Clutton FRED

A site for fans of Eric Clutton's FRED and other safe, simple, affordable, homebuilt aircraft

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Plans and books update!

The pricing of FRED plans and Eric Clutton's books sold by Jonathan Holt has been updated. Shipping is now included on all orders, including to international destinations, to simplify the process. See Plans & Books for details and contact Jonathan with any questions.

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Fixing FRED video series

Nick Chittenden over at Trecanair has now posted five videos about repairing and restoring Clutton FRED G-BISG with more to come. Watch them all!

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Part 2 is up!

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Here is a lovely clip of Mervyn Waugh's FRED G-BNZR that he shared recently on FB with his comments below.

A closer look at G-BNZR.

This professional footage was filmed in the summer of 1992, at Newtownards, home of the Ulstrer Flying Club, to promote an upcoming air show. I recently dug out some old camera tapes featuring club members and their aeroplanes.

I have now done a new edit to highlight FRED and of course a much younger version of my good self!

Enjoy ...

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Mike Loehle remembers Eric Clutton

While Eric Clutton sadly passed away in 2022, it has been something of a tradition on this site to wish him happy birthday each year, and today Eric would have been 97 years old.

When Eric left the UK for the USA to seek greener pastures and bluer skies, he ended up in Tennessee, where he was involved in various ways with the development of a number of homebuilt and ultralight aircraft. One fixture of the light aviation community in Tennessee is Mike Loehle, and I'll let him take it from here:

I took this photo years ago here at my airstrip back in the 1980’s. Eric worked for us back then at Ritz Propeller Company and later Loehle Aircraft in our “5151” Mustang prototype days and then I moved him to our prop shop. Eric travelled to airshows with us too. I wish I could find his great book on having an English Morgan three-wheel car! Such a funny book, lost mine somewhere in our office, I guess. I’m bad about loaning books, so who knows…? My airstrip in Wartrace is the home of my former Ritz Propeller Company, Loehle Aircraft, and now Loehle Coatings. There we developed the Loehle “5151” Mustang RG, Loehle P-40 Flying Tiger, Loehle Sport Parasol, Loehle Spad XIII, Loehle Fokker D-VII, Loehle SE5a, Loehle Spitfire Elite, Loehle KW-909 and Loehle Fun Machine, and Loehle Aeroplane XP. Some of our kits were experimentals and several were ultralights. Eric helped us with many of our kit designs and in our prop shop. As I run across more photos of our “colorful” Eric, I will forward them to you. Many more photos exist in my closed factory office.

Photo of Eric Clutton and the original prototype FRED taken at the 1800' grass airstrip at The Aviation Valley (6TN4) in Wartrace, Tennessee courtesy of Mike Loehle.

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First in a series about restoring Clutton FRED G-BISG...this one includes getting the engine running, unfolding the wings and rigging the tail, and a walk around the plane including the cockpit.

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G-BISG is being brought back to life! More to follow....

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Celebrating FRED's first flight with...a new FRED project nearing completion!

November 3rd marks the 61st anniversary of the first flight of Eric Clutton's original FRED and almost 15 years that I have been running the Clutton FRED site. To commemorate this day, I am pleased to share news of a FRED that will soon take to the skies, Mike Dolphin's G-CMAY in the East Midlands region of England.

In his own words, Mike spent "47 years in a blue uniform", first as a non-commissioned aircraft engineer in the Royal Air Force and later as a full-time reservist flying instructor in light aircraft and gliders. He is also an experienced aircraft builder, having tackled many projects over the years including repairing and restoring gliders, building and flying a Europa in the 1990s, and, most recently completing a Jodel DR1050 in 2020 that he enjoys flying today.

Itching for a new project for his then empty workshop, a friend gave Mike a lead on a FRED project, mostly built but never completed in Perth, Scotland by Jack Cullen, who had recently passed away. Mike brought home an uncovered but "almost complete airframe, a bit grubby and in disarray but...very well put together. After 40 years inevitably some of the glue joints needed redoing and some biscuits and ribs needed remaking but on the whole a trouble free project."

