Volume 7 , Issue 45

Aeronca Champion Aircraft...

"The Aeronautical Corporation of America (Aeronca) was incorporated by the Lunken family of Cincinnati, Ohio on November 11, 1928. Backed by the financial and political support of the prominent Taft family - future Ohio senator and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert A. Taft was one of the firm's directors - Aeronca became the first company to build a commercially successful light aircraft. Powered by a tiny two-cylinder engine, the Aeronca C-2 debuted in 1929. It was flying at its most basic - the pilot sat on a bare plywood board. Originally known as the Roche Original after its designer Jean A. Roche (who sold the design rights to Aeronca), the C-2 featured an unusual, almost frivolous design with an open-pod fuselage that inspired its nickname, "The Flying Bathtub." Equipped with only five instruments, a stick, and rudder pedals (brakes and a heater cost extra), the C-2 was priced at a low $1,495, bringing the cost of flying down to a level that a private citizen could aspire to and perhaps reach. Aeronca sold 164 of the economical C-2s at the height of the Great Depression in 1930-1931, helping to spark the growth of private aviation in the United States....." -- Aeronca Aircraft History   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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