General Dynamics Aircraft and Their Predecessors PDF
Preview General Dynamics Aircraft and Their Predecessors
PUTNAM General Dynamics - - .Aircraft -------';--~ and their Predecessors John Wegg General Dyna:mics General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors John Wegg ~ / - . '- . The AFTI/F-16 (75-750) at Fort Worth in 1982. (General Dynamics) NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS Contents Preface and Acknowledgments 7 Author's otes 9 Thomas Brothers and Thomas-Morse 11 Thomas BrothersAircraft 15 Thomas-:\1orse Aircraft 19 Thomasand Thomas-:\1orse Selected Projects 31 Dayton Wright 32 Dayton Wright Aircraft 34 Dayton \Vlight Projects 41 Consolidated Aircraft Corporation 42 Consolidated :\1odels and Production Summary 49 Consolidated Aircraft 50 John \Vegg 1990 Hall-Aluminum 110 First publishedinGreat Britainby Hall Aircraft 111 Putnam Aeronautical Books,an imprintof Conway:\IaritimePress Ltd Stinson 116 24 Bride Lane, FleetStreet London EC4Y8DR Stinson Aircraft 118 Selected Stinson Projects 147 Publishedand distributed in the United StatesofAmerieaand Canada bythe Vultee 148 _aval Institute Press Annopolis, ylaryland 2l-1D2 Vultee Aircraft 152 LibraryofCongressCatalogCard :'-10. Barkley-Grow Aircraft Corporation 170 89-60237 Barkley-GrowAircraft 170 ISBN0-87021-233-8 Convair 173 'n,iseditionisauthorized forsaleonly ConvairAircraft 178 in the L'nited Statesand itsterritories Convair Selected Projects 221 and possessions,,mdCanada. General Dynamics 228 All rights reser.·ed. Cnauthorized duplicationeontra\'enesappliCllblela\\'s. General DynamicsAircraft 232 General Dynamics elected Projects 247 :\lanufaeturedinGreat Britain. Index 249 Preface and Acknowledgements ()fall themajoraircraftmanufactw-ers craft. FurthercomplicatingthefOimat are ofconsiderablevalue: Reu.benFleet .,ctive intheUnited Statestoday, none was the intricate family tree of the and the story ofConsolidated Aircraft, has had such a complicated corporate predecessor companies, themselves by William Wagner (Aero Publishers, history as General Dynamics. The frequently the subjects of takeovers, 1976), and John Underwood's The presentGeneralDynamicsisadefence mergers, and acquisitions. Stinsons (Heritage Press, 1967). wnglomerate encompassing not only Therefore, this book isdivided into Any attempt to chronicle the more aircraft (which contribute about one four separate parts which more logi than one hundred basic types pro third of its revenue), but also sub cally follow the progress of aircraft duced and built by the ten companies marines, missiles, space and electro design and manufacturing by the ten includedinthisbookfacestheproblem nics, and land vehiclesand systems. companies,althoughinevitablythereis that after so many corporate changes As its title suggests, this book re- someoverlapandsomeanomalies.The since 1910, agreatdeal ofcontempor trictsitscoveragetoaircraft,andother quartet consists of the Consolidated ary source material and photographs productsofGeneral Dynamicsareex lineage, encompassing Thomas and are now either in inaccessible storage, duded. However, there are three air Thomas-Morse, Dayton Wright, or lost. General Dynamics itself doe l raftmanufacturersthatareeligiblefor Consolidated, and Hall Aluminum; nothaveacompanyhistorian,although melusion in this volume but have had theVulteegroupofcompanies-Stin attemptsatgatheringinformationwere to be omitted because of space con- son, Vultee, and Barkley-Grow; the madeatvarioustimesbyitsemployees. Iderations. Canadair, owned outright Convair or Consolidated Vultee era; Howard 0 Welty and Nelson Fuller by the Electric Boat Company (fore andfmally GeneralDynamics.Eachof authored a multi-part series about the runner of General Dynamics) since these sections include histories of tlle historyofConvair/General Dynamics July 1947, became Canadian-control manufactw-ersthemselves,followedby inthein-housepublicationCorrvairiety I·d in 1976, and is comprehensively theaircrafttypesand,unlikeotllerPut inthelate19505,andacompany-spon Ulvered in acompanion Putnam, Ca nam titles, which use appendices, sored public relations exercise called lIadian Aircrqft since 1909. Also in selected projects and production DynmnicAmericaappeared in 1958. duded in that title is Fleet