116 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 21
with a swept fin and tapered tailplane.
The undercarriage was of standard tail-
dragger type, the mainwheels incorporating
Auster Mk III shock absorbers, low-pressure
tyres and hydraulic expander-tube brakes. The
leaf-spring tailwheel was steerable. An enclosed
cockpit with a simple canopy was also later
fitted to the prototype. Ultimately, only one,
serial “X-04”, was built, and made its first flight
in 1958. A replica of the yellow-painted aircraft
is currently on display at the Satria Mandala
Museum in Jakarta.
A modified version of the Firefly, possibly
using the sole NU-25 airframe as the basis, was
developed and went into small-scale production
as the NU-35 Super Kunang. Powered by a 35
h.p. VW flat-four engine, the NU-35 replaced
its predecessor’s swept surfaces with unswept
surfaces to improve directional control at low
speeds. Construction was similar to that of
the NU-25, but incorporated a constant-chord
wing with a NACA 23012 aerofoil. The tail was
also “squared” and the fin and rudder height
increased. According to Jane’s All The World’s
Aircraft (JAWA) 1965–66, an NU-40 Super
Kunang was also developed with a second seat
“for a child”, aft of the pilot’s cockpit and a 40
h.p. VW engine. A side-by-side two-seat trainer
version, the NU-65, was also proposed, although
whether a prototype, to be powered by a 65 h.p.
Continental flat-four engine, was ever completed
and flown is unclear.
By the end of 1964 work was also progressing
on a three-place agricultural biplane designated
the Model 150 Kindjeng (Dragonfly). The single-
bay wings employed a USA-35B aerofoil and
power was provided by a 150 h.p. Lycoming
O-320-A2C flat-four engine driving a two-bladed
fixed-pitch metal propeller. The fuselage was of
steel-tube construction with a fabric covering,
and the enclosed cockpit was configured to
have the pilot’s seat in the centre at the front
with an easily-removable bench-type seat in the
rear for two passengers. The rear seat could be
replaced by a hopper for agricultural chemicals
if required.
The aircraft was a taildragger with an
unretractable undercarriage attached by means
of two side vees and half-axles hinged to the
centreline of the underside of the fuselage.
How many were built remains something of a
mystery, as does any information regarding its
maiden flight, but the type was no longer listed
in J AWA by the mid-1970s, so it may be assumed
that comparatively few were built.
A venture into the rotary-wing world was also
proposed with the development of the Manjang
single-seat light helicopter, powered by a single
100 h.p. vertically-mounted Continental flat-four
engine with reduction gear driving a two-bladed
see-saw-type rotor with cyclic pitch control.
The prototype is listed in JAWA 1969–70 as “95
per cent” complete, but little more seems to be
known about the type.
In August 1961 the Research, Development &
Production Depot was reorganised to becomeABOVE The tapered wings and swept fin of the NU-25
Kunang were replaced in stages on the NU-35 Super
Kunang, probably built using the same airframe,
initially with a constant-chord wing of 25 per cent
greater area and later an unswept fin, as seen here. An
uprated 35 h.p. Volkswagen engine was also fitted.