This Giant Plane Was A Ridiculous Flying Motorhome That Carried A Helicopter And Had A Fireplace

For most people, traveling the world means hopping into a commercial aircraft and flying to places unknown. Others might explore by land, taking something like a jacked-up Land Rover or Fiat Multipla. One French explorer went extreme, demanding a plane that could land anywhere and could serve as housing for seven people. The result was the gargantuan Wilson Global Explorer, a plane that could land anywhere, carry a helicopter inside, and oh yeah, provide sleeping room for seven people. It even had a working fireplace inside.

If you’re one of our European readers, you might know the Wilson Global Explorer as the L’Avion from the French exploration show Dans la nature with Stéphane Peyron. Amazingly, the sole surviving aircraft still exists today even after a crash battered the plane. If you’re an American, however, it’s unlikely you’ve ever heard of this incredible airplane, even though it was designed by the man many consider to be the father of the modern kit aircraft, Dean Wilson.

I learned about the Wilson Global Explorer nearly two years ago, but information about the aircraft is hard to find. Photographs that are able to be shared without licensing issues are even harder to come by. Which is saddening, because it’s such an interesting plane. It’s wild that something of this caliber not only flew, but was part of a family of goofy flying RVs designed to be built at home.

Why Kit Planes Are Easier To Build Today

The name Dean Wilson probably isn’t familiar to car enthusiasts. Heck, fans of large commercial aircraft like myself might not even know what Wilson has done for aviation. But if you’ve ever built your own plane or at least considered it, you might have an idea.

As Kitplanes Magazine wrote in 2006, the nature of building your own plane was very different before Dean Wilson came along. In the decades before the 1980s, buying a kit to build your own plane involved getting a set of plans, some raw materials, and some well wishes. You won’t be surprised that a surprising chunk of aspiring builders got kits and never came close to finishing their planes.

While Dean Wilson didn’t invent the prefabricated airplane kit, he was one of the ones who made it the status quo in the homebuilding market. Then he went on to bigger things, literally.

As Kitplanes writes, Wilson was an aviation fanatic ever since he took his first flight at the age of three as the tiny passenger of a Piper Cub. This fanaticism followed Wilson into his teenage years when he began flight lessons, eventually earning his certificate in 1952. Wilson wasn’t stopping there, at just 17 years old, he completed an Airframe and Engine course that taught him the mechanics of aircraft. Alas, he was just a year too young to get the certificate.

Kitplanes explains that Wilson would spend the early 1950s building hours in an incredible setlist of aircraft. Wilson flew a bit of everything from the Ford Tri-Motor to the Piper Cub, an Aeronca C3, a Waco, a Stearman, a Pitcairn, a Fairchild, a Staggerwing Beech, an Aerocar, a Rose Parakeet, a Schweitzer glider, a Buhl Bull Pup, and finally, a Cessna AW.

When Wilson wasn’t flying everything with wings, he dusted off a 1913 copy of Popular Mechanics, which had plans for a hang glider. He was successful, completing and flying the simple hang glider from the magazine. After, Wilson went to work flying Ford Tri-Motors into the Pacific Northwest backcountry as well as flying agricultural sprayer planes. Wilson even had a stint working as an inspector on the Boeing 707.

Eventually, something switched in Wilson’s head. Why fly and work on someone else’s plane when you can design your own? Wilson had experience in engine-swapping agricultural aircraft and learned about the traits of AG planes through some of the best minds in the business. Namely, AG aircraft aren’t about passengers, but being able to handle huge loads while remaining sturdy and agile. Using what he learned, Wilson sought to solve a problem. AG pilots spend a lot of time simply turning around before they can spray crops again. Well, gliders were agile, so why couldn’t an AG plane have strong glider-inspired wings? The Eagle DW-1 was born. It was an ugly and huge plane, but it was an exceptional spraying machine.

The Eagle was a financial failure, but that didn’t discourage Wilson. In the early 1980s, Wilson got his chance to make a plane again when an acquaintance asked Wilson to design an ultralight. Wilson took note that the ultralights of the day took forever to prep for flight and the kits they were built from were complicated. He thought he could do better.

The result was the Avid Flyer, a light aircraft with foldable wings. But, perhaps even more innovative than the folding wings was how it was sold to homebuilders. The welding, cutting, and ribs were already done. Everything was also clearly marked so that you knew what part slid into the other. Again, this wasn’t new, but the Avid Flyer made it mainstream. The Avid Flyer was a smashing success, managing to sell over 2,000 copies in less than two decades.

The Wingabago

Wilson was never one to hang up his hat after finishing a project. Later, Wilson would get his seaplane rating and he’d have a growing desire to use aircraft for world exploration.