Aircraft of information. Another company-sponsored his '<mada, formed to produce the Con Withsuchavastsubject, therehave torical revievv appeared in 1973, to llidatedModel14underlicence.The been limits to the exhaustiveness of commemorate the fiftieth anniversary utheromittedcompany isCessnaAir detail thatcan beincluded. Therefore, of the Convair Aerospace Division of .raft, acquired by General Dynamics althoughattemptingto remaincloseto General Dynamics. Written by Jack m1985.ClydeCessna'saircraftmanu the Putnam tradition ofthoroughness Smothers, much material was con fllcturingcareerdatesbackto1911 and with regard to historical and technical tributed by Gordon Jackson, acknow mce 1927, the numberoftypes pro facts, some aircraft type histories have ledged as the unofficial histOl;an of duced byhis company and thesheer been subject to editi.ng by the author, Convair. Fortunately, a great deal of vulumeofproductionalmostdemands along with licence production ofother Jackson's notes, gathered over a long ,separate volume in the Putnam air unrelated manufacturer's types. Also, periodwithhelpfrom LarryPeterson, raft manufactw-erseries. tlle sections referring to unbuilt pro from company archives, photographs, These three deliberate pretermis- jects and production lists have been and through interviews with em ums have not Ie sened the need for a intentionallyrestrictedi.nscope.Asthe ployeeshassurvivedand arenowwith lhfferent approach to thatfollowed by main focus hasbeento record thehis the San Diego Aerospace Museum. ulhertitlesin thisseJ;es,astheremain tory of aircraft, sin1i.lar sacrifices have This fme establishment, which has till( ten companies produced over one been made with regard to the fullness risenphoenix-likefromtlleashesofthe hundred basictypes,astaggeringarray ofcorporatehistoryand biographiesof disastrous fire that almost totally Ifsub-types,andacombinedtotalpro founders and keyfigures. In the latter destroyed the previous collection, is a luction figure in excess of62,000 air- case, two previously published works haven of refuge for Consolidated and 8 GENERAL DYNA:\IlCS Convair material. Through the kind books by Allen Blue(B-24 Liherator), offices of Ray Wagner, archivist, and Gary L Killion (The Convair TVJins), his staff, the musewn's collection was Jay Miller (Convair B-58), and Ray openedto theauthorand proved tobe Wagner (American Combat Planes). an indispensable source. Most of the general arrangements Although this book was not spon drawings were produced by Carl G sored byGeneral Dynamics,Jack Isa Al1remark, whoseskill and careisevi bel and ZJoeThornton, publicaffairs denttoall. GratitudealsogoestoCon managers at San Diego and Fort way Maritime's editor John Stroud, Worth respectively, assisted with notonlyforhisshrewdcommentsand photographs and information wher corrections,butalsoforhisknowledge Author's Notes everpossible.Iamalsoindebtedtosev able writing over many years which eral former Convair employees for inspired this author down the path of reading and correcting parts of my aviationjournalism. manuscript thanks to their firsthand knowledge, namely William F Chana JOH~ WEGG (flight test engineer), Donald P Ger California, 1990 meraad,JolmW Knebel,andBJLong In general, style and presentation of serial number. However, the latter is tions, the official designations being (test pilots). facts in this book follows along the the numberstamped on the data plate Convair22/22M, and Convair30/30A Many fellow historians, often ex accepted lines ofthe Putnam manu attached to the aircraft. on the type certificate. In the case of perts on a particular subject in their facturer series. The most obvious Therefore, as the manufacturers in Vultee, the style V1-A, V11-GBT, o,vn light, wlselfishlysharedtheirfiles deviation concems the useofthe term this book are American, the decision V12-D etcwas that used by thecom of docwnentation and photographs Manufacturer's Serial Nwnber (msn) has been made to break with an panyitself,althoughofficialdocuments with me. My heartfelt thanks to Ri insteadofthehithertoacceptedstyle,in arguablyunsoundtraditionandusethe ofotheragenciesfrequentlyshowalter chard Sanders Allen, Harold M An enthusiastcirclesatleast,ofConstruc industl)'-acceptedform. Militat)'serial native