After the more delicate woodwork of his Jodel, FRED's structure is quite beefy, "the expression over-engineered springs to mind" though Mike also points out that a friend once said "the FRED could be driven through a fence without damage"! Noting the optional cockpit access door supplement to the plans, Mike took advantage of this modification but even so, "being of a certain age" and 6' 1" tall, he says "it’s still a challenge getting in and out again with dignity."

The VW engine that came with the project, a Barry Smith VW conversion, turned out to have a seized main bearing. Mike was able to find a low-time HAPI 1835cc VW that runs well but "adjusting mixture control on the AeroCarb carburettor is a black art".

Familiar with the solvent-free, heat-activated, pre-painted Oratex covering system from his Jodel, Mike went with Oratex for his FRED. On a tight budget, he covered the fuselage in white fabric leftover from his Jodel, got a bargain on some silver fabric ("cheapest colour") from UK Oratex supplier The Light Aircraft Company (TLAC) at Little Snoring, and finished the tail with a "multicoloured harlequin effect using offcuts from the TLAC scrap bins." I am quite sure Eric Clutton would have approved.

Mike continues, "Rigged fully for the first time recently I have come to appreciate the cheeky charm of the design and I am now looking forward to flying him (Yes, it’s got to be a him) and I am already planning trips and fly-outs." Weight and balance checks including the CG range have been within norms at an empty weight of 251 kg (553 lbs). If all goes well that will allow a gross weight of 363 kg (800 lbs) for a useful load of 111 kg (247 lbs). Still remaining to do are further motor tuning, checking the suitability of the Ken Fern propeller, final rigging and complete checks including the pitot-static system, and final inspection.

If all goes as planned, G-CMAY should take to the air sometime in early 2025!

Article by Matthew Long from detailed notes by Mike Dolphin, photos courtesy of Mike Dolphin and used by permission.

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FRED is 60 years old today! November 3rd, 2023 is the 60th anniversary of the first flight of Eric Clutton's Flying Runabout Experimental Design aka FRED. I filmed this little clip when I visited Eric in Tullahoma, Tennessee back in 2012. Sadly, Eric passed away in February 2022 but his simple, practical, affordable, safe and fun little aeroplane soldiers on. That FREDs continue to be built and flown here and there all over the world is a fitting tribute to, as Eric liked to joke, "Stoke-on-Trent's other aeroplane designer". (R.J. Mitchell of Supermarine Spitfire fame grew up in the same town.) Here's wishing blue skies to all the FRED builders, pilots, and fans out there on this special day!

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FRED’s 59th birthday!

Today marks 59 years since the first flight of Eric Clutton’s FRED on November 3rd, 1963. Sadly, it is also the first such anniversary since Eric passed away in February of this year. Nonetheless, thanks to avid aviation photographer Derek Heley, a Londoner by birth but a Geordie by choice, here are some great shots of various FREDs spanning three decades.

Photos courtesy of Derek Heley and used by permission

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FRED plans and Eric Clutton’s books are available again!

Benjamin Mehalic, winner of the First Annual Eric Clutton Memorial Swap Meet & Fun Fly at the Coffee Airfoilers Radio Control Club in Tullahoma, Tennessee, smiles in a May 21, 2022 photo by Jonathan Holt.

While Eric Clutton passed away on February 6, 2022, he left instructions for his friend Jonathan Holt to continue selling his books and FRED plans to benefit the local model aircraft club Eric loved so much.  Plans and books are once again available and you can find the details at https://cluttonfred.info/plansbooks.  I’ll let Jonathan tell the rest:

We had the First Annual Eric Clutton Memorial Swap Meet & Fun Fly that weekend.  Our Club President, Don Cleveland, came up with the idea of “Buy It & Fly It”, which is buy the aircraft at the swap meet and fly it at the fun fly.  I came up with a criteria for judging which included content from the swap meet, effort it took to make it fly and doing it on the least amount on money.  Benjamin won the judging on all aspects.  It was fitting that it was won with a British fighter and a new generation of RC pilot to carry the torch.  It really is a perfect situation.