That chance came in 1987 when French explorer Hubert de Chevigny reached out to the now famous Wilson. Chevigny was a pilot of Wilson’s Avid Flyer and that year, he completed a polar expedition. Upon his return, Chevigny wanted an aircraft that could be an explorer’s secret weapon. Chevigny wanted an aircraft that had long range, could land anywhere, and could work as a habitat for a team of explorers anywhere in the world. In other words, he wanted a bit of a flying expedition truck. Chevigny commissioned Wilson to build this craft. Chevigny flashed a check at Wilson and reportedly, Wilson was quick to sell his kit plane business to dive head first into what would become the Global Explorer.

Reportedly, Wilson looked to the Hughes H-4 Hercules (aka the Spruce Goose) for inspiration. If such a gargantuan beast had been made to fly, Wilson could do the same thing. In development, Wilson put together an unusually deep and wide fuselage and then peppered the aircraft with lots of windows. This design made the aircraft look ungainly and quite sizable, but it was so large enough that when the tail of the aircraft was opened, you could park a Robinson R-22 helicopter inside with room to spare.

The Global Explorer could also sleep up to seven explorers, which is why it had so many windows. This thing really was meant to be a flying RV that could land anywhere on the planet. More details were inspired by Wilson’s previous designs. Like an ultralight, the Global Explorer didn’t have much in the way of interior paneling, and construction was primarily of wood and canvas with a peppering of metal. While lightweight construction was used where appropriate, Wilson also made sure the Global Explorer was beefy where it needed to be. He wanted the wings to be extremely strong, so they were secured using thick struts that tied into the aircraft’s undercarriage.

In the end, Wilson designed an aircraft that was 39 feet, 10 inches long with a wingspan of 67 feet and a height of 22 feet. It sat at a heavy 5,000 pounds empty and could be loaded to a maximum of 8,000 pounds. The final version of the aircraft came equipped with a pair of Lycoming IO-540 8.9-liter air-cooled flat-six engines rated at 300 HP. However, the plane could also be flown with less powerful Lycoming engines that made 200 HP each.

When talking with Kitplanes, Wilson said the Global Explorer could land in dirt, grass, snow, tarmac, or water and that it was a “flying motor home.” Avid Aircraft manager Jim Metzger called it the Wingabago while others just called it the Flying Winnebago.

The first example, Explorer I (registration N376DT), took its first flight in 1991. Sadly, that aircraft didn’t stick around for too long. During one takeoff with Hubert de Chevigny at the controls, the aircraft’s spoilers were left deployed, which reduced lift. The aircraft failed to gain enough altitude, crashing into trees near Port McNeill, British Columbia. Sadly, Explorer I was destroyed in the crash, but a successor, Explorer II, was built just a year later in 1992.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Richard Hodge (@aircraftadventures)

This aircraft, registration N376LC, lived a far better life. Explorer II, named L’Avion, was the featured exploration vehicle of the television show Dans la nature featuring explorer Stéphane Peyron. L’Avion was designed to be a habitat, exploration vehicle, and television studio. The team modified it to have 17 cameras mounted on the fuselage and the aircraft also carried the necessary editing equipment for the show. Also inside was a fireplace so that the cast could stay warm wherever the plane landed.

How Dans la nature worked was that the Explorer II would fly to a location, land, and then be set up as a flying motorhome. A crew of seven would then live in the plane, do their work, and then move on. If needed, the aircraft was relatively easily taken apart and loaded onto a ship to be sailed to its next destination. Through this, the Explorer II and its occupants visited the Great Barrier Reef, Tierra del Fuego, and Bolivia.

L’Avion worked for the television show until 1998 when it was retired due to operating costs. The aircraft was then sold to a new owner, who managed to crash it at France’s Blois-Le Breuil Aerodrome in 2001. This time, the aircraft wasn’t a total loss. Explorer II ended up in the Musée de l’Hydraviation in Biscarrosse, where there has been an ongoing effort to restore the aircraft.

As for Deal Wilson, in 1998 he designed another aircraft for Hubert de Chevigny. This one was essentially a Global Explorer narrowed down into a single-engine aircraft. It was a weird little machine with a bulbous fuselage, but that’s because it was one of perhaps just a few aircraft of its size with a cabin a man could stand up in.

The Private Explorer, as it was called, was 29 feet, 9 inches long with a wingspan of 29 feet and a height of 11 feet. That was almost half the size. Accordingly, it was also 2,145 pounds empty and just 4,102 pounds when loaded. A Lycoming O-540 powered this one making 235 HP. The Private Explorer was also a more successful design with at least 6 copies sold. As you might guess, the handful of Private Explorer owners use them as small flying RVs.

When asked what were the designs he was most proud of, Wilson said it was the Avid Flyer and Private Explorer. Good choices. Wilson said that when he was at his peak, he was designing planes every couple of months and then turning them into real aircraft about once every five years. Wilson is still a bit of a homebuilder legend today.

For many in aviation, Wilson’s greatest achievement is probably the Avid Flyer. Chances are if you go to enough air shows you’ll even see one flying. But the Global Explorer holds a place in my heart for its sheer insanity. It was a colossal homebuilt plane that carried a helicopter and served as a flying RV for seven people. This world is better for crazy ideas like this becoming real.

(Topshot image: Dean Wilson)