presentations. drews, Walter J Boyne, Dustin W tor'sNwnber(c/n). Aircraftmanufac numbers are shown in parentheses, Carter, Jean-Pierre Dubois, Rene turers assign an individual serial with USAFexamples prefixed by the Abbreviations FrancilJon, Robert A Gordon, Terry nwnbertotheirproductsasameansof fiscal yearofallocation, and Navyser Judge,GaryL Killion,Robel1:EMar identification, a nwnber that is rarely ialswith BuA(Bureau ofAeronautics) Aswithanyspeciali edsubject,theavi tin, Alain Pelletier, and Patrick Vinot changed (ifso, then most often in re or BuA-, the latter denoting that the ation world is peppered with ahost of Prefontaine. Othersoffered advice,as building projects) and thus, wllike serialwasprefLxedbytheletterA.The abbreviations and acronyms. Some sistance,researchsources,information, nwnbersorlettercombinations issued majority of the General Dynamics willbefamiliar, othersnot,thusaIi tof and photographs that all added to this by registration authorities, or military group of companies allocated a new those appearing in this work follows volwne, and my grateful acknow serialnumbers,fonn apennanentrec sequence of manufacturer's serial ledgements go to James J Davilla, ord.Consequently,thehistol)'ofapar nwnbers,startingatone,foreachtype AAB Army Air Base AB Air Base H S Fyfield Jr, Harvey Lippincott, ticular aircraft may be traced via this built. An exception wasVultee, which ADC Air Defense Command Leonard E Opdycke, J J Paul, Jim nwnber. Manufacturer'sSerial Num issued numbers sequentially from the AFB Air Force Base Presley (1 aval Air Museum), Board ber,commonlyabbreviatedtojustser V1 until the V12 (1 to 144), then AFRES Air Force Reserve man C Reed, and Michael J Strole ial nwnber, is the accepted form used changedtoblocksofnwnbersforeach AFSC Air Force Systems As the former Convair photograph intheindustryintheUnitedStatesand type. Command fues are no longer intact or accessible, other countries, although some com Certain designation styles used in AMRAAM Advanced Medium the majorityofthe illustrations had to paniesusethevariationFactol)'orAir this book may be another issue for Range Air-to-Air be culled from a variety ofcollections, frame Serial Nwnber. some readers, particularly with regard Missile including the author's. Every attempt However, in an attempt to avoid to the Convaircivil transports and the ANG Air National Guard has been made to creeLt the original confusionwithmilitaryserialnwnbers, Vulteemodels. Althoughanabbrevia NGB Air National Guard Base photographerbutregrettably,overthe the enthusiast movement, apparently tion used within thecompany, C-Vor APSA Aerolineas Peruanas SA passageoftime,manynameshavebeen originating with that i.n the United CV (Consolidated Vultee) has never APU Auxiliary Power Unit lostand myapologies to thoseslighted Kingdom in the immediate post-Sec appeared as part of an aircraft model ASR Air-Sea Rescue by an incorrect credit line. Special ond'WorldWaryears,adoptedtheuse designation. Whilstthe useofCV-240 ASV Air-to-Surface-Vessel thankstoPeterM. Bowers, Stephen]. of 'c/n' which quickly spread world etc (but note that Convair CV-240 ASW Anti-Submarine War Hudek, and A R Kriegerfor access to wideand intopublicationsofallstand would be redundant) is perhaps ad fare theirvast negativecollections,and also ards. Unfortwlately, 'constructor's missible, it should bestressed that the ATC Approved Type Certifi to Richard Aardsma, G James Ala nwnber' itself is ambiguous because official model is Convair 240, appear cate AVENSA Aerovias Venezolanas back, Larry Milberry, Merle C Olm manufacturers often have other num ingthuson theaircrafttypecertificate. SA sted, and RobertJ Ruffle, allofwhom beringsystemsin usebesidestheserial Convair-Liner has also appeared in BG Bomb Group provided illustrations. nwnber sequence, such as line num various forms, but this is the copy BG (H) Bomb Group (Heavy) Publishedsourcesofparticularvalue bers, fuselage numbers, and customer righted style used by Convair and BW Bomb Wing werevolwnesoftheAmericanAviation nwnbers. Insomecases,thelinenwn which appears on the individual air BOAC British Overseas Air HistoricalSocietyJournal,Convairiety, ber is far more imPOI1:ant during pro craft data plate. In a similar vein, it ways Corporation Stinson