Aeronca C-2

Aeronca C-2
Aeronca C-2 in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum
Role Ultralight monoplane
National origin United States
Manufacturer Aeronca Aircraft
Designer Jean A. Roche
First flight 1929
Number built 164
Unit cost
$1495 in 1929
Developed from 1925 Roche Monoplane
Variants C-1 Cadet, Aeronca C-3 Master

The Aeronca C-2 is an American ultralight monoplane designed by Jean A. Roche and built by Aeronca Aircraft.

Development

Roche Monoplane

Jean A. Roche was a U.S. Army engineer at McCook Field airfield in Dayton, Ohio. Roche developed an aircraft with automatic stability and was granted U. S. Patent No. 1,085,461. Roche published his engineering ideas for the aircraft in Aerial Age Weekly and Slipstream Monthly magazines. The prototype was started in Ohio in 1923 with the assistance of fellow engineer Quienten Doshse. The aircraft used a triangular cross section welded steel tube fuselage, with wood wings, was fabric covered, and used wire bracing throughout. A Henderson engine was installed, but did not perform well. Next a custom 29 hp two cylinder Morehouse engine was developed for the aircraft. On September 1, 1925 the aircraft was successfully test flown. Many pilots including Jimmy Doolittle tried out the aircraft. Wright Aeronautical hired Morehouse and rights to his Wright-Morehouse WM-80 engine. Left without an engine, They turned to Robert E. Galloway of the Aeronautical Corporation of America to use the Aeronca E-107 engine. The rights to the aircraft were sold to Aeronca in 1928 as the basis for the C-2 Design.[1]

Aeronca C-2

The Aeronca C-2, powered by a tiny two-cylinder engine, made its first flight in October[2] 1929, with its public debut in St. Louis in February 1930.[2] It was flying at its most basic—the pilot sat on a bare plywood board. The C-2 featured an unusual, almost frivolous design with an open-pod fuselage that inspired its nickname, The Flying Bathtub. (It was also knicknamed "Airknocker" and "Razorback".[2]) The general design of the C-2 could have been inspired by Jean Roche's initial flight experiences with an American-built copy of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle, which had a similar triangular "basic" fuselage cross-section, and wire spoked main landing gear wheels right up against the fuselage sides.

Equipped with only four instruments (altimeter, oil temperature, oil pressure, and tachometer),[2] a stick, and rudder pedals (brakes and a heater cost extra), the C-2 was priced at a low $1,555 (later US$1,245),[2] bringing the cost of flying down to a level that a private citizen could aspire to and perhaps reach.[3] Aeronca sold 164 of the economical C-2s at the height of the Great Depression in 1930-1931, helping to spark the growth of private aviation in the United States.

The Aeronca C-2 also holds the distinction of being the first aircraft to be refueled from a moving automobile. A can of gasoline was handed up from a speeding Austin automobile to a C-2 pilot, (who hooked it with a wooden cane) during a 1930 air show in California. A seaplane version of the C-2 was also offered, designated the PC-2 and PC-3 (“P” for pontoon) with floats replacing the wheeled landing gear.

A single Aeronca C-2 was converted to a glider by H.J. Parham in England after an in-flight engine failure and forced landing. The nose was faired in after the removal of the engine. It first flew as a glider 15 May 1937 and went to the Dorset Glider Club but was destroyed in the club hangar during a storm in November 1938.[4]

Aircraft on display

Aeronca C-2N exhibited at the Virginia Aviation Museum

The restored first prototype of the Aeronca C-2, bearing registration NX 626N is on display at the Smithsonian's NASM's Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.[5]

The EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin has an example of a later model C-2N on display. This particular aircraft set the following worlds records:[6]

Another C-2N is displayed at the Virginia Aviation Museum at Richmond, Virginia. The Canada Aviation and Space Museum also has one example.[7]

Variants

Aeronca C-2
Single-seat light sporting aircraft, powered by a 26-hp (19-kW) Aeronca E-107A piston engine.
Aeronca C-2 Deluxe
Improved version, with a wider fuselage and a number of design improvements.
Aeronca C-2N Scout De luxe at Langley
Aeronca C-2N Scout
De luxe sporting aircraft, powered by a 36-hp (27-kW) Aeronca E-112 or E-133A piston engine. Four built.[6]
Aeronca PC-2
Seaplane version of the C-2.
Aeronca PC-2 Deluxe
Seaplane version of the C-2 Deluxe.

Specifications (C-2)

Data from Aeronca C-2: The Story of the Flying Bathtub[8]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

  1. ↑ "none". Sport Aviation. June 1958.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Payne, Stephen, ed. Canadian Wings (Douglas & McIntyre, Ltd., 2006), p.163.
  3. ↑ Donald M. Pattillo. A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry. p. 18.
  4. ↑ Ellison, Norman (1971). British Gliders and Sailplanes. London: A & C Black Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 0-7136-1189-8.
  5. ↑ "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum — Aeronca C-2". http://airandspace.si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved January 10, 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  6. 1 2 "C-2N". Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  7. ↑ Canada Aviation and Space Museum (n.d.). "Aeronca C-2". Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Spenser, Jay P. (1978). Aeronca C-2: The Story of the Flying Bathtub. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 71. ISBN 0-87474-879-8.

External links

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