Travel Air 8000
| Model 8000 | |
|---|---|
| Role | General aviation |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Travel Air |
| First flight | 1927 |
| Number built | 3 |
| Developed from | Travel Air Model B |
The Travel Air 8000 was an American general-purpose biplane of the 1920s, a member of the family of aircraft that began with the Travel Air Model A.[1] It was also known as the Travel Air 4000-CAM,[2] and later as the Curtiss-Wright CW-8 after Curtiss-Wright acquired Travel Air.[3] Only three examples were built.[4]
Design and development
[edit]Like other members of this family, the Model 8000 was an unequal-span, single-bay, staggered biplane of conventional design.[4] The passengers and pilot sat in tandem, open cockpits.[4] It had a conventional tail, and fixed, tailskid undercarriage.[4] The fuselages were built from welded steel tubes, and the wings from wood.[5] Travel Air model numbers primarily reflected changes in powerplant, and the Model 8000 was powered by a Fairchild-Caminez 447 radial engine mounted in the nose, driving a tractor propeller.[6]
The prototype Model 8000 was a re-manufactured Travel Air Model B.[2][7] Its engine was an innovative design that used a cam in place of a crankshaft.[8][9] The result was an engine that was mechanically simpler[9] and which ran at half the RPMs of a conventional radial engine for the same power,[2] promising greater efficiency.[8] The low RPMs needed a larger propeller,[2] 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter,[10] compared to the 8-foot-4-inch (2.54 m) propeller of the Travel Air 2000.[11] In turn, the larger propeller needed more ground clearance, which meant that the whole powerplant had to be mounted higher on the Model 8000's nose.[8]
Despite much enthusiasm for the new engine among American manufacturers, it did not work well.[8] It was prone to excessive vibration, even to the point of splitting propellers,[2] it ran hot because the large propeller hubs needed to absorb its torque also blocked cooling air from the cylinders,[10] and that torque also twisted airframes.[10]
It proved very difficult for Fairchild-Caminez to get the engine operating reliably enough to pass certification.[2] By the time this was achieved, in June 1928,[2] the Model 8000 itself had already received type certificate ATC-37 in April. It would be the only aircraft type certified to use this engine.[8]
Beside the prototype, only two other examples of the Model 8000 were built, and no details about them other than one construction number have been preserved.[4]
The problems with the engine proved insurmountable,[8] and development was abandoned in fall, 1928.[9] It was withdrawn from sale,[8] and Fairchild Aircraft founder Sherman Fairchild offered customers their money back.[12]
By March 1929, the Fairchild-Caminez engine was removed from the prototype Model 8000 and the aircraft was converted into a Travel Air 2000.[4]
Operational history
[edit]Fairchild Aircraft purchased the prototype, and entered it in the 1928 Ford National Reliability Air Tour[2] together with a Fairchild-Caminez 447-powered Waco 10.[13] Flown by James Nelson Kelly, the Model 8000 finished in thirteenth place[14][15] out of a field of twenty-five, requiring several engine changes.[2]
Specifications
[edit]Data from Phillips 1994, p.106
General characteristics
- Crew: 1 pilot
- Capacity: 2 passengers
- Length: 24 ft 2 in (7.37 m)
- Wingspan: 34 ft 8 in (10.57 m)
- Height: 8 ft 9 in (2.67 m)
- Wing area: 296 sq ft (27.5 m2)
- Empty weight: 1,475 lb (669 kg)
- Gross weight: 2,300 lb (1,043 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Fairchild-Caminez 447 Four-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine, 120 hp (89 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 110 mph (180 km/h, 96 kn)
- Range: 450–500 mi (720–800 km, 390–430 nmi)
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Taylor 1993, pp.856,865
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Pelletier 1995, p.27
- ^ Bowers 1979, p.399
- ^ a b c d e f Pelletier 1995, p.28
- ^ Phillips 1994, p.91–92
- ^ Pelletier 1995, p.27–28
- ^ Phillips 1994, p.106
- ^ a b c d e f g Juptner 1962, p.105
- ^ a b c "Fairchild Caminez 447-C, Radial 4 Engine, Cutaway"
- ^ a b c Forden 1972, p.64
- ^ Phillips 1994, p.113
- ^ Forden 1972, p.65
- ^ Forden 1972, pp.64,85
- ^ Juptner 1962, p.106
- ^ Forden 1972, pp.64,84
Bibliography
[edit]- Bowers, Peter M. (1979). Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947. London: Putnam Aeronautical.
- "Fairchild Caminez 447-C, Radial 4 Engine, Cutaway". National Air and Space Museum. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution. n.d. Retrieved July 30, 2024.
- Forden, Lesley (1972). The Ford Air Tours 1925–1931. New Brighton, Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America.
- Juptner, Joseph P. (1962). U.S. Civil Aircraft Vol. 1 (ATC 1-100). Los Angeles: Aero Publishers.
- Pelletier, Alain J. (1995). Beech Aircraft and their Predecessors. London: Putnam Aeronautical.
- Phillips, Edward H. (1994). Travel Air: Wings over the Prairie. Eagan, Minnesota: Flying Books International.
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1993). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.