Plane News, Stinson Plane duction and for subsequent record should be noted that Convair880and BuA Bureau ofAeronautics Talk, and The Vultair; plus notable keeping by the manufacturer than the Convair990 are promotional designa- (Navy) 10 GENERAL DYNAMICS THOMAS BROTHERS AND THOMAS-MORSE 11 CAA Civil Aeronautics NACA National Advisory Com- TAA Trans-AustraliaAirline Administration mittee for Aeronautics TAC Tactical Air Command CAC ConsolidatedAircraft NAAS Naval Auxiliary Air TACA TransportesAheos Corporation Station Centro-Americanos CASA ConstruccionesAero- NAF Naval Air Facility TAM Tran portesAheos nauticas SA (Spain) NAS Naval Air Station Militares(Peru) CAT Civil Air Transport NASA National Aeronautics TC Type Certificate (Taiwan) and Space TEAL Tasman Empire CATC Central Air Transport Administration Airways Ltd Corp NASM ational Air and Space TFG Tactical Fighter Group CCTS Combat Crew Training Museum TFS Tactical Fighter Squa- Squadron NATC Naval Air Test Center dron CIA Central Intelligence NATO North Atlantic Treaty TFW Tactical FighterWing Thomas Brothers and Agency Organisation TRAPAS Societe Fran<;ais de CIC Commander-in-Chief NATS Naval Air Transport Transports Ahiens du Thomas-Morse CNAC China National Service Pacific Sud Aviation Corporation NEIF Netherlands East Indies TUSAS Turk U<;ak Sanayii CPAL Canadian PacificAir Air Force Anonim Ortakligi Lines NTU Not Taken Up (Turkish Aircraft CSW Combat Support Wing OCU Operational Conversion Industries Inc) DBF Destroyed By Fire Unit TWA Trans World Airlines del Delivered PACAF Pacific Air Force USAAC United States Army Air WilliamT Thomas,fow1deroftheair graduate, Frank H Burnside, became DEWS Distant Early Warning (USAF) Corps (effective craft company that bore his name, chiefcompanypilotand flew theTho ECM Electronic Counter PMTC Pacific Missile Test 2 July, 1926) graduated from the Central Technical mas E pusher to 13,OOOft in 1913, Mea ures Center USAAF United States Army Air College, South Kensington, in 1908at claiming a new United States record. ECS Electronic Counter- QANTAS Queensland and Forces (effective 20 theageof22,andfindingsuitableem Thatyear, thecompanywasincorpor measures Squadron Northern Territory June, 1941) ploymentelu iveinhisnativecountry, ated as the Thomas Brothers Aero ECW Electronic Counter- Aerial Services USAAS United States Army Air measures Wing RAAF Royal Australian Air Service (effective 20 emigrated to the United States. Tho plane Company with William as ELINT Electronic Intelligence Force May, 1918) mas was a motorcycle enthusiast and presidentand Oliverasvice-president. Esk Eskadrille(Danish) RAF Royal Air Force USAF United States Air Force had worked on gas engines during a 'Work continued on new pusher FAA Federal Aviation Agency RAI Reseau Aerien (effective pre-college apprenticeship with the designs, and also a single-seat mono FAMA Flota Aerea Mercante Interinsulaire 18 September, 1947) British Westinghouse Manufacturing A rarephotographofthe two keyunre plane was tried without success, and Argentina RCAF Royal Canadian Air USAFE United States Air Force Company.AfterarrivinginNewYork, lated Thomasesfrom Britain. On the two wooden-hulled flying-boats were FICOI Fighter Conveyor Force Europe Thomaswashiredinthedraftingroom left isdesignerB Douglas Thomas, on tested. Experiencingleaksin the hulls, FIS Fighter Interceptor REAL Redes Estaduais Aheas USCG United States Coast at the Herring-Curtiss Company at therightis William T Thomas who the brothers experimented with metal Squadron Ltda Guard Han1.J11ondsport. Glenn Curtiss "vas founded the Thomas Brothers Com covering, one of the earliest uses of FLIR Forward-Looking Infra- Reg Registration/registered USN United States Navy Red RNZAF Royal New Zealand Air VIASA Vias Internacionales holderoftheworld'smotorcyclespeed panyin 1909. (Randolph F Hall) metal foraircraftstructureundertaken FY Fiscal Year (USA) Force Aereas SA record, a builder of famous racing in the USA. HAL Hindustan Aircraft Ltd RoKAF Republic ofKorea VP Patrol Squadron (US engines, and an avid promotor offly Late in 1914, Benjamin Douglas HUD Head Up Display Air Force Navy) ing. Thomas made drawings for the thatyear, thecompanymovedtoBath, Thomas (no relation but al 0 from IPTN Industri Pesawat SAAB