Commercial C-1 Sunbeam
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=C-1 Sunbeam | image= | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Biplane | national origin=United States | manufacturer=Commercial Aircraft Corp | designer= | first flight= | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced=1929 | number built= | program cost= | unit cost=US$13,500 in 1929 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Commercial C-1 Sunbeam was a long-range biplane used in record-setting flights of the 1920s.{{cite book| title=U.S. Commercial Aircraft |url-access=registration |author-last=Munson |author-first=Kenneth |publisher=Jane's Publishing Co. Ltd. |year=1982 |isbn=0710601204 |location=London, UK |page=35 |url=https://archive.org/details/uscommercialairc0000muns/page/35/mode/1up |access-date=November 9, 2024}}
Design
The conventional landing gear-equipped biplane featured a two-seat open cockpit and a four-passenger enclosed cabin. The fuselage is constructed with welded steel tubing with fabric covering. The wheels were covered with large streamlined wheel pants.
Operational history
On 27 November 1929 Elinor Smith and Bobbie Trout set a 42-hour endurance record over Los Angeles flying a C-1 Sunbeam refueled three times from a Curtiss Carrier Pigeon mail plane. Although the Sunbeam was performing well, the Carrier Pigeon support plane had mechanical difficulties after the third day. 672 gallons of fuel were used in the attempt, making Smith and Trout the first women to refuel in the air.{{cite book |title=Flying High: Pioneer Women in American Aviation |author=Charles R. Mitchell, Kirk W. House}}{{cite journal |journal=Skyways: The Journal of the Airplane 1920-1940 |date=July 1999 |number=50 |title=Commercial Sunbeam |location=Poughkeepsie, NY}}{{cite web|title=Bobbie Trout|url=http://womenaviators.org/BobbiTrout.html|accessdate=29 October 2011|url-status=usurped|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124035828/http://womenaviators.org/BobbiTrout.html|archivedate=24 January 2010}}
Variants
;Commercial Sunbeam C-102
:X-564M used a {{convert|300|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Wright J-6 radial engine for the endurance flights of 1929 and 1931.{{cite book |title=Just Plane Crazy: Biography of Bobbi Trout |author-last1=Voca |author-first1=Donna |author-last2=Mazzio |author-first2=Skip |publisher=Osborne Publisher |year=1987 |isbn=0940997010 |page=138 |location=Santa Clara, CA |language=en|url=https://archive.org/details/justplanecrazybi0000veca/page/138/mode/2up |access-date=November 9, 2024}}
Specifications (Commercial C-1 Sunbeam)
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