Wiley Post Model A
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=Wiley Post Model A | image=File:Wiley Post Model A.jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=two seat sports biplane | national origin=United States | manufacturer=Wiley Post Aircraft | designer=Ross Holmes and Glenn Stearman | first flight=1934 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=about 13 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from=Straughn A | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Wiley Post Model A is a U.S. two seat sports biplane, built in small numbers in the 1930s.
Design and development
The 1934 Model A biplane is a development of the Straughn A, designed by Ross Holmes and Glenn Stearman in 1931 and originally built as a parasol wing monoplane but converted to a biplane before Straughn Aircraft were subsumed by Wiley Post Aircraft. Three were built.
Little changed from its predecessor, the Wiley Post Model A is an unequal span, single bay biplane with significant stagger. Its two-spar wings are rectangular in plan apart from blunted tips and are built from spruce and mahogany plywood with aircraft fabric covering. The lower wings are shorter in chord as well as span, so the outward-leaning, N-form interplane struts are non-parallel. Outward-leaning struts from the fuselage support the upper wing, which has a narrow trailing edge cut-out to improve the pilot's upward field of view. Ailerons are mounted only on the upper wings.
The fuselage has a Cr/Mo steel tube structure and is fabric-covered. Its engine is a Straughn 1000, an adaptation of the {{cvt|40|hp|kW}} unit used in the Ford A car with its radiator under the upper wing centre-section. The open cockpit under the upper wing trailing edge cut-out seats two side by side with dual controls. Its wire-braced, rounded tail is conventional, built with the same structure as the fuselage. Control surfaces are not aerodynamically balanced.
The Model A has conventional, fixed landing gear with mainwheels on split axles hinged the fuselage centre-line. Vertical landing legs, with rubber cord shock absorbers, and their drag struts are mounted on the lower fuselage longerons. There is a leaf-spring tailskid mounted just ahead of the rudder post.
Operational history
Aircraft on display
- Model A NC13961 (c/n 12), Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma City
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=imp
|genhide=
|crew=one
|capacity=one student or passenger
|length m=
|length ft=19
|length in=9
|length note=
|span m=
|upper span ft=28
|upper span in=6
|lower span ft=24
|lower span in=6
|span note=
|height m=
|height ft=7
|height in=8
|height note=
|wing area sqm=
|wing area sqft=206
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=581
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=
|gross weight lb=998
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
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|fuel capacity={{cvt|7|USgal|Impgal l}}
|more general=
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Straughn AL-1000 (Ford model 1A)
|eng1 type=upright, water-cooled four cylinder inline
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=40
|more power=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=Stone
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|prop dia note=wooden
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=80
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|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed mph=70
|cruise speed note=
- Landing speed: {{cvt|25|mph|km/h kn}}
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|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=10000
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
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|climb rate ftmin=600
|climb rate note=
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}}