Do you know your history? (part IV)

ctab5060X

Well-Known Member
One more...

What is it and why is it important?

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Aeronca C-2??

If that's correct, aside from being one of the first aircraft to be affordable for GA, the best I can find of its historical significance is that it was the first airplane to be refueled from a moving automobile.

"[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, MS Sans Serif]The Aeronca C-2 also holds the distinction of being the first aircraft to be refueled from a moving automobile. A can of gasoline was handed up from a speeding Austin automobile to a C-2 pilot (who hooked it with a wooden cane) during a 1930 air show in California."[/FONT]
 
Aeronca C-2??

If that's correct, aside from being one of the first aircraft to be affordable for GA, the best I can find of its historical significance is that it was the first airplane to be refueled from a moving automobile.

"[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, MS Sans Serif]The Aeronca C-2 also holds the distinction of being the first aircraft to be refueled from a moving automobile. A can of gasoline was handed up from a speeding Austin automobile to a C-2 pilot (who hooked it with a wooden cane) during a 1930 air show in California."[/FONT]

The C-2 is correct. Although the C-3 was basically the same, the C-2 started it all with on seat.

And the historical significance, other than the refueling by car, is that it made aviation available to everyone. This airplane started General Aviation. Original price $1495. Looks even better when you see that a large number (164) were sold during the height of the Great Depression.
 
Any ideas to why Aeronca started with the C-2 designation and not C-1?

The Aeronca C-1 was similiar I believe - 36hp Aeronca engine, etc. Was involved in a fatal crash killing a company exec and the other one they were working on at the time was designated a C-2. That is what I think I recall.
 
The Aeronca C-1 was similiar I believe - 36hp Aeronca engine, etc. Was involved in a fatal crash killing a company exec and the other one they were working on at the time was designated a C-2. That is what I think I recall.

Nope...:D
 
Demoiselle_New.JPG


Not hardly...


Google Aeronca and Jean A. Roché...

Jean Roche was Aeronca's chief engineer around the time the C-2 was created. He also had a job at Wright-Patterson designing aircraft/engineering for the Army and he slid between those positions.
 
Jean Roche was Aeronca's chief engineer around the time the C-2 was created. He also had a job at Wright-Patterson designing aircraft/engineering for the Army and he slid between those positions.

What if I told you that he designed and built the first "Flying Bathtub"?

Would that help?
 
What if I told you that he designed and built the first "Flying Bathtub"?

Would that help?

The Roche Original, as powered by a Henderson motorcycle engine...until it wouldn't get off the ground. Then, two guys helped him build an engine that was more powerful. Roche sold the Original to the Aeronautical Company of America (Aeronca). The engine became the Aeronca E-107 with a whopping 36hp.
 
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