FAILED DREAMS
The Defiant and Hummingbird Projects


Filipino emergency crew wheel the body of one of the two men who seized control of the air control tower at Manila airport November 8, 2003. Philippine security forces ended a short-lived siege at the airport on Saturday by killing a former aviation chief and one of his men who took over the control tower, police said. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2003/nov/09/top_stories/20031109top3.html

By now many have heard about the takeover of the NAIA Control Tower and
the violent death of retired PAF Captain Panfilo Villaruel.

Capt. Villaruel was apparently driven over the edge by extreme frustration with politics and government corruption, and among the points he raised were the scrapping of the Hummingbird and Defiant aircraft projects which he initiated.

The Defiant trainer and light attack aircraft project started in the 1980s, and a prototype (the Defiant 300) was built with wood and fiberglass components and a 300 hp Lycoming piston engine. Government support was spotty (if it existed at all) and further development languished. In 1997, during the administration of President Ramos, the Defiant (renamed Centennial?) and Hummingbird helicopter projects were given the green light in line with PADC's mandate to develop indigenous aircraft designs. The budget was a meager PHP40 million. The project started in July 1997 and included further development of the Defiant into the Defiant 500, which was to be of metal construction and sport a turbo-prop engine and be comparable in capability to the Embraer Tucano, which costs about US$5 million each. In August 1998, after PHP34 million had been used the new administration of Joseph Ejercito Estrada shut the programs down, effectively wasting the amount already spent. At around this time the new Estrada administration was being flooded with proposals for the Philippine Air Force for such big ticket items as F-15 Eagles and other ridiculously expensive aircraft.

The complete 1998 COA PADC report detailing the reasons for the scrapping of the projects is available here:

http://www.coa.gov.ph/COA_htm/1998_AAR/GOCCs/Zipfiles/PADC_aar98.zip

It is ironic that COA believed the project to be one of "long gestation" and "doubtful realization" considering that the prototypes were actually airborne and here we are now, only 5 years later begging for scrap helicopters from the US and third-hand attack aircraft from Thailand.

One statement Capt. Villaruel made that rings very true is that:

“Had we persevered, we would not be groveling before the Americans for obsolete Hueys.”





The Defiant 300 undergoing inspection in December 1986. The prototype first flew in February, 1987 and and the test flight lasted about an hour. The fuselage was of wood and fiberglass construction and the landing gear was from a Beech T-34 provided by the PAF. The prototype was to have been followed by a larger version of metal construction with a turboprop engine.




The spartan cockpit of the Defiant 300 prototype. The aircraft was registered RP-X239 to Gold Wings Aviation, Manila but now lies abandoned in an empty lot.




A scan of a news clipping of the PADC Hummingbird, a locally built copy of the BO-105.

Eurocopter threatened to sue PADC if it persisted in developing the Hummingbird and all locally built hardware was ordered destroyed.


Thanks to Cygnus for the details and photos.


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