Svenska Aeroplan VPB Patrol Bomber Squa- GoldenFlyeranditsfour-cylinder40hp New York, and soon grew to eight or England)joined the Thomas brothers Terbang Nurtanio Aktiebolag e1ron (US Navy) engineandfortheRedDevilbiplaneon ten employees. atBath. BDouglasThomashadgrad- (NurtanioAircraft SABCA Societe Anonyme Beige VTOL Vertical Take-offand behalfofCaptThomasA Baldwin. An improved model ofthefir tair Industry Ltd, de Constructions Aero- Landing Intentondesigningandbuildinghis craft, theThomasTA, wascompleted Indonesia) nautiques WFU Withdrawn From Use own aircraft, Thomas left Curtiss ~ which won several races and both bi The originalbuildingrentedin 1914 JJAALT JJaupgaonsloAviernLskinies SABENA dS'oEcxieptleoiAtantoionnymdeelBaeige WWORS WWeriatttheenrORfefconnaiss- obtained the use of a bam at H~ planes were used for exhibition flying by the Thomas AeroplaneCompany Aerotransport Navigation Aerienne ance Squadron mondsport owned by the Roulette toprovidesomeincome.TheThomas inBrindleyStreet, Ithaca, New JATO Jet-Assisted Take-Off SAC StrategicAir Command Wine Company and began work in SchoolofAviation Incopenedin1912, York, whichbecameknows as the KLM Koninklijke Luchtvaart SAM Surface-to-AirMissile ="lovember 1909, assisted by Bert the first certificated by the Board of InletPlant. It stillstands today. Maatschappij SANA Sociedad Argentina de Chambers, a Herring-Curtiss motor Regents in New York State. An early (Harold Andrewscollection) voor Nederland en Navegacion Ahea cycle mechanic. Thomas did business Kolonien (Royal Dutch SAS Scandinavian Airlines as Thomas Brothers Company, Airlines) System althoughhisbrother,OliverW,didnot KNILM Koninklijke Neder- SATA Societe Anonyme de arrive from England until several landsch-Indische Transports Ahien months later. Luchtvaart Skv Skvadron (Norway) Maatschappij Sm Smaldeel (Belgium) The first aircraft, a two-seater LACSA LineasAheas SOC Struck OffCharge pusher biplane powered by a 22hp Costarricenses SONACA Societe Nationale de Kirkham automobile engine, was LAPE Lineas Aheas Postales Construction Ahospa- completed the following spring and Espafiolas tiale SA (Belgium) flown by Chambersfrom Page Farm, LTC Limited Type STC Supplemental Type Homell, NewYork, towheretheshop Certificate Certificate had moved thatwinter. Thomas him MATS Military Air Transport STOL Short Take-Offand selfstarted flying in June 1910. Later Service Landing 12 GENERAL DYNAMICS THOMAS BROTHERS AND THOMAS-MORSE 13 Afterits reorganisation as the Thomas With the MB-3, Thomas-Morsehad Morse Aircraft Corporationin 1917, thechance to obtainamajor US the company'smainplantwas on lnny contactwhichwouldhaveguar South Hill, Ithaca, attachedto the (/Ilfeedit apostwarroleas amajor Morse Chain Company'sbuilding. manufacturer. However, through com (AircraftYear Book) petitivebidding, Boeingobtainedthe orderfor the improvedMB-3A and 711Omas-Morse turneditsattentionto theless lucrative task ofdeveloping all More 'Tommy Scouts'werebuilt than metaldesigns. (Harold Andrews any other Thomas-Morse typeandit colJection) was themostfamous Americanair craftoftheFirst World War, even However, although the war had thoughit took no partin theconflict. brought some orders, the Thomas This isan S-4B in 1918-style US concernrequiredadditionalfundingto ArmyAirServicemarkings. remain in business, leading, on 31 (PeterM Bowers colJection) January, 1917, to the organisation of theThomas-MorseAircraftCorpora tion with the Morse Chain Company ofIthaca payingoffall debts, advallC ing workingcapital and talilllgcontrol assoleshareholder.Principalstockhol dersinthenewcompanywereHerman H Westillghouse,oftheairbrakefam ily, and J F Miller, president of the Union Switch alld Signal Company. FrankLMorse,oftheparentcompany headed the new corporation and Wil liam Thomas was named vice-presi dent alld general manager. B Douglas Thomas contillued as chief engineer but Oliver moved to the Dayton Wright Company and after the war managed family cattle interests in Argentina, where he died in 1947. A new concretee;.,.1:ension was built productioncontractorderfor fiftywas Aftersevenyearsofunsuccessfulall totheMorseChainCompanyplanton placed in1919butamajordisappoint metalaircraft design, Thomas-Morse SouthHill, Ithaca, and the InletPlant mentoCCUlTed