Luscombe Phantom
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
| name=Phantom | image=Luscombe Phantom 1 (4540981129).jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Two-seat cabin monoplane | national origin=United States | manufacturer=Luscombe Aircraft Engineering Company | designer= | first flight=1934 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | number built=25 | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Luscombe Phantom was a 1930s American two-seat cabin monoplane and the first product of the Luscombe Aircraft Engineering Company.
Design and development
Donald A. Luscombe formed the Luscombe Aircraft Engineering Company in 1933 at Kansas City, Missouri. The Phantom or Model 1 was the first aircraft built by the company, and first flew in 1934. It was a high-wing braced monoplane with conventional fixed tail-wheel landing gear, and was powered by a nose-mounted 145 hp (108 kW) Warner Super Scarab radial engine. The fully enclosed engine cowling, with individual air vents for each cylinder, was unusual for a US radial engine light aircraft. Apart from the fabric wing surfaces, the aircraft was all-metal, and had a luxury interior with two side-by-side seats in an enclosed cabin. All compound curves were formed by one employee, Nick Nordyke.{{cite journal|journal=Air Progress|title=Phantom!|author=Gene Smith|page=45}} As a luxury aircraft, it failed to sell in the economical climate of 1930s America, and the company went on to develop cheaper and simpler aircraft.
Variants
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Air Progress
|prime units? = imp
|crew=1
|capacity=1 passenger
|length m=6.6
|length ft=21
|length in=6
|span m=9.4
|span ft=31
|span in=0
|width in=42
|height m=2.1
|height ft=6
|height in=9
|wing area sqft=143.25
|empty weight kg=599
|empty weight lb=1320
|gross weight kg=885
|gross weight lb=1950
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Warner Super Scarab radial engine
|eng1 kw=108
|eng1 hp=145
|max speed kmh=270
|max speed mph=168
|cruise speed kmh=209
|cruise speed mph=130
|range km=901
|range miles=560
|climb rate ms=3.6
|climb rate ftmin=700
}}
See also
References
{{commons category|Luscombe Phantom}}
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{Refbegin}}
- {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Michael J. H.|title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation|year=1989|publisher=Studio Editions|location=London}}
- {{cite book|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)|publisher=Orbis Publishing}}
- {{cite web|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/pat-pilot-american-aviatrix-wafs-member-and-allied-liaison?fbclid=IwAR1DnXzYGCZ_DIn5H7RKIoWrLjTqoc3VwgklfgBEhy-0JCztjh0ldNHnqgE|title=Pat the Pilot: American Aviatrix, WAFS Member and Allied Liaison|last=Johnson|first=Caroline|work=Air & Space Smithsonian|access-date=4 April 2020}} (World War II story of female US aviator, with pictures of Luscombe Phantom)
{{Refend}}
{{Luscombe aircraft}}
{{AvN aircraft designations}}
Category:1930s United States civil utility aircraft
Category:Single-engined tractor aircraft