14th Family Plane Enters Contest (Apr, 1936)
Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:07 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1936
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1936
| Buy on Ebay
14th Family Plane Enters Contest
FROM Hannibal, Mo., comes another entry in the government’s contest for a light, fool-proof family airplane. Hayden S. Campbell is the designer.The new craft has a speed of 125 miles an hour and burns but one gallon of gasoline for every 24 miles. The motor is a standard automobile engine. In starting it is only necessary to turn on the ignition, step on the starter and wait a few moments for engine to warm up.
The interior of the cabin is much like that of an automobile. In recent tests the plane was demonstrated to be fool-proof.
Early prototype Ercoupe? I wish they had included the designer’s name.
Comment by Toronto — October 9, 2008 @ 12:14 am
For 1936, That is a remarkable modern looking aeroplane!
Comment by Al Bear — October 9, 2008 @ 2:12 am
I still can’t get past the notion that the plane is “fool-proof.” We could use a plane like that today!
Comment by Paul Carney — October 9, 2008 @ 10:38 am
It’s not an Ercoupe; the designer is listed as Hayden S. Campbell. A bit of googling came up with this link: http://aerofiles.com/_ca.html (scroll down to Campbell, Hayden S.) A couple of more views of the aircraft are here: http://aerofiles.com/campbell.jpg
It is definitely an original looking design.
Apparently it wasn’t quite so foolproof, though. The note in the above link says the lone example was damaged in a demonstration flight and never repaired.
Comment by Richard C — October 9, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
No doubt it suffered flight damage because the airport didn’t have a big clock!
Comment by Rick Auricchio — October 9, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Ack! I missed that! Thanks for the catch and the links.
Comment by Toronto — October 9, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
Better gas milage than many cars today.
Comment by Torgo — October 9, 2008 @ 8:43 pm