Originally Posted by
SpannerInTheWerks
Ask: 'Why'?
John Taylor was killed when the prototype Titch crashed at Southend on the 16 May 1967.
John Taylor spun in.
There have been other Threads on PPRuNe in the past.
A friend of mine owned one for a short time, but found it dangerous - used to torque roll if you opened the throttle abruptly on finals, for example.
There will always be champions for the aircraft and detractors.
Personally, I'd look at a Turbulent, Jodel D9 or similar (or something more modern).
May not find quite so many of those for sale though?!
There are a lot of statements here made from a position of ignorance.
Any piston engined aircraft which has a high power to weight ratio will display torque effects particularly at slow speeds and if the throttle isn't applied smoothly and slowly enough for the pilot to keep up with the necessary control inputs.
Mr Taylor's fatal accident had much more to do with Mr Taylor than the aircraft. On the day he was carrying out stalling tests as part of the certification process, unfortunately he chose to do this at what many would consider too low an altitude, estimated at about 1500' above ground level, the aircraft spun off one of the stalls and there was insufficient height to recover.
The next Titch completed was extensively tested at Farnborough and was found to have normal stall and spin characteristics, although it stalled in a very nose high attitude, it recovered with normal recovery techniques and required no modifications to the original design, more than can be said for many american designs over the years.
It isn't entirely surprising that single seaters other than gliders or competition aerobatic machines often have low hours, they are usually not in group ownership, not ideal for touring due to limited / no luggage space and kept as toys for a few nice days in summer.
Finally there have been several fatal accidents in the Turbulent which you suggest is a better option