutton, flights in FRED for the

two of them were too breezy, and Billie
remained grounded!

Everymans Airplane

From the beginning, Clutton wanted

FRED to be easy and economical to
build, and safe and easy to fly. Its a simple recreational aircraft that a reasonably
experienced glider pilot can fly without
further training. Clutton is happy he
achieved his goals, and further claims
that the design is almost unstallable.
The spring trim enables FRED to be
flown hands off. It is a very stable aircraft and not really sensitive in pitch
or yaw. Clutton recalls one 90-mile
cross-country in FRED when the ailerons were not operating, yet I was able
to complete the flight safely and without incident. He also notes that takeoff and climb performance is entirely
dependent on power, but since fitting
the Continental A-65, a usual climb rate
of 700 fpm is to be expected.
Between the date of the prototypes
first flight and the present, Clutton
has sold over 600 sets of plans. He has
documentation that worldwide, at least

Eric Clutton, FRED and new Florida-based owner, ex-pat Brit Mike
Young who will take over custody of the famous FRED prototype.

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KITPLANES April 2015

Eric Clutton with his beloved FRED just

before its sale and departure to Florida.

60 FREDs have been completed and

flown in the U.K., Australia, Canada,
New Zealand, and the United States,
although he has no idea of how many
are currently flying in the U.S.
Clutton will still sell you a set of
plans and provides advice by email. He
also points out that in the U.S., FRED
can be flown as an LSA without a medical certificate.
Clutton is sad to have had to sell the
prototype FRED, but told me, I can
no longer prop him offno electric
starterand aeroplanes dont like to
be neglected. Ive had FRED over fifty
years and have had great enjoyment with
him. Reflecting on his time at Stoke in
England, he said, The city still hasnt
raised a statue to Reg Mitchell, the citys
other famous aircraft designer, so theres
no chance that youll be seeing a statue
to commemorate Eric Clutton! J
With grateful thanks to Eric Clutton for his
help with this article. Contact details: Eric
Clutton, 913 Cedar Lane, Tullahoma, TN
37388-3167, USA. Email: doctordiesel@
cafes.net. Additional information can be
found at: http://cluttonfred.info.

Eric Clutton with FRED and a 1/5-scale RC model he made of FRED

at Tullahoma. The real FRED is sold, but Eric will keep the RC model
as a momento.

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