Arrow Sport

Arrow Sport
Arrow Sport of 1927 at Lakeland, Florida, in April 2007
Role	Sports plane
Manufacturer	Arrow Aircraft and Motors
Designer	Sven Swanson
First flight	1926
Number built	ca. 100
Unit cost	$2985 for an Arrow Sport 85 in 1931

The Arrow Sport was a two-seat sporting biplane aircraft built in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.

Design and construction

The plane was designed by Swen Swanson and it was of largely conventional configuration with tailskid undercarriage, but was interesting in that the pilot and passenger sat side by side in the open cockpit, and because as originally designed, the fully cantilever wings lacked interplane struts – the upper wing attaching directly to the top of the fuselage. This latter feature proved so alarming to many prospective pilots that the manufacturer later supplied N-type struts that were of no real function other than to allay the aviators' fears.

Survivors

Arrow Sport A2-60 at the Udvar Hazy Center

Several Sport aircraft flew in the United States in 2009. Nine Sports are preserved in U.S. museums and collections including an example of the A2-60 variant at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.^[1] An Arrow Sport Pursuit is on display * Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum.

Variants

• Sport – Two-seat spoting biplane, powered by a 60-hp (45-kW) LeBlond radial piston engine.
• Sport 85 - 85 hp Leblond radial, extra four degrees of dihedrial on lower wing.^[2]
• Sport A2
  • Sport A2-60
  • Sport A2-66
  • Sport A2-90 Tangerine
• Sport Pursuit (renamed Sport K in 1935) – Improved version, powered by a 100-hp (75-kW) Kinner K-5 radial engine.

Specifications (A2-60)

Data from American airplane specifications^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 1 passenger
• Length: 19 ft 3 in (5.87 m)
• Wingspan: 25 ft 10 in (7.87 m)
• Height: 7 ft 5 in (2.26 m)
• Wing area: 183 sq ft (17.0 m²)
• Empty weight: 900 lb (408 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,346 lb (611 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × LeBlond 5D radial engine, 60 hp (45 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 100 mph (161 km/h; 87 kn)
• Cruise speed: 85 mph (74 kn; 137 km/h)
• Stall speed: 30 mph (26 kn; 48 km/h)
• Range: 200 mi (174 nmi; 322 km)
• Service ceiling: 14,000 ft (4,267 m)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Warren CP-2

References

Notes

1. Ogden, 2007, p. 572
2. Popular Aviation: 15. July 1931. Missing or empty |title= (help)
3. Aviation January 1932, pp. 47, 50.

Bibliography

• "American airplane specifications". Aviation. Vol. 31 no. 1. January 1932. pp. 47–51. (registration required (help)).
• Ogden, Bob (2007). Aviation Museums and Collections of North America. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-385-4.
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 81.

External links

• NASM website
• aviationhistory.com