thefollowingyear, one finally achievedabreakthroughwith was retained for sub-assembly. In ad from which the company never fully the 0-19series. However, the com dition,anexperimentalshopwassetup recovered. As it "vas well known that panywas soldto ConsolidatedbEfore uated from King's ColJege, London, ducedbyanattractiveofferbythelocal possibility of adapting the British in a former corset factory on Center the Air Service planned to procw-e work on theprodw;tionmodels started worked for Vickersand then the Sop board of trade, a year's free rent on a Greenenginewasexploredbutasolu Street. The S-4 'Tommy Scout' another two hundredofthe improved andthe vast majorityof0-19s, includ withAviationCompany.InMay1914, three-storey building ill Brindley tion was found by obtaining the ser trainer won Army approval alld by MB-3A design, Thomas-Morse in ingthe 0-19Billustrated, was built at Glenn Curtiss had invited him to the Street.Thislaterbecameknownasthe vicesofGeorgeH Abeland Harold N October 1917, the company had a vested in the necessary jilZs/and dies. BuffalobyReubenFleet'scompany. United States following a visit to the InletPlant. DesignerA V 'Fred' Ver Bliss and forming the Thomas Aero backlogofonemillion dolJars, includ However, the policyattl)/;;imewasto Kingston factOl)'. Beforehisdeparture ville also joined the company during motor Compally on 5 August, 1915. ing orders for one hundred SAs at offerthecontractouttoJ)'idandBoeing 'we got the jump on everybody with from England, Thomas designed the this period. A flying school wasset up Abel alld Blisshad designed an engine $5,400 each, twelve SH-4s for the offered the lowest price and obtained the S-4 and then we got thejwnp on ModelJforCurtissandatHan1l11ond ononeoftheCOuntl)"SearliestmWlici at the BF Sturtevant Compally, Bos ~avyat$7,575 each,and aquantityof the order. Interestingly, Reuben Fleet everybody with the MB-3. But when sportThomasassisted with thedesign pal airports, an earth runway carved ton, and had all agreement whereby if Thomas-Morseengines. At peak pro was in charge of purchasing and had we tried to get thejwnp in metal, we of the Model H flying-boat Amen:ca, through apeachorchardon theshores opportunities existed elsewhere, they duction in 1918, the Ithaca plants attempted to get Thomas-Morse to were in real trouble.' The US lagged intended for an Atlantic crossing. of Cayuga Lake, and was used for and the engille design were free to employed1,200workersalld threetest lowerits price below$13,200perunit. far behind Europe, particularly Thomaswasinitiallywlsalaried,but trainingRoyal Canadian FlyingCorps moveon. pilots, Frank Burnside, R C 'Tex' In later years, Fleet himself was the Germany, in metal aircraftdesign and worked under an agreement whereby pilots during the war. A new tractor design, the D-2, was Marshall and Paul D Wilson. When victim of this policy when he lost a construction and Thomas-Morse he would supervise construction and The T-2 flew soon after the com initially powered by a 135hp Sturte Burnside left the company in 1920, Consolidated contractto Martin. frequently had to adapt woodworking receive half of any profits, and he pany arrived at Ithaca and was con vallt, then bythenear twinThomas8, Wil on took over as chief pilot until Following the loss of the MB-3A tools for the task. Corrugated sheets started immediately on a tractor sidered one of the best aircraft of its all adaptation ofthe Sturtevant eight 1928. contract,thecompanyconcentratedon were made by running smooth stock design, designated T-2, using his ex day. A British Admiralty purchasing cylinderwater-cooledengine. In 1915, Although affected by post-Armi all-metal designs, the first US manu through a wood planer fitt d with periencewith the CurtissModel]. On comrrusslon ordered twenty-four FrankBwnsideflewaD-2at97.4mph stice contract cancellations, the com factw-er to do so, starting with the con-ugated rollers and to make extru 7 December, 1914, another move was T-2s but further contracts were not andclaimedanewworldspeedrecord. panyfollowedonthesuccessoftheS-4 MB-9 and MB-lO in 1921. But little sions, dies were procw-ed bythe com undertaken, this time to Ithaca, New forthcoming, reportedly because of a Severalsimilaraircraftwereorderedby with the compact