Aircraft Quiz #32

DougRobertson

What was the first airplane to be sold in America on a time payment plan?

Make and full model nomenclature needed.

moxy

I'll plump for the Alexander A-14 Eaglerock.

DougRobertson

Thank you but no Rob, the earlier Alexander "Eaglerock" model A-13 of May 1929 was sold on basis of 40% down payment with balance to be paid in 20 semi-monthly installments with 10% finance charge on the balance. But, alas, your submission is NOT the right answer, either. Please keep trying.

SunvisorFlyer

Okay...so the clues are:

America

Time payment (installment) plan

Airplane

I'm going to guess the Ford Trimotor.

DougRobertson

Thank you, but no for the Ford Trimotor. There were eleven versions of the Ford Trimotor, but none qualify for the correct answer. Please keep trying.

SunvisorFlyer

I'm guessing then that the plane in question was sold much earlier.

Maybe even a Wright Model B...

Although I thought a number of early planes were sold to military units, which usually wouldn't need to be paying on installment plans.

Could be a WWI surplus plane. Lot of folks picked those up at the time.

DougRobertson

Thank you, but no on the Wright model B. please keep trying.

SunvisorFlyer

Hold up..

I just realized that the aircraft may not be an American plane.

It just had to be sold here.

And that makes things more complicated.

DougRobertson

Allow me to un-complicate the quiz. I hadn't even thought of that when formulating the quiz. To clarify, I am asking for the very first American made production airplane that was sold/could be purchased on a time payment installment plan in America.

DougRobertson

With over 500 views and no correct answers, I will provide the correct answer.

1. Alexander "Eaglerock" Long Wing biplane of ATC #8 dated April, 1927. (This was before Alexander assigned A- nomenclature to its various models. Moxy (Rob) was closest but his Alexander "Eaglerock" A-14 submission was not approved under an ATC, but was licensed in Category 2, certificate 2-103 dated 31 July 1929.

The Alexander "Eaglerock" Long Wing of ATC #8 was also noted for being the first OX-5 V-8 water-cooled powered airplane to be certificated in the USA. And, it was the first production aircraft to be offered on a time payment installment plan in America. Price at factory was $2,495 faf, then to $2,750 faf later in 1927. Wings wired for lights cost $20 extra. Some 300 Alexander "Eaglerock" Long-Wings were built.

Incidentally, the late Al Mooney re-designed the improved Alexander "Eaglerock" Long Wing leading to the ATC #8 for J. Don Alexander before he was old enough to vote-his "M-1" design. He worked under Dan Noonan who was chief engineer for Alexander. Al took the job with Alexander for just $65 a month to get actual aircraft design experience. It was not until the M-18 Mooney Mite design that was the first aircraft to carry the Mooney name.

moxy

Interesting stuff Doug. I must admit during my search I never found any reference to the "Eaglerock" Long Wing. I shall have to read up on it now.

I learn a lot attempting to answer these quizzes and look forward to the next one.

SunvisorFlyer

Ah..moxy was so close.

I did happen upon this specific aircraft after looking into Moxy's answer, but I couldn't find information about the installment plan, so I guessed differently.

If the answer had not come up, I would have started to lean towards the Vega.

Lets go again!

DougRobertson

I will fill in the rest of the Alexander "Eaglerock" model history.

The long wing biplane was so-called because the LOWER wing was 38 feet long with upper wing 36 feet long. A bit odd-looking. There was also a combi-wing or combination wing Eaglerock with Curtiss OX-5 with 36 foot upper wing and 32 foot lower wing-this was ATC-7, also issued 27 April 1927. Then came the A-1 biplane with just 8 inch longer wings than the comb-wing still with the OX-5 OR with the 220 Hp Wright J-5 air-cooled engine, ATC-57 issued August 1928. The A-2 also had A-1 wings with the OX-5 but a longer fuselage and lighter weight, ATC-58 also issued August 1928. The A-3 and A-4 were similar but Hisso-powered, either 150 or 180 Hp Hissos. These were American versions of the French wartime Hispano-Suiza, first made by Wright-Martin and later known as the Wright A and Wright E. The A-3 and A-4 differed from the A-2 by having a nose radiator.

The A-5 also used a war-surplus engine-the rare Menasco-Salmson of 260 Hp but converted in America from water-cooled radial to air-cooled radial. The A-5 never got an ATC, the few built flying unlicensed, only registered as was then permitted.

The A-7 was only a single aircraft built with Category 2 as 2-1 issued 1 January 1929. It used an imported German Siemens air-cooled radial of 125 Hp known in America as the Ryan-Siemens. Next Alexander Eaglerock was the A-11 using the Warner Scarab air-cooled radial of only 110 Hp not very successfully and no record of ATC or category 2 approval. The A-12 used the little-known 130 Hp Comet radial, but ATC-139 was issued May, 1929. This sold for $5,847. The A-13 used a unique Curtiss Challenger, a six cylinder two-row radial of 170 Hp; ATC-141 issued May 1929.

That brings us to Rob's A-14 submission which used the 165 Hp Wright J-6-5 (a basic Wright J-6 with 5 cylinders, OR Wright J-6-7s and J-6-9s) not certificated but licensed in Category 2, certificate 2-103 issued July 31, 1929. Finally the Alexander A-15 biplane similar to the A-14 except using a Kinner K-5 of 100 Hp from five radial cylinders (that produces an exceptional sound I can verify!) The A-15 ATC was No. 190 issued July 1929 with original price of $4,157 but lowered to $3,907 later.

The prolific series of biplanes from Alexander tried other various engines, but none others were issued any ATCs. Alexander was only one of a plethora of aircraft manufacturers stimulated by Charles Lindbergh's record non-stop New York to Paris solo flight of May 20-21, 1927 in 33.5 hours in a high wing Ryan NYP one-off monoplane with Wright J-5 Whirlwind radial of 220 Hp.