General Skyfarer

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=Skyfarer


caption=
type=Two-seat cabin monoplane
manufacturer=General Aircraft
designer=Otto C Coppen
first flight=1940s
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=
more users=
produced=
number built=18
variants with their own articles=

The General Aircraft G1-80 Skyfarer was a 1940s American two-seat cabin monoplane aircraft built by the General Aircraft Corporation of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Development

The General Aircraft Corporation was established to build an aircraft designed by Doctor Otto C. Coppen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aircraft was the G1-80 Skyfarer, a two-seat cabin high-wing braced monoplane with a light alloy basic structure and a mixed steel and fabric covering. It had an unusual tail unit, a cantilever tailplane with the elevator mounted on the upper surface of the tail with endplate fins and no rudders.It was powered by a 75hp (56 kW) Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 geared air-cooled four-cylinder engine [ [http://www:aerofoilengineering.com/KR/sportaviation/Kr180-4.HTM Engine description] .

The aircraft incorporated aerodynamic control principles covered by patents issued to Fred Weick, an early aeronautical engineer who went on to design and market the Ercoupe. Since it had no rudders (or rudder pedals), it was simpler to fly (it had a single control wheel, which controlled the ailerons and elevator), and was considered spin-proof. The aircraft was certified in 1941 with the comment that the aircraft was characteristically incapable of spinning.

It was anticipated that many aircraft would be ordered and built, but the United States became involved in the Second World War and the Skyfarer programme was abandoned after 17 examples had been built [ [http://www.bassace.com/ercoupe/ercoupe_history.htm Ercoupe history website] ] . The company became a manufacturer of the Waco CG-4A troop glider.

pecifications (G1-80 Skyfarer)

aerospecs
ref=
met or eng?= eng

crew=1 pilot
capacity=1 passenger, seated side-by-side with pilot
length m=6.71
length ft=22
length in=0
span m=9.58
span ft=31
span in=5
height m=2.64
height ft=8
height in=8
wing area sqm=11.27
wing area sqft=121.3
empty weight kg=404
empty weight lb=890
gross weight kg=612
gross weight lb=1350

eng1 number=1
eng1 type=Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 flat-four piston engine
eng1 kw=56
eng1 hp=75
eng2 number=

max speed kmh=161
max speed mph=100
cruise speed kmh=
cruise speed mph=
range km=563
range miles=350
endurance h=
endurance min=
ceiling m=3050
ceiling ft=10,000
climb rate ms=
climb rate ftmin=

References

* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing

ee also

aircontent

related=

similar aircraft=

sequence=

lists=

see also=