MB-3 designed successwasachievedforthefirstseven pany and loalled to the Alwninwn York. The Thomases had been in- shortageofCurtissOX-5engines.The the US Navyand Anny. around the 300hp I-lispano engine. A years. As BDouglasThomas recalled, Company of America. Dw-al tubing 14 GENERAL DYNAMICS THOMAS BROTHERS AND THOMAS-MORSE 15 was available only in limited sizes and TheModel TA in itsoriginalform much materialwaspurchasedinEng with aSOhp Kirkham engine with land from Vickers. singlepilotcontrols. (AircraftYear Although the TM-22/24 series Book) proved unsuccessful, they attracted considerable attention for Thomas Morse. Inlate1924theArmyordered two sets ofmetal wings for the DH-4 whichwere taticandflighttested,fol TA Tractor withSOhp Kirkham en lowed by another pair for the Boeing gine. (AircraftYear Book) PW-9whichweresimilarlysatisfactor ilytested. In 1925, theAirCorpssug gested that the company undertake a Thomas Brothers metalversionoftheDouglas0-2.Two XO-6s were produced at a loss of Aircraft $60,000 followed by three production companyattheinvitationofF Trubee Thefirst Thomas design initsoriginal aircraft. A completelynew design, the Davison, Assistant Secretary of War configurationwithlargepanels XO-6B, followed. In 1928, this rede for Air, who was concerned that mountedoutboardofthe wingstruts. signed model was procured as the Thomas-Morse would be w1able to (AircraftYear Book) Biplane XO-19and,followingteststhatproved produce the 0-19 in quantity. Tho thesoundnessoftheconcept,itwasex mas-Morse was transferred to Buffalo (XB2Y-l) dive-bomber for which the Thomas started work on his first air pectedthatsubstantialorderswouldbe as a subsidiary of Consolidated, Navysuppliedthebasicdesigns. Butit craftat Hammondsport in November placed. becoming Unit 4 at the North Elm wasnotasuccess,andheretiredinJuly 1909and the pusher biplane was first Before this occurred the Morse wood Avenue plant, and completed 1933 to live in La Jolla, California. flown from PageFarm,Hornell, New Chain Company was sold to Borg 171 0-19s, the last in 1932. The fmal Thomas-Morse ceased to be an active York, the following pring by Bert Warner. The aircraft subsidiary, con aircraft to bear the Thomas-Morse part of the Consolidated corporate Chambers. The machine seated pilot sideredafmancialliability,wasomitted name was the XO-932, the ultimate structure and two years later was andpassengerside-by-sideonthelead from the transaction, however. Frank development of the 0-19 series, later quietlydi solved. WilliamT Thomas, ingedge ofthe lower wing. In itsfirst TA TA Tractor L Morse remained inchargeand on 5 designated Consolidated Model 23. thefounderoftheenterptise,hadleftin form, largepanelspivotingonforeand August, 1929, he sold the company's BDouglasThomas, responsiblefor 1921. For many years he devoted his afthingesatthecentreoftheoutboard The second Thomas design was a In 1912, an unsuccessful tractor ver designs to Consolidated Aircraft for all the company's designs except the time to building and flying model wing struts served for roll control. refmementofthefirstand initiallyflew sion of the TA biplane was built (or 6,000 shares of Consolidated stock S-7,movedtoBuffaloaspresidentand aircraft and in 1928 joined the Later, these were replaced with aile atBathwitha50hpKirkhamsix-cylin convertedfrom an existingTA) witha (worth about $440,000 at the time). chief engineer. His last work there CLmningham-Hall Aircraft Corp as rons. The four-wheel undercarriage der aero-engine that permitted up to 50/65hpKirkhamengine,fitted witha Fleet had become interested in the was on the Consolidated Model 24 chiefengineer. was mounted on bamboo skids at threepersons,includingthepilot,tobe single pontoon and outriggerfloats for tached to the wing centre section that carried. During1911,itwasconverted water-based operations. Performance Thomas and Thomas-Morse S-6 1 XO-932/YI0-41 Production Summary S-7 1 (Consolidated 23)***** supported the 22hp Kirkham auto intoasuccessfulhydroplanebysubsti wasnotasgoodastheoriginalTAand mobile engine with its chain-driven tuting pontoons for the wheels, and further work wasabandoned infavow' S-9 1 XP-13 Viper propeller. With two on board itcould was still able to carry one passenger. ofpusherdesigns. Thomas MB-l 1 