I have many post maintenance check flights under my belt on the SF-260 M and D.
The SF260 is a 260 hp metallic version of its little brother; The wooden Falco that had 150 to 160 hp. (Flew that one too)
The tip tanks got added for the extra fuel burn of the 260.
The thin wing is purely for performance.
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That said, a wel rigged SF-260 has a nice stall if you let it decelerate slowly.
It is very BRUTAL if yo do an accelerated stall in a turn. It will flip over on its back, and WILL require that you get back a democratic amount of airspeed before trying to recover.
A secondary stall , when trying to recover too soon, will also be eye-opening BRUTAL.
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With its small wing, it has a very high wing loading. Perfect for a military trainer, less perfect when you let it get too slow without being prepared.
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With a new engine, we always did a 2hr full power flight below 3.000 ft to run-in te engine and seat the rings.
After that we did the FCF (Functional Check Flight) before turning the aircraft back over to the students and instructors.
A VERY nice airplane, but you have to keep the high wing loading in mind at all times.
Oh.... And never do funny things with fuel in the tip-tanks........