The young man is a club member that had only seen Eric in passing.  Eric was always gracious with his time and advice with young people in the hobby.  I’m guessing that may have came from his career as a school teacher.  I know you knew Eric from the full-scale aircraft world and so did I somewhat, but in the model aircraft world Eric was all about swap meets and building models from scratch.  He, like myself, took a lot of pride in being able to do that in as frugal a way as possible.  He would have really liked this event.

I agree completely that this is a fitting tribute to Eric in a way that would have made him smile.  Hats off to Jonathan and the Coffee Airfoilers!

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For anyone who missed it, here is a nice write-up by former FRED owner and CEO of the UK’s Light Aircraft Association CEO Steve Slater in memory of Eric Clutton.

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Sadly, I have to report that Eric Clutton, designer of the Flying Runabout Experimental Design (FRED) homebuilt plane, passed away last night at the age of 93.  He was hospitalized little more than a week ago following a stroke. Here he is less than a year ago smiling at home in Tullahoma, Tennessee holding a scale model Short Sterling in a photo by Jonathan Holt . Behind him you can see a framed original drawing of the prototype FRED by artist Dave Black of Albuquerque, New Mexico that Dave and I presented to Eric on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of FRED's first flight. Blue skies, Eric!

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Happy 93rd birthday, Eric Clutton!  Courtesy of Clutton FRED fan and Coffee Airfoilers member Jonathan Holt, here are some photos of Eric from just last month when he was honored with a lifetime membership in the Tullahoma, Tennessee RC model club.  Eric is, of course, well-known in the RC model community as a long-time model designer and builder under the sobriquet “Doctor Diesel” since he used to distribute diesel RC model engines made by friends back in England.  About the model, Eric wrote to me back in January, “Hi Matt .... lots of building but very little flying!  My latest project is an R/C model (about 40" span) of the prototype Spitfire.  I think I was eight when it first flew!  A lovely light blue all over and electric powered.  ERIC.”  All the best from all of us, Eric!

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Here’s a quick note and two pics from FRED designer Eric Clutton, still plugging away at RC models at age 92. This one is a cartoon model of the original Clutton FRED in its early red-and-white color scheme. Eric says, “Just a couple of my cartoon FRED! It was actually a Stevens kit but I modified the wing mounting quite a bit and have since reduced the wing angle because it kinda flew hanging on the prop! I am just completing my virus term model  -- a Fokker Triplane scaled up from a small drawing and built from stuff I already had in stock. I will take a finished photo if the sun ever comes out again. I had forgotten it actually has FOUR wings with one in between the wheels (I also made those)! All electric-powered because that is easier for old farts. ERIC”

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This handsome gent is 92 years old today.  Happy birthday, Eric Clutton!  I checked in with Eric a couple of weeks ago.  Here is what he had to say, “All is well here but Nashville has been declared a disaster area.  A bit late in my opinion!  I have a house full of mostly around 4ft R/C models.  Just working on a Fokker Tripe about 24", all scratch-built, of course, and all electric-powered.  I must like building wings because I also have a Sopwith Tripe and a sorta-scale Dastardly and Muttley tripe!  Remember them from the old TV cartoons?  ERIC”         

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Roger Callow (that’s him in the white Luton Minor) wrote to me on Facebook today with this FRED photo and story from over 30 years ago:  “Hi. I've just looked at the ‘cluttonfred.info’ site and saw a photo of Tony Oliver's FRED G-OLVR in flight.I took part in the photo sortie during which this photo was taken. I was flying my Luton Minor G-BBEA and two chaps based at RAF Henlow where Tony's FRED was also based took the photos from their Bolkow Junior. The date of the flight according to my log book was the 27th May 1987.The sortie took place over Sandy Heath, Bedfordshire and in one of the photos I have in my possession you can clearly see Sandy Heath TV transmitter mast in the background.”  Thanks, Roger!