stayaloftfor20minutes. Subsequently In 1912, a further improved model MB-2 1 Sub-Total 876 Biplane 1 the elevator, supported by bamboo TAwas built with a 65hp Kirkham Span 37ft; weightempty 900lb; ma"i TAO' 2 MB-3 65 struts, was modified and twin rudders engine and on 31 October, was flown mumspeed 58mph; endurance2hr. MB-4 2 TOTAL 945 TATractor** 1 fitted and the chain-drive was aban by Walter E Johnson at Bath with a MB-6 3 Monoplane 1 doned in favow' of a direct-drive passengerfor 3hr51min, anAmetican A Model TA convertedas ahydro MB-7 2 NacellePusher 2 system. endurance record. The improved TA plane. This maybetheimproved EO' 12 MB-9 1 Inaddition, afuselage oftheYl0-42 was also won aseriesofraces includingthe version with a6Shp Kirkham asit MB-lO 1 B(Flying-boat)*** 4 builtfor statictests only. Span 27ft; weightempty6501b. 25-rnile $1,000 prize event at the hasdualcontrols (Harold Andrews TM-22 (R-5) 2 T-2 25 Acontracttoconvel'tseventy-fiveDH Syracuse State Fair in 1912 collection) TM-23 1 SH-4 15 4stoDH-4Bstandardwasplacedbutnone D-2/D-5/HS 6 TM-24 1 weredelivered. XO-6 2 Sub-Total 69 0-6 3 XO-6B**** 1 Thomas-M<;>rse XO-19**** 1 .. Possibly interchangeable, at leastone S-4 1 0-19 2 'school machine' was built at Ithaca. S-4B 101 0-19A 1 .... Possiblyconverted from existingTA. S-4C (Gnome) 50 0-19B***** 70 *.... Possibly only three aircraft. S-4C (Le Rhone) 447 0-19C***** 71 ........ Possiblysame airframe S-4C (post contract cancellation) 1 0-19E***** 30 .......... Builtby Consolidated at Buffalo. S-4E 1 YO-20 1 S-5 6 XO-2 1 YO-23 1 16 GENERAL DYNAMICS THOMAS BROTHERS AND THOMAS-MORSE 17 Monoplane Model E A single-seat monoplane with a Developed from the TA, twelve air 50/60hp Ma;-::imotor fow'-cylinder craft were reportedly built from 1913 engine was built in 1913 and was with65hpKirkhamengines.Thespe flown dUling the spring. The paired cifications were similar to those ofthe four-wheel undercarriage was sup TAbutatleastone,knownastheSpe plementedbyskids.Theintentionwas cialBiplane,had 33ftspanwingsanda toinstalla70hpKirkhanlenginebutit gross weight of 8501b. Fitted with an is unliJ,ely that this was done. 80hpCurtissengine,onewasflown by FrankH Burnside,anearlygraduateof Span 32ft, length 30ft; weight empty OriginalFlying-Boat, onLakeSalubria in 1912. (AircraftYear Book) theThomasSchoolofFlyingandsub 7501b. Thomas Monoplane (SOhp Maximotor). (AircraftYear Book) sequentlychiefpilotofthecompany,to 13,OOOft in 1913 to claim a new US Nacelle Pusher altitude record. One aircraft survives with Cole Palen's collection at Old Two sinUlar 'nacelle pusher' biplane Rhinebeck, ew York. designs were built and flown during 1913. Both featw'ed paired four Model BFlying-boats wheel/skid undercaniagesand had the elevator and twin rudders supported A ide-by- idetwo-seatbiplaneflying byabambooframee>.1:endingfrom the boat with a 60/65hp water-cooled wingcentresection. Thesingle-seater, engine was builtand flown from Lake also referred to as the Standard Bi Salubria in 1912. A second, more plane, had a 10ft longer-span upper Second Flying-Boat, with a steel-coveredhulland a 90hp Austro-Daimler refmed 'boat, was built with a 90hp wing, a 65hp Kirkham engine, and a engine. (Aircraft Year Book) Austro-Daimler engl11e and was nacellemowltedin betvveenthewings. capableof65mph.AstheThomasbro The three-seater, powered by a 90hp Single-seat NacellePusher (1913). (AircraftYear Book) thershadtroublewiththewoodenhull Austro-Daimlerengine,hadthelonger absorbingwater,thusaddingweightto nacelle attached clirectly to the lower the aircraft, 30-gauge galvanised iron wmg. sheets were used to cover the wooden franle hull of the second aircraft, re (Single-seater): Span 37ft; weight inforced at the bow and underneath empty 9001b; ma;xinlum speed 58mph, with wood planking. In 1914, a third endurance2hr. design appeared with thesameengine and thi ,togetherwith amore tream Three-seat NacellePusher (1913) with 90hpAustro-Daimlerengine. lined model produced in 1915, aI 0 witha90hpAustro-Daimler,hasbeen (AircraftYear Book) 1915-modelFlying-Boat (B-4) withstreamlinedbowandextendedfin. (Harold The 1914modelFlying-Boat (B-3) ModelE single-seater. (AircraftYear Andrewscollection) onLakeSalubria. (Stephen JHudek) Book)
Description:The list of books you might like
