Brown B-3

{{Infobox Aircraft Begin

| name=Brown B-3

| image=B-3 Racer.png

| caption=Brown B-3, c. 1942

}}{{Infobox Aircraft Type

| type={{Plain list|

Single-seat touring monoplane
air racer

}}

| national origin=United States

| manufacturer=Lawrence Brown Aircraft Company

| designer=Lawrence W. Brown

| first flight=1936

| introduced=

| retired=

| status=

| primary user=

| number built=1

| developed from= Brown B-2

| variants with their own articles=

}}

The Brown B-3 was a 1930s American single-seat touring monoplane and air racer built by the Lawrence Brown Aircraft Company. Only one aircraft was built. {{TOC limit|limit=2}}

Design and development

The B-3 was based on earlier B-2 Miss Los Angeles single-seat racing monoplane. For the day, some advanced features were included such as Handley Page leading edge slots and single-slotted ailerons and flaps on the wing trailing edge. The B-3 was powered by a 290-horsepower (219 kW) Menasco C6S-4 Super Buccaneer inline piston engine. A proposed two seat-variant, the Brown B-3 Super Sport had two seats in tandem under an enclosed cockpit. No orders were received, and the project died.

File: Brown B-3.png

Operational history

Intended as a long-distance racer as well as a touring aircraft, only one Brown B-3 (NX266Y) was built and sold to Dr. Ross Sutherland from Los Angeles. On October 10, 1943, the aircraft was destroyed in a hangar fire at Van Nuys Airport, then known as the Metropolitan Airport.

The Brown B-3 is featured in Flight for Freedom (1943) as the racing aircraft flown by the lead character. Santoir, Christian. [http://aeromovies.fr/articles.php?lng=en&pg=416 "Review: 'Flight for Freedom'."] Aeromovies. Retrieved: September 26, 2017. The B-3 is featured as a prototype fighter aircraft in Flight Lieutenant (1942) and crashes out of shot in the final scene. The B-3 can also be seen sitting on the ramp during the scene of Humphrey Bogart's famous goodbye in the film Casablanca (1942).

Specifications

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|empty weight lb=1,850

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|max takeoff weight lb=2,650

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|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Menasco C6S-4 Super Buccaneer

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|max speed kmh=330

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|cruise speed kmh=310

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|range km=966

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|ceiling m=5,486

|ceiling ft=18,000

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|climb rate ftmin=1,200

|climb rate note=[http://archive.aviationweek.com/issue/19360701/#!&pid=32 "Flying Equipment: Brown Model B-3."] Aviation, Volume 35, Issue 7, July 1936, pp. 33, 35.

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