Jurca Gnatsum

The Jurca Gnatsum is a French homebuilt near scale replica aircraft based on the North American P-51 Mustang.

Design & Development
The Gnatsum (Mustang spelled backwards) is one of many wooden homebuilt designs from Romanian designer Marcel Jurca. Jurca, a Henschel Hs 129 pilot in World War II, expanded his warbird replica designs to include the Allied North American P-51 Mustang fighter.

The Gnatsum is a low-wing, cantilever monoplane with an enclosed single-seat cockpit and manually retractable tailwheel landing gear based on that of the Jurca Sirocco. Suitable for a number of engines around 200 hp, plans for the Gnatsum are available as the 2/3 scale MJ-7 and the 3/4 scale MJ-77, as well as the MJ-70 full-size representation. All versions are constructed from wood with fabric covering, and manufacturing rights to the kit aircraft were acquired by Falconar Avia. Plans for the MJ-77 are available from Avions Marcel Jurca.

Some of the engines suitable for the MJ-7 Gnatsum series are:-
 * 200 hp Ranger 6-440C-5 inline engine
 * 125 hp Menasco C4
 * 130 hp de Havilland Gipsy Major I
 * 125 to 160 hp Rambler aluminum block in-line 6
 * General Motors aluminum V-8

Variants

 * MJ-7
 * 2/3 scale variant


 * MJ-7S Solo
 * Single-seat advanced trainer version of MJ-7, the under-belly scoop inherited from the Mustang design was removed.


 * MJ-77
 * 3/4 scale Mustang variant that requires an engine of 250 to 600 hp.


 * MJ-70
 * Full-scale variant (still under development in 2001 when Jurca died - never completed)