Cunningham-Hall GA-21M

Last updated
GA-21M
EL-1999-00639.jpg
Cunningham-Hall GA-36 tandem seat, military version of GA-21M.
RoleSports monoplane
National originUnited States
Manufacturer Cunningham-Hall Aircraft Corporation
Designer Randolph Hall
First flight1934
Number built1

The Cunningham-Hall GA-21 was an American two-seat monoplane design to compete for the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition in 1934. Its distinguishing feature was full span flaps which could be manually or automatically adjusted. The GA-36 was a military version of it with tandem, rather than side-by-side seating.

Contents

Design and development

The GA-21M was all metal aircraft apart from the fabric covering of parts of the wing, otherwise metal-covered, and the control surfaces. The low-set wings were rectangular in plan out to rounded tips and had a high lift section. Both flaps and ailerons filled the whole straight part of the trailing edge, so the latter only opened upwards. [1] [2]

Apart from its unusual flaps and lateral control the GA-21M was conventional. Powered by a 145 hp (108 kW), seven cylinder Warner Super Scarab radial engine, it had a round-sectioned, metal-skinned, monocoque fuselage. An open cockpit over the forward wing seated two side-by-side. The tailplane was mounted just above the fuselage on the fin and could be trimmed; essentially triangular in plan, it carried rounded elevators. A rounded rudder reached down to the keel. [1]

The GA-21Ms had conventional, tailwheel landing gear with the landing wheels ahead of the leading edge within aircraft fairings that also enclosed the legs. [1]

The GA-36 was a 1936 military trainer rebuild of the Ga-21M. This included a revised, tandem cockpit and more trouser-like landing gear fairings, making it 15% heavier. [3] [2]

The automated flaps worked well but were more complicated than, for example, Fowler flaps [2] and more expensive to construct. Simpler systems were preferred and the sole GA-21M/36 was sold in 1941, stripped of major components and dumped until the 1980s when it was recovered, fully restored and put on display at the Niagara Aerospace Museum. [4]

Specifications (GA-36)

Data from Aero Digest, March 1937 [3]

General characteristics

Performance

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Cunningham-Hall Commercial Monoplane". Aero Digest. New York City: Aeronautical Digest Publishing Corp. January 1935. p. 33.
  2. 1 2 3 "American airplanes - Cu - Cy". www.aerofiles.com. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
  3. 1 2 "Cunningham-Hall GA-36". Aero Digest. Vol. 30, no. 3. New York City: Aeronautical Digest Publishing Corp. March 1937. p. 64.
  4. Niagara Aircraft Museum - Collection