Kinner Envoy

C-7 Envoy
C-7 Envoy
	Kinner XRK-1 of the United States Navy
General information
Type	Four-seat cabin monoplane
Manufacturer	Kinner Airplane & Motor Corporation
Designer	Max Harlow and Harold Webb
Status	no remaining examples
Primary users	United States Navy civil owner pilots
Number built	8
History
Manufactured	1934-1936
Introduction date	1934
First flight	1934

The Kinner C-7 Envoy was an American four-seat cabin monoplane built by Kinner Airplane & Motor Corporation in the 1930s.

Design and development

The Envoy was a four-seat version of the Sportwing. It had low wings fitted with wire bracing from fuselage points just below the cabin windows. The conventional, fixed tailwheel undercarriage was fitted with streamlined spats on the main gear. The low-set tailplane was braced by wires from the middle of the fin.

Four civil examples were completed from 1934. These were fitted with a 300 h.p. Kinner C-7 engine and were sold to civil pilot owners. The civil aircraft were followed in 1936 by three aircraft for the United States Navy (USN) for use in communications work and designated XRK-1.^[1] The USN machines served until the early years of World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy evaluated a single example as the LXK.

When they were delivered the USN examples were fitted with a 340 h.p. Kinner R-1044-2 engine, but one example used for VIP transport was later fitted with a 400 h.p. Pratt & Whitney R-985-38 radial engine.^[2]

The C-7 was the last of Kinner's production models.^[3]

Operators

United States

United States Navy

Specifications (XRK-1)

Sources : Swanborough, 1990, p. 502 and Aerofiles

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Capacity: 4
Length: 28 ft 7 in (8.71 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 9 in (12.12 m)
Empty weight: 2,550 lb (1,157 kg)
Gross weight: 4,000 lb (1,814 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Kinner R-1044-2 , 340 hp (254 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 171 mph (275 km/h, 149 kn)
Cruise speed: 150 mph (240 km/h, 130 kn)
Range: 700 mi (1,100 km, 610 nmi)

References

Notes

^ Aerofiles
^ Swanborough, 1990, p. 502
^ Aerofiles

Bibliography

Swanborough, Gordon; Bowers, Peter M (1990). United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books. ISBN 0-87021-792-5.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.

External links

Aerofiles information and three images of the Envoy series

[1] Aerofiles

[2] Swanborough, 1990, p. 502

[3] Aerofiles

[1]

[2]

[3]