| Sportster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Rearwin Sportster 9000 displayed in the Drage Airworld museum at Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia in March 1988 | |
| Role | Sporting/Touring monoplane |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Rearwin Aircraft & Engines |
| Designer | Henry Weeks |
| First flight | 1935 |
| Number built | ca 273 |
The Rearwin Sportster is a 1930s American two-seat, high-winged, cabin monoplane designed and built by Rearwin Aircraft & Engines for sport/touring use.
The Sportster began development while Rearwin was still certifying the previous model: the Rearwin Speedster. The Speedster had been designed for performance, so the company focused on another, more basic, model to provide reliable income. [1] :123 [2] This model was to become the Sportster, with design work beginning in 1934.
As the Rearwin company was occupied trying to certify the Speedster, initial work was contracted out to Henry Weeks of Stevenson-Weeks Air Service. [3] The resulting design first flew on April 30, 1935. [1] :125–127
The design of the Rearwin Speedster bore a coincidental resemblance to the competing Porterfield Flyabout. The Flyabout had started as the Wyandotte Pup, designed by engineer Noel Hockaday and built by students at Wyandotte High School. [4] Ed Porterfield had seen the finished design, bought the rights to it, started the Porterfield company to build it, and hired Hockaday to develop the plane into the Flyabout. Hockaday had previously assisted engineer Douglas Webber at American Eagle Aircraft Corporation, both of whom later moved to Rearwin Aircraft. Their influence at Rearwin resulted in design elements that were used in the Sportster, thus resembling the Hockaday-designed Flyabout. [1] :101, 127–128
In 1936, the Sportster was certified to take pontoons at the request of George B. Cluett. This required enlarging the vertical tail after the test aircraft nearly failed to recover from a flat spin. [1] :130–131 The final modifications to the Sportster occurred in 1939 to reinvigorate sales. The demands of World War II forced production of the Sportster to cease in 1941. [1] :141
The Sportster was a two-seat braced high-wing cabin monoplane. The pilot and passenger were seated in tandem. Both seats had flight controls, but only the pilot had an instrument panel. [5]
The conventional landing gear used a fixed tail-skid instead of tailwheel and came without brakes at first, although a tailwheel and brakes were later offered as options. Skis and pontoons were also available options, although the Sportster's vertical tail had to be enlarged to maintain its spin certification in case pontoons were fitted. A Deluxe model included wheel pants, navigation lights, radio, and optional skylights; later modifications to the design included a one-piece windshield. [1] :129–130,141
Initial versions of the Sportster were powered by a 5-cylinder LeBlond radial engine of 70-85 hp. The third model of the Sportster offered either the Warner Scarab or LeBlond radial engine (renamed as a Ken-Royce engine when Rearwin bought that company). Both produced 90 hp. Initially the engine was left uncovered but Townend rings and a propeller spinner were an option on the Deluxe model; a 1939 redesign introduced the streamlined NACA cowling. Range was about 500 miles for all versions. [1] :130–131,141
All Deluxe models were updated in 1939 to offer NACA cowling, one-piece windshield, and improved cooling.
Numerous models of the Sportster survive in museums. Ken Rearwin purchased the prototype Sportster and donated it to the Airpower Museum in Blakesburg, Iowa. [8]
Data from [9]
General characteristics
Performance
The Continental O-170 engine is the collective military designation for a family of small aircraft engines, known under the company designation of A50, A65, A75 and A80. The line was designed and built by Continental Motors commencing in the 1940s. It was employed as the powerplant for civil and military light aircraft.
Rearwin Airplanes was a series of US airplane-manufacturing businesses founded by Andrew ("Rae") Rearwin in 1928. Rae Rearwin was an American businessman who had developed several successful business ventures in the Salina, Kansas area in the early 20th century. Although he had no experience with aircraft manufacturing, he felt that he could succeed with his solid business acumen. With his two sons, Ken and Royce, he hired some engineers and built the Ken-Royce in a garage in Salina. The business moved to the Fairfax Airport in Kansas City, Kansas, and went through several variations before it was sold to Commonwealth Aircraft in 1942, which went bankrupt in 1946.
The Aeronca L was a 1930s American cabin monoplane designed and built, in small numbers, by Aeronca Aircraft. It differed significantly from other Aeronca planes by the use of radial engines, streamlining, and a cantilever low wing.
The LeBlond radial engines, later produced under the name Ken-Royce, were a family of 3-cylinder, 5-cylinder and 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines for aircraft, built in the 1930s by the LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation until the operation was sold to Rearwin Airplanes in 1937 and renamed Ken-Royce Engines.
The Commonwealth Skyranger, first produced as the Rearwin Skyranger, was the last design of Rearwin Aircraft before the company was purchased by a new owner and renamed Commonwealth Aircraft. It was a side-by-side, two-seat, high-wing taildragger.
The Porterfield Model 35 Flyabout was an American two-seat cabin monoplane built by the Porterfield Aircraft Corporation of Kansas City.
The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) is located in Hood River, Oregon, United States, adjacent to the Ken Jernstedt Memorial Airport. WAAAM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the preservation of, and education about aviation, automobile, and other historic transportation-related relics.
The Rearwin Cloudster was a two or three-seat civil utility aircraft produced by the Rearwin Aircraft & Engines Company of Kansas City, Missouri beginning in 1939. It was a strut-braced, high-wing monoplane of conventional design with an enclosed cabin and fixed, taildragger undercarriage. One specialized version was produced as a trainer for Pan American Airways.
The Rearwin Junior was a 1930s two-seat high-winged ultra-light monoplane sport aircraft produced in the United States by Rearwin Airplanes Inc.. It was part of a trend of extremely low-cost aircraft as manufacturers attempted to survive the Great Depression.
The Rearwin Speedster was a two-seat, high-wing, sport aircraft produced by Rearwin Airplanes Inc. in the United States in the 1930s.
The Eaglet 31 was a United States two-seat tandem ultra-light high-winged monoplane of the early 1930s. Intended as a low-cost aircraft, its limited production run relegated it to a footnote in aviation history.
LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation was a small engine manufacturer incorporated on April 11, 1928 and located on the northwest corner of Madison and Edwards Roads in Norwood, Ohio as a subsidiary of the R. K. LeBlond Machine Tool Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, a well known manufacturer of machinist lathes.
The Airpower Museum is a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) aviation museum located near Blakesburg, Iowa on Antique Airfield. The Airpower Museum was founded by Robert L. Taylor and the Antique Airplane Association in 1965 and features various periods of aviation through models, engines, propellers, photos and original art. Approximately 25 aircraft are on display, including warbirds from World War II.
The Coavio DF 2000 is a single-engine, high-wing all-metal ultralight aircraft with side-by-side seating for two. Built in Italy, production began in 2004.
The Paramount Model 120 Sportster floatplane, also called the Paramount Model 120 Speedster for the landplane version, was an attempt to build a low production aircraft suitable for the small high-end market during the depression era economy.
The C-8 Eightster was a single-engine airliner developed by Granville Brothers Aircraft that did not go into production.
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 Gee Bee Model A was an American two-seat open cockpit single-bay biplane developed by the Granville Brothers that first flew in 1929.
The Inland Sport series of parasol wing, sport and training side-by-side two seaters, introduced between 1928 and 1930, differed chiefly in their engines. They used three different radial engines, more than doubling the Sport's power over two years of development. 34 examples were built and frequently re-engined.
The Klemm L 26, later Klemm Kl 26, was a low-wing trainer aircraft built by Klemm.
