Benoist Land Tractor Type XII

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Land Tractor Type XII
Benoist-Korn Type XII display.jpg
A Benoist Land Tractor Type XII on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
Role Biplane
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer Benoist Aircraft Company
Designer Thomas W. Benoist, Tony Jannus
Introduction1912
Produced1912
Number built5
Developed fromBenoist Type XII headless

The Benoist Land Tractor Type XII was one of the first enclosed cockpit, tractor configuration aircraft built. [1] Benoist used "Model XII" to several aircraft that shared the same basic engine and wing design, but differed in fuselage and control surfaces.

Contents

Design and development

The Type XII was a tractor-engined conversion of the model XII headless pusher aircraft that resembled the Curtiss pusher aircraft. Demonstration pilots used Benoist aircraft to demonstrate the first parachute jumps, and the tractor configuration was considered much more suitable for the task. The first example named the "Military Plane" had a small box frame covered fuselage that left the occupants mostly exposed to the wind. The later model XII "Cross Country Plane" had a full fuselage that occupants sat inside of. [2]

The first tractor biplane used a wooden fuselage with a small seat on top. The wings were covered with a Goodyear rubberized cloth. [3]

Operational history

The first model XII was built in the spring of 1912.

On 1 March 1912, Albert Berry used a headless Type XII to complete the first parachute jump from an airplane. [4] Berry used a conical parachute with paper in between the folds to prevent entanglement. He climbed onto a trapeze like support on the front of the aircraft, cut the supporting cable and landed at Jefferson Barracks.

A scene during exhibition flights along the Mississippi Collection- Painter (Milton McFarland, Sr.) Collection (22143078630).jpg
A scene during exhibition flights along the Mississippi

On 6 November 1912 Tony Jannus flew a model XII mounted with floats 1,973 mi down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers from Omaha, Nebraska to New Orleans arriving on 16 December. [5]

Variants

Survivors

A Model XII, factory No.32 built by Edward and Milton Korn in Benoist's shop is on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The aircraft had been rebuilt with modifications in 1917 after a 13 August 1913 accident which killed one of its builders, Milton Korn. It was donated to the Air and Space museum in 1949, and restored in 1981. [6]

Specifications (Benoist Land Tractor Type XII)

Data from Smithsonian, Automotive Journal

General characteristics

Performance

Avionics

See also

Related Research Articles

Nemeth Parasol was a prototype of a taildragger tractor configuration airplane with circular wing set in a parasol configuration. It was designed by Steven Nemeth from Dayton, Ohio and made its first flight in 1934. The goal was to have a plane that could be stored in a large garage, rather than a hangar and be easy to fly. Nemeth did wind tunnel tests at the University of Michigan in 1929. Nemeth worked with students from the University of Miami in 1934 to help him build the plane's wings. Nemeth used his custom "roundwing" on an Alliance A-1 Argo two-seat biplane fuselage. The high-wing monoplane had multiple struts to hold the custom "roundwing". Nemeth wing had a diameter of fifteen feet (4.57m) with flaps and ailerons. The plane reached a top speed of 135mph (217km/h). Due to the large wing, the plane could taking off in just 63 feet. Tests were done with stall speeds, turning off the engine in flight, and using the wings as a parachute. The parachute-stall landing gave the plane a short 25 feet of landing to stop. The original 90 hp Lambert engine in the Alliance A-1 was replaced with a Warner Scarab 120hp engine. Nemeth did two years of testing but did not get any interest in producing more. The fate of the one plane built is unknown. Nemeth success gave others ideas and other experimental aircraft with circular wings were built later like the Sack AS-6, the Vought XF5U and the Avrocar. Steven P. Nemeth was a flight instructor at the McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio, which closed in 1927. The successful test flights made it into some newspapers and magazines. Modern Mechanix and Popular Science both had articles on the special new plane.

References

  1. "Benoist-Korn Type XII" . Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  2. "Benoist Paper". Archived from the original on 2010-12-21. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  3. Thomas Reilly. Jannus, an American flier.
  4. "Tom Benoist" . Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  5. Automotive Journal. 34.{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. "Benoist-Korn Type XII". National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

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