You'll fall in love with the Dyke Delta

Buckle up and learn about the diamond-shaped Dyke JD-2 Delta, an audacious homebuilt born in a visionary’s basement in Ohio. Designed in the 1960s, the Delta was never mass-produced and presently few remain in airworthy condition, but its owners / builders feverishly defend the type’s reputation as one of the best aircraft they’ve ever flown.

The Delta also lays fame to claim as one of the first aircraft ever to include a feature built into its design that could have revolutionized airplane ownership as we know. Enjoy the video!

HUGE thanks to the tribe of Delta owners who contributed to this video, especially Linda and John Dyke.

Join the Delta group for more info and connect with Delta owners and builders:

Another big thank you to Dillon Hopson and Jim Maher who contributed his time to educate me on his wonderful machine and share their footage with me.

Some of the clips used:

[dillonhopson]

Very good, I'm very fortunate to have my Delta. And its nice to see them get the attention they deserve as well as John and the builders

[neilfoster]

What an absolute beauty! Carries 4 people, goes like stink, tows behind your car and fits in the garage. Wow.

[stevenlitke]

I knew John when I lived in Ohio. Not only a great mechanic, but a truly great person. I'm glad to see him getting recognition for his awesome airplane design.

[danolson]

That's a young me, at 10:00 mark, giving my U-control JD-2 model to John at Rockford in 1967.

[TEXAS]

bro 45 gallons for 740 miles is actually AMMAAAZZING ECONOMY for a flight!!

[yhsbu]

I used to see him and that Delta over at Greene County Airport. Also, he hopped on my bicycle and rode it by sitting backward on the handlebars and riding it around like that, lol.

[portnuefflyer]

I've known of the design for decades, but until just now, didn't realize it had folding wings! As a five time kitplane builder, I have MUCH RESPECT for anyone who scratch builds, and one who scratchs builds a completely new design is on a whole nother level!

[Chuckles..]

Wow he built a tiny delta wing plane with a 180hp engine from scratch. Absolutely amazing.

[PapaDutch]

This design desperately needs a re-visit with modern technology and manufacturing taken into account

[ziocastaever]

if this thing has such impressive performance with 50 years old technology, I can only imagine what can be now with 3d printing, carbon composites materials, new engine and so on...

[davehyde]

Inspirational people come along once in a while that just make their ideas work and let the professionals scratching their head in awe..

[GutGrinder]

The 50's was in my opinion, one of the most interesting era for aviation, military aircraft had litarelly days of service before becoming outdated in US at least, loads of odd shapes and just different ideas, everybody just wanted to do something new. Crazy times lol

[somenamelessdude]

What an awesome aircraft. The landing gear is perfection, no stuck gear ever

[christophergagliano]

This aircraft would be very easy to design and build using modern composite construction. I would say you could get it done in less than 700 hours. Also with the use of CNC machining all the complicated bits can be easily replicated with a much higher accuracy of construction.

[xfire]

Every now and then you see something amazing, this is one of them . Only drawback I can see is access to the cab .

[craigwilcox]

I built 9 Experimentals before Agent Orange took over my body in '08. The first was of wood - the Taylor Titch. Very fast on a VW engine. The last was a Bakeng Duce, which I named Deuces Wild. That one was featured in Sport Aviation in about June, 2008. Extremely fun to fly.
Then, couldn't pass the flight physical - taking opioids for pain is a no-no. And the AO had caused a blowout in my left atrium. Thank the Lord for the VA!
But that old bug is at it again, whispering in my ear to "just build one more..." And this delta-wing beauty just might be the one.

[BurntKittyForge-plol]

designed to carry the family but takes 39 years to build life is such a catch 22 ....looks like a nice plane...

[hokehinson]

The kind of plane that is heirloom. Some lucky family member is bequeathed as pilot gets to old to fly. An amazing success story of a very talented gentleman!
Thanx😊

[patrickwebster]

Excellent video on a lesser known plane!! The Delta is super high on my photography list!

[StanleyKubick]

it's gorgeously functional even though it doesn't look like it at first glance. what an achievement