General Skyfarer

The General Aircraft G1-80 Skyfarer was a 1940s American two-seat cabin monoplane aircraft built by the General Aircraft Corporation of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Skyfarer
Role Two-seat cabin monoplane
Manufacturer General Aircraft
Designer Otto C. Koppen
First flight 1940s
Number built 18

Development

The General Aircraft Corporation was established to build an aircraft designed by Doctor Otto C. Koppen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aircraft was the G1-80 Skyfarer, a two-seat cabin high-wing braced monoplane with a light alloy basic structure and a mixed steel tube and fabric covering. It had an unusual tail unit, a cantilever tailplane with the elevator mounted on the upper surface of the tail with aluminum endplate fins and no movable rudders. It was powered by a 75 hp (56 kW) Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 geared air-cooled four-cylinder engine.[1]

The aircraft incorporated aerodynamic control principles covered by patents issued to Fred Weick, an early aeronautical engineer who went on to design and market the Ercoupe. Since it had no rudders (or rudder pedals), it was simpler to fly (it had a single control wheel, which controlled the ailerons and elevator), and was considered spin-proof. The aircraft was certified in 1941 with a placard that stated that the aircraft was characteristically incapable of spinning.[2] It was claimed that an average person could learn to fly the Skyfarer in about an hour.[3]

It was anticipated that many aircraft would be ordered and built, but the United States became involved in the Second World War and the Skyfarer program was abandoned after either 17 or 18 examples had been built.[4] The rights and tooling passed to Grand Rapids Industries, who built two aircraft before stopping production.[5] The company became a manufacturer of the Waco CG-4A troop glider.

Operational history

In October 1944, a Skyfarer was used by Alverna Babbs, the first legless pilot to be granted a student pilot's permit, to complete her first solo flight at Lunken Airport.[6][7]

Variants

L.W. DuVon and Dr. David O. Kime of Western Union College convinced the type holder Grand Rapids Industries, to give the equipment, tools and one of the finished planes to the college. They then found local investors who formed Mars Corporation in 1945. The aircraft was later licensed as the Mars M1-80 Skycoupe with a 100 hp engine. One example was built and production plans were estimated to be as high as 75 planes in its first year. The glut of aircraft produced after the war left little market for the aircraft. The facility to manufacture the aircraft was sold by 1946.[8]

The aircraft NC29030 resides in the Plymouth County, Iowa Historical Museum.[9][10]

Specifications (G1-80 Skyfarer)

General characteristics

  • Crew: one pilot
  • Capacity: one passenger, seated side-by-side with pilot
  • Length: 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
  • Wingspan: 31 ft 5 in (9.58 m)
  • Height: 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m)
  • Wing area: 121.3 sq ft (11.27 m2)
  • Empty weight: 890 lb (404 kg)
  • Gross weight: 1,350 lb (612 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 flat-four piston engine , 75 hp (56 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 144 mph (232 km/h, 125 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 100 mph (161 km/h, 87 kn)
  • Range: 350 mi (563 km, 300 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
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References
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing
  1. Engine description Archived March 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. C.B. Allen (1 June 1941). "Auto Driver Can Solo New Plane In Two Hours". The Washington Post.
  3. "You Steer This Plane Like an Auto–And Brake It the Same Way". Popular Science. September 1941. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  4. Cagle, Howard C. (June 1974). "General Skyfarer" (PDF). The Vintage Airplane. Vol. 2 no. 6. Hales Corners, Wisconsin: Antique Classic Aircraft. p. 20-21. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. Ercoupe history website Archived 2010-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Legless Cincinnati Woman Wins Battle to Fly Alone". Cincinnati Post. 30 October 1944. p. 1.
  7. Borja, Elizabeth (26 July 2020). "Alverna Babbs: Fighting to Fly – Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Part 1". National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  8. Sue Morris (September 10, 2004). "Skycoupe returns to Le Mars". Le Mars daily Sentinel.
  9. Beverly Van Buskirk (November 23, 2004). "Mars Skycoupe makes final stop". Le Mars daily Sentinel.
  10. Joseph P. Juptner. U.S. Civil Aircraft Series. 8.
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