Alliance A-1 Argo

The Alliance A-1 Argo was an American-built two-seat biplane of the late 1920s.

A-1 Argo
The sole surviving airworthy A-1 Argo biplane, 1929-built, at the Golden Wings Air Museum at Anoka near Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Role private owner biplane
National origin United States
Manufacturer Alliance Aircraft Corporation
First flight 1929
Status two survivors, one airworthy
Number built 20


Development

The Alliance Aircraft Corp of Alliance, Ohio was formed in 1928 by a reorganisation of the Hess Aircraft Co. The firm designed the A-1 Argo as a sturdy two-seat open-cockpit biplane for operation by private pilot owners. The Warrior seven-cylinder engine was designed and produced in the same factory at Alliance.[1]

Operational history

Because of the difficult economic climate then existing, only 20 A-1 Argos were completed. Alliance Aircraft then went into bankruptcy in 1930, being reformed briefly as the Warrior Aeronautical Corporation before that organisation also foundered later the same year.[1]

Several Argo biplanes continued in operation by private owners until curtailment of civil flying in the USA in 1941. Two aircraft survived in mid-2009 of which NC2M is maintained in airworthy condition by Greg Herrick's Golden Wings Air Museum at Anoka County-Blaine Airport near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and can be visited by prior arrangement.[2]

The Hess Warrior engine was a very well built engine. In spite of its early existence it had two magnetos and was very dependable. My experience with that engine began in 1956 when a one of a kind biplane participated in a short-lived company, Globe Air Shows. Globe had a Waco F, an Aeronca C-3 (Mr. Friendly with a clown face) In the summer of 1956, as a friend of the owners of Globe, I participated in the upcoming airshow. A third plane was part of that, owned by Jay Brake who had the Miller "Brainstorm" biplane and lived in Middlefield, Ohio. He came down to participate and I propped the Miller and noticed the engine tag which said Hess "Warrior."  Russ Miller, a close friend and fellow QB, built the Miller between 1932 and 1946. It had a Hess Argo fuselage and Miller designed wings and tail. That was the last time I saw the Brainstorm for many years. 
 In 1968 I received a phone call from Mr. Frank Kenley, famous theatrical producer and cattleman. Somehow he got my name and told me he owned the Miller Brainstorm, had it all rebuilt and wanted to know if I'd fly it from Germack Airport in Geneva, Ohio to his farm in Hartford, Ohio. I readily agreed. We got together and I delivered the plane. Frank offered me $50.00 for that and I refused the money. He then asked if I would help him learn to fly it - I agreed. That friendship lasted over 25 years. After about three years, Frank asked if we could change the engine. That 1926 engine was impossible to overhaul and if it failed the Miller would have become a hangar queen. Frank found a Continental W-670 in Centerhall, PA. After a weight and balance we realized the big engine would work fine, correcting the extreme tail heavy condition with the Hess engine. I completed a new engine mount in one year and that made the Miller a much better ship, feeling much like a Stearman. We flew the Miller a lot and finally Frank sold it. I arranged, through Jim Gorman, treasurer of EAA, to get the engine from the EAA museum. Russ Miller gave it to the EAA since they were not using it. Jim arranged to get it out of the EAA museum into the Lane Aviation Museum in Columbus, Ohio the state where it had been built. I delivered the museum paper work to Foster lane at Lane Aviation in Columbus and he gave me a tour of his museum which included an Argo biplane. Aubrey Hess was killed in an Argo from an engine fire. That caused the Argo factory, earlier Waco, and later Taylorcraft in Alliance, Ohio to close.  Russ Miller lived in Alliance, and Miller Airport there was highly successful.

Don P. Simons - formerly Youngstown, Ohio now Yukon, OK

Specifications

Data from Aerofiles

General characteristics

Performance

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 "Alliance A-1 Argo (Technical details and photograph of the Alliance Argo)". aerofiles.com. 7 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  2. ↑ Ogden, 2007, p. 319
Bibliography
  • Ogden, Bob (2007). Aviation Museums and Collections of North America. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-385-4. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alliance Argo.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 31, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.