The ’60s and ’70s saw many aircraft designed to use the VW engine. Most tend to blend together in memory, but Bill Johnson’s Mini-Coupe still stands out: You don’t see many homebuilts with twin tails. To me, it looks like the result of a midnight meeting between an Ercoupe and a Japanese Ohka kamikaze (aka “Baka Bomb”).
Several designers in the early ’70s were experimenting with building VW-powered aircraft out of aluminum, and one can probably view the Chris Tena Mini-Coupe as the ancestor to the Sonex. Wikipedia says that the company was named “Chris Tena” after Johnson’s wife.
The plane came as a complete kit, with preformed ribs, spars, and fuselage skins. Pulled rivets were used for assembly, and all welded parts were included in the kit. It’s reported that about 150 kits were sold. The design went through several other companies over the years. Kits are no longer sold, but plans are available from DCS Inc. (www.theminicoupe.com).
All controls are operated directly by pushrods; no cables to rig. Like the Piper Vagabond and the Bowers Fly Baby, the tricycle landing gear is rigid with no shock-absorption capability beyond the tires. The nosewheel is steerable. One oddity is that “tail skids” are installed on the bottoms of the vertical stabilizers, not the aft fuselage.
The stock fuel tank is 13 gallons. While designed as an open-cockpit airplane, several builders raised the aft turtledeck and installed a canopy.
Builder Ron Dixon, in a 1977 pilot report in EAA Sport Aviation, reports good handling. He was unable to make it spin, but one accident report from 1984 was a stall/spin case. Another builder reports putting over 500 hours on his airplane, which is a pretty good indicator of an acceptable aircraft.
Including the 1984 case, there have been a half-dozen or so accidents involving Mini-Coupes. There are no common elements, just the usual combination of mechanical issues and pilot handling. One recent case involved bad CG.
About 43 Mini-Coupes have entered the FAA registry since 1971. Only five remain on the active list. The airplane easily qualifies as Sport Pilot eligible.
