UnOfficial Velocity History
This will contain my UnOfficial History of Velocity Aircraft. {!!!!this section is not complete!!!!}
Velocity was founded by Danny Maher. Danny grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and went on to earn a Chemical Engineering degree. He worked in shipping, in electrolysis prevention, but began a hobby of racing boats. At 25 he had built a 32' ocean racer powered by a straight-drive Chevy V8 427 that would do 55MPH. This lead to a business in building offshore racing boats. This business was very successful, and after a decade he sold the company and "retired" at 35 to Sebastian.
Danny then bought and built an Ultralight (Wizard) and taught himself to fly (suffering a crash). During a visit to Merritt Island Airport, he admired the Long-ez of Neil Hunter, who's "Big-EZ" was a cover plane for Sport Aviation in January 1986. Wanting to buy one, this is when he first heard about "homebuilding" and the EAA. Danny became enamored with the long-ez, and built 2! The first was done in 10 months, the second was a test-bed for his ideas. He wanted to make the plane more comfortable, with more space, and more upright seating.
Danny founded Velocity in 1984 in Sebastian, Florida with himself as President. Pete Hoffman was the Vice President, and Neil Hunter was in charge of Public Relations. The prototype was built in 7 months, and first flew in the summer of 1985. It weighed 1,100 pounds empty, with a gross weight of 2,550 pounds and a Lycoming 180 HP engine and composite prop (built by Danny). Cruise was claimed as 220 MPH. Flight testing of the prototype was completed in mid-October 1985, and thus did not attend Osh Kosh (Airventure), but was debuted at Sun-n-Fun in 1986. That first airplane, with a serial number of DMO40, was registered as N401DM. This airplane was flown by Billy Henederson of Sport Aviation, who noted 1500-200fpm climb rates and a top end of 184 kts. This first aircraft also featured a retractable nose gear. Note that the original aircraft did not have full-length rudders.
The serial numbers started with DMO-Dan Maher Original, number 40. It's believed that the number 40 was chosen to reassure buyers that they were getting a proven product! The aileron push-pull cables were Morse marine style, because he was familiar with thier operation. The brake master cylinders were from the Datsun/Nissan B210's clutch! Build time was estimated at 800-1000 hours with the kit in the $18,000 range. The kit featured 43 1/2" wide fuselage, though the prototype was only 42 1/4". Similarly the height was 40" on the prototype, 41" on the kit, and length was 81". The main wing area on the prototype was 96.4 SQFT and the canard was 19.75 SQFT, for a total area of 116.15 SQFT, for a gross loading of 19.37 lbs/SQFT. These were increased slightly for the kits. The outer wing panels were modified Long-EZ airfoils, but the strakes and canard were Danny's design, and Roncz vortilons were added to the main wings. Danny is the registered builder of 4 Velocitys (DMO040, DMO100, DMO255, and 029; N401DM, N7044Q, N255DM, and N4253M registration). (NOTE: The advertised wing dimensions on production aircraft were a span of 28.63 FT, for a wing area of 125 SQFT, and wing loading of 19.6 lbs/SQFT).
These wing dimensions were maintained until 1992 when the 173 (or as it later came to be called, the "Long Wing") wing was offered. This was a play on the Cessna 172, and was meant to tame the handling characteristics to the point where any pilot could comfortably handle it. The 172 was intended to be unpaved-runway-capable, with sturdier gear, more wing and canard span, and a thicker airfoil, and a 58 MPH stall speed and 190 MPH top speed (2). This also was just after the 'deep stall' mystery was solved. As part of this solution, the wing trailing edge was extended to the aft edge of the tip sails, and the aft inboard camber was changed (2), and 60" leading edge cuffs were offered to existing aircraft owners. The cuffs are required for DMO serial numbers below 115 (approximately, 3). Kits after 115 were shipped with the new wing, and an extra forward fuel baffle (3).
