The Ace Baby Ace, a single-seat, single-engine, parasol wing, fixed-gear light airplane, was marketed as a homebuilt aircraft when its plans were first offered for sale in 1929 — one of the first homebuilt aircraft plans available in the United States. Plans are still available and Baby Aces are still being built. Orland Corben designed a series of aircraft for the Ace Aircraft Manufacturing Company, the Baby Ace, Junior Ace, and Super Ace. Corben's name was associated with the aircraft, and it is commonly known as the Corben Baby Ace. Design Original The Baby Ace is a single-seat parasol wing monoplane of conventional taildragger configuration. Individual examples have been configured with tricycle landing gear. The wing uses a Clark Y-cross-section airfoil; spars and ribs are spruce. The steel-tube parallel wings struts simplified internal wing structure, and enabled the wings to fold back for over-the-road towing. The fuselage is of fabric-covered tubular construction, and wing struts are steel tube. There is a door in the right side. Streamlining and fairing was largely done with balsa wood. Its landing gear is a split-axle type, with bungee cord suspension, similar to gear of the Piper Cub. Some are fitted with brakes, using Aeronca-type heel pedals. Evolutions Under the Corben Sport Plane and Supply Co. (Peru, Indiana), two versions were offered, using using the same wings, tails, controls and landing gear: a single-seat. open-cockpit, parasol-wing model (the Baby Ace) and an enclosed, two-seat, high-wing version (Junior Ace). In 1955 Paul Poberezny, founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association, redesigned the plane with Stan J. Dzik (former Waco Aircraft engineer), calling its version the Model C. EAA sold the rights to the planes to Cliff DuCharme (West Bend, Wisconsin), and the plane was redesigned for production, becoming the Model D (first flight: November 15, 1956). The similarly redesigned two-seat Junior Ace, became the Junior Ace Model E. Powerplants The first example flew with a Heath-Henderson B-4 modified motorcycle engine. However, a detachable motor mount accommodated an easy change of engines. Later models utilized various engines -- facilitated by the removeable motor mount -- including the 45-hp Szekeley SR-3, 40-hp Salmson AD9, 35-hp Continental A-40, or 30-hp Heath B4. A variety of aircraft powerplants may be used, typically in the 65-100 hp (50-75 kW) range. Most versions flying today use the Continental A65 aircraft engine. Examples have been built using 70 hp Corvair engines. Operational history The