Commercial C-1 Sunbeam

Last updated
C-1 Sunbeam
Role Biplane
National originUnited States
Manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp
Produced1929

The Commercial C-1 Sunbeam was a long-range biplane used in record-setting flights of the 1920s. [1]

Contents

Design

The conventional landing gear-equipped biplane featured a two-seat open cockpit and a four-passenger enclosed cabin. The fuselage is constructed with welded steel tubing with fabric covering. The wheels were covered with large streamlined wheel pants.

Operational history

On 27 November 1929 Elinor Smith and Bobbie Trout set a 42-hour endurance record over Los Angeles flying a C-1 Sunbeam refueled three times from a Curtiss Carrier Pigeon mail plane. Although the Sunbeam was performing well, the Carrier Pigeon support plane had mechanical difficulties after the third day. 672 gallons of fuel were used in the attempt, making Smith and Trout the first women to refuel in the air. [2] [3] [4]

Variants

Commercial Sunbeam C-102
X-564M used a 300 hp (224 kW) Wright J-6 radial engine for the endurance flights of 1929 and 1931. [5]

Specifications (Commercial C-1 Sunbeam)

Data from Aerofiles

General characteristics

Performance

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Handley Page Gugnunc</span>

The Handley Page H.P.39 is a wooden biplane that was constructed in 1929. The aircraft was intended to compete in a competition proposed by the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics - the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition. The original working name for the aircraft was the Guggenheim Competition Biplane. The name Gugnunc was at first unofficial, coming from the Pip, Squeak and Wilfred newspaper cartoon, but it later became official.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss P-6 Hawk</span> Fighter aircraft in use by the US Army Air Corps 1929-1937

The Curtiss P-6 Hawk is an American single-engine biplane fighter introduced into service in the late 1920s with the United States Army Air Corps and operated until the late 1930s prior to the outbreak of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Aircraft Factory TS</span>

The Naval Aircraft Factory TS-1 is an early biplane fighter aircraft of the United States Navy, serving from 1922 to 1929.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunningham-Hall PT-6</span>

The Cunningham-Hall Model PT-6 was an American six-seat cabin biplane aircraft of the late 1920s and was the first design of the Cunningham-Hall Aircraft Corporation of Rochester, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Tanager</span> Type of aircraft

The Curtiss Model 54 Tanager was an aircraft constructed in 1929 as Curtiss' entry in the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International F-17 Sportsman</span> Type of aircraft

The International F-17 Sportsman was a 1920s American three-seat open-cockpit biplane designed and manufactured by the International Aircraft Corporation in Long Beach, California and Cincinnati, Ohio. 107 aircraft were built, 77 of them at Cincinnati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elinor Smith</span> American aviator

Elinor Smith was a pioneering American aviator, once known as "The Flying Flapper of Freeport". She was the first woman test pilot for both Fairchild and Bellanca. She was the youngest licensed pilot in the world at age 16.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stearman C3</span> American Aircraft

The Stearman C3 was an American-built civil biplane aircraft of the 1920s, designed by Stearman Aircraft of Wichita, Kansas. It was also the first Stearman aircraft to receive a type certificate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Eagle A-129</span> American 1920s light aircraft

The American Eagle A-129 was an American biplane first flown in 1929.

The Waco CRG is an American open-cockpit sporting biplane of the early 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Carrier Pigeon</span> Type of aircraft

The Curtiss Carrier Pigeon was an American mail plane of the 1920s. A single-engined biplane designed and built to replace World War I surplus aircraft such as the DH-4, the Carrier Pigeon was one of the first aircraft designed specifically for U.S. Airmail service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Model 41 Lark</span> Type of aircraft

The Curtiss Model 41 Lark was a commercial biplane manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company that was used by pioneering airmail, airline and bush pilots in the 1920s.

The Bird Wing or later, Bird Wing Imperial was a light sport biplane of the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Cabinaire</span> Type of aircraft

The Paramount Cabinaire was a 1920s designed cabin biplane, designed by Walter J. Carr and produced by the Paramount Aircraft Corporation. Only eight were completed before production ceased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss-Wright CA-1</span> American biplane amphibian designed by Frank Courtney

The Curtiss CA-1 was an American five-seat biplane amphibian designed by Frank Courtney and built by Curtiss-Wright at St Louis, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Thrush</span> 1929 American single-engine monoplane light transport

The Curtiss/Curtiss-Robertson Model 56 Thrush was a 1929 six passenger high-wing fixed undercarriage single-engine cabin monoplane airliner and utility transport powered by either a Curtiss Challenger or a Wright Whirlwind radial engine and built as an enlargement of the earlier Curtiss Robin. Several were used for record breaking endurance flights by female pilots during the early 1930s including one in which the aircraft stayed aloft for almost ten days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rearwin Ken-Royce</span> Type of aircraft

The Rearwin Ken-Royce was an American three-seat sport/touring biplane built by Rearwin Airplanes first in Salina, Kansas then Kansas City. It was the first airplane built by the company.

The Simplex Red Arrow was a US single-engined monoplane produced in the late 1920s and early 1930s and intended as club machine or mail transport. Most used radial engines in the 90–110 hp (67–82 kW) range. They carried one or two passengers whose seats could be open or enclosed. One variant, the Red Arrow Dual Plane, was easily converted from monoplane to biplane and was available with two versions of the much more powerful Wright Whirlwind engines. In all about 20 were built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtiss Model 53 Condor</span> Passenger airplane

The 1929 Curtiss Model 53 Condor, also known as the Curtiss Model 53 Condor 18 or the Curtiss CO Condor, was a civil passenger version of the Model 52 Condor bomber. A twin-engined biplane, it carried 18 passengers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ireland Neptune</span> Type of aircraft

The Ireland Neptune was a four or five place pusher configuration biplane sold in flying boat and amphibian versions. Designed in the U.S. and first flown in 1927, well over 50 were built.

References

  1. Munson, Kenneth (1982). U.S. Commercial Aircraft . London, UK: Jane's Publishing Co. Ltd. p. 35. ISBN   0710601204 . Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  2. Charles R. Mitchell, Kirk W. House. Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation.
  3. "Commercial Sunbeam". Skyways: The Journal of the Airplane 1920-1940 (50). Poughkeepsie, NY. July 1999.
  4. "Bobbie Trout". Archived from the original on 24 January 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  5. Voca, Donna; Mazzio, Skip (1987). Just Plane Crazy: Biography of Bobbi Trout. Santa Clara, CA: Osborne Publisher. p. 138. ISBN   0940997010 . Retrieved November 9, 2024.