Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Aerospace |
Founded | 1925Detroit-Marysville, Michigan, United States | in
Founder | Buhl family of Detroit |
Defunct | July 21, 1932 |
Headquarters | , |
Key people |
The Buhl Aircraft Company was a US aircraft manufacturer founded in Detroit in 1925 which remained in operation until 1933. Buhl designed and manufactured the Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, the first aircraft to receive a US civil aviation type Certificate in March 1927. Several utility and sport aircraft models were developed from 1925 to 1931, both fixed wings and rotary wing aircraft. Their greatest successes were with the Airsedan and Bull Pup, with approximately 185 aircraft of all types built from 1925 to 1932.
The Buhl Aircraft Company was founded in 1925 by the Buhl family of Detroit. Lawrence D. Buhl hired Etienne Dormoy and Alfred Verville who had previously been employed as engineers by the United States Army Air Service Engineering Division at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. Then, in 1926, the company purchased the former Illinois Tool Company factory and converted it for aircraft production. [1]
The first aircraft to receive an Approved Type Certificate in the United States was the Buhl CA-3 Airster biplane which received Certificate #1 in March 1927. This was a commercial three seat open cockpit biplane suitable for carrying a couple of passengers, training student pilots and carrying light cargo. Other jobs such as crop dusting and aerial photography would be added later. Alfred Verville was the chief designer from the company's founding in 1925 until 1927, during the period when the CA-3 Airster was developed and certified. 20 would ultimately be built. [2]
Etienne Dormoy replaced him, and was responsible for developing the Airsedan sesquiplane family, as well as the CA-1 Airster and Bull Pup monoplanes. Roughly 85 Airsedans in two basic designs (the CA-5, and much more refined CA-3, 6 and 8) were built which won a number of speed and endurance records and placed in the top in the Ford National Reliability Air Tour, the National Air Races. The Airsedan "Spokane Sun-God" was the first aircraft to make a non-stop US transcontinental round-trip flight on 15 August 1929. Sales would be hindered by the deepening Great Depression although over 100 of the tiny single-seat Bull Pup monoplanes were manufactured between 1930 and 1932. [3]
Dormoy also designed the Buhl A-1 autogyro in 1930, optimized for aerial photography, with a pusher engine located behind the pilot and room for a camera operator up front. [4] Only one of these was built.
In March 1931, Buhl Aircraft licensed from the Autogiro Company of America, Juan de la Cierva's and Harold Pitcairn's rotary-wing patents. [5]
Following a request by six leading stockholders, the company was dissolved on 21 July 1932. [6] [7]
All models are retired. Other than for the autogyro, the number in the designation refers to the number of seats as originally designed.
Type | Date | Number | Role | Class | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CA-3 Airster | 1926 | 20 | utility | biplane | |
CA-5 Airsedan | 1927 | 14 | cabin | sesquiplane | |
CA-3 Junior/Sport Airsedan | 1928 | 20 | cabin | sesquiplane | |
CA-6 Airsedan | 1929 | 23 | cabin | sesquiplane | |
CA-8 Senior Airsedan | 1929 | 5 | cabin | sesquiplane | |
CA-1/CW-1 Airster | 1930 | 2 | sport | monoplane | |
LA-1 Bull Pup | 1930 | ~100 | sport | monoplane | |
A-1 Autogyro | 1931 | 1 | photography | autogyro |
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The Pitcairn Mailwing family was a series of American mail carrier and three-seat sport utility biplane aircraft produced from 1927 to 1931.
The Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, was a utility aircraft built in the United States in 1926, notable as the first aircraft to receive a type certificate in the US, issued by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce on March 29, 1927. It was a conventional single-bay biplane with equal-span unstaggered wings and accommodation for the pilot and passengers in tandem open cockpits. Marketed for a variety of roles including crop-dusting, aerial photography, and freight carriage, only a handful were built, some with water-cooled engines as the CW-3, and others with air-cooled engines as the CA-3. One CA-3 placed second in the 1926 Ford National Reliability Air Tour.
The Buhl AirSedan was a family of American civil cabin sesquiplane aircraft developed and manufactured by the Buhl Aircraft Company in the late 1920s. One example completed the first transcontinental non-stop roundtrip flight, made in 1929 by the CA-6 Spokane Sun-God, and the first Pope to have flown did so in a Buhl Airsedan.
Buhl Airster may refer to either of two aircraft designed by the same manufacturer but otherwise unrelated:
The Buhl CA-1 Airster was a sports airplane developed in the United States in 1930. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage and an open cockpit for the pilot.
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Alfred Victor Verville was an American aviation pioneer and aircraft designer who contributed to civilian and military aviation. During his forty-seven years in the aviation industry, he was responsible for the design and development of nearly twenty commercial and military airplanes. Verville is known for designing flying boats, military racing airplanes, and a series of commercial cabin airplanes. His planes were awarded with the Pulitzer Speed Classic Trophy in 1920 and 1924.
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The Pitcairn Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light utility aircraft. An early proponent of the autogyro, the company, later known as the Autogiro Company of America among other names, remained in business until 1948.
The Parks P-1 was an American three-seat sport biplane that was built in the late 1920s.
Étienne Dormoy was an aeronautical engineer and a designer of aircraft.
The Buhl A-1 Autogiro was an autogyro optimised for air camera work designed and built from 1930. To this end, Etienne Dormoy designed the Buhl A-1, an autogyro with a pusher engine located behind the pilot and camera operator. The Buhl A-1 was the first pusher style autogyro.