Wikipedia

Aeronca C-3

The Aeronca C-3 was a light plane built by the Aeronautical Corporation of America in the United States during the 1930s.

C-3
Aeronca 100 at Sywell Airshow 2008
General information
TypeUltra-light monoplane
National originUnited States
ManufacturerAeronca
Number built400
History
Developed fromAeronca C-2

Design and development

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Its design was derived from the Aeronca C-2. Introduced in 1931, it featured room for a passenger seated next to the pilot. Powered by a new 36 hp (27 kW) Aeronca E-113 engine, the seating configuration made flight training much easier and many Aeronca owners often took to the skies with only five hours of instruction, largely because of the C-3's predictable flying characteristics. Both the C-2 and C-3 are often described as “powered gliders” because of their gliding ability and gentle landing speeds.

 
C-3 Master NC14630 at Museu Asas de Um Sonho, now TAM Museum, Brazil
 
1931 Aeronca C-3 N11422 at Airventure 2013, Oshkosh, WI

The C-3's distinctive razorback design was drastically altered in 1935 with the appearance of the “roundback” C-3 Master. Retaining the tubular fuselage frame construction, the C-3 Master featured a smaller vertical stabilizer and rudder with a “filled out” fuselage shape that created the new “roundback” appearance and improved the airflow over the tail. It featured an enclosed cabin with a proper door (brakes and wing light still cost extra), and a revised undercarriage dispensing with external struts in favour of a neater arrangement largely hidden in the fuselage.[1] The 1935 C-3 Master was priced at only $1,895[2]—just a few hundred dollars more than the primitive C-2 of 1930.[3] The low price generated significant sales; 128 C-3 Masters were built in 1935 alone (of 430 C-3s built in all),[4] and the 500th Aeronca aircraft also rolled off the assembly line that same year.

A strengthened version of the C-3 with fabric-covered ailerons (instead of metal), designated the Aeronca 100, was built in England under license by Light Aircraft Ltd. (operating as Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain Ltd. sometimes called Aeronco), and marketed by its associated company Aircraft Exchange & Mart. It was powered by a modified Aeronca E-113C engine built by J. A. Prestwich and Company and called the JAP J-99,[5] and this led to the aircraft being marketed as the Aeronca-JAP.[6] The expected sales never materialized – only 24 British-built aircraft were manufactured before production was halted.[7]

The aircraft could be fitted with floats, and those so equipped were sometimes designated PC-3, with the P standing for Pontoon.[8]

Production of the C-3 was halted in 1937 when the aircraft no longer met new U.S. government standards for airworthiness. Many of the C-3's peculiarities – a strictly external wire-braced wing with no wing struts directly connecting the wing panels with the fuselage, extensive fabric construction, single-ignition engine, and lack of an airspeed indicator – were no longer permitted. Fortunately for the legion of Aeronca owners, a “grandfather” clause in the federal regulations allowed their airplanes to continue flying, although they could no longer be manufactured.

Variants

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C-3
Production variant, early versions of which were built as the C-2 Collegian.[1]
C-3 Master
Improved variant.
Aeronca 100
British-built variant powered by an Aeronca JAP J-99 (a licence built Aeronca E-113C), 21 built.[9]
Aeronca 300
Improved British variant of the Aeronca 100, one built.
Ely 700
British variant with wider fuselage and two doors, two built.[10]

Surviving aircraft

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Specifications (C-3)

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Data from [9]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Capacity: 1 Passenger
  • Length: 20 ft 0 in (6.1 m)
  • Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.98 m)
  • Height: 7 ft 10 in (2.39 m)
  • Wing area: 142.2 sq ft (13.2 m2)
  • Empty weight: 569 lb (258 kg)
  • Gross weight: 1,005 lb (456 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Aeronca E-113C horizontally opposed 2 cylinder piston engine , 36 hp (27 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 95 mph (152 km/h, 83 kn)
  • Range: 200 mi (322 km, 170 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 12,000 ft (3,659 m)

See also

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Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aeronca C-3.
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  2. ^ Payne, Stephen, ed. Canadian Wings (Douglas & McIntyre, Ltd., 2006), p.163.
  3. ^ Payne, p.163.
  4. ^ Of those, only 20 were exported to Canada. Payne, p.163.
  5. ^ Ord-Hume 2000, pp. 223–4.
  6. ^ "Aeronca JAP". Aviation Ancestry Database of British Aviation Advertisements 1909-1990. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  7. ^ Donald M. Pattillo. A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry. p. 18.
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  9. ^ a b Jackson 1973, p. 12.
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Bibliography

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  • Jackson, A.J. (1973). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 1. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370-10006-9.
  • Ord-Hume, Arthur W. J. G. (2000). British Light Aeroplanes. Peterborough, UK: GMS Enterprises. ISBN 1-870384-76-8.
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