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The Argonaut Pirate was a 1930s, U.S., three place, single-engined
The Pirate prototype H.20 first flew in 1934. Its development programme was successfully concluded in late 1935; by then it was described more realistically as a two place aircraft. This programme led to a second aircraft, the H.24, intended as the production prototype. Its span was increased to and the Menasco was strut-mounted well above the fuselage, in clearer air, allowing a diameter, two-bladed propeller to be fitted. Long, V-form struts from the top of the engine mounting to the spars replaced the earlier wire bracing. More refined, V-bottom, floats were used. Its tail was revised with more rounded fixed surfaces and a deeper and more rounded rudder and the elevators had more area with only a small cut-out for rudder movement. These and other production aircraft related changes increased the empty weight of the H.24 by 45%. By 1937 it was once again described as a three-seater, though little is known about the cabin and there was no glazing aft of the cockpit. It was on display at the National Aviation Show held in
pusher configuration
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...
amphibious aircraft. Only two were built.
Design and development
The H.20 Pirate was Argonaut aircraft's first product, flying in 1935. Its wire-bracedhigh wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
was rectangular in plan out to blunted tips. It had solid spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
spars
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...
and wooden ribs and was fabric-covered apart from plywood
Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
-covered leading edges. Its ailerons were relatively short but broad.
The hull was also wooden, a semi-monocoque structure with ply planking, ply frames and spruce stringers. It had a single step planing bottom. Pilot and co-pilot sat side by side in an enclosed cabin forward of the wing leading edge. The third seat was just behind them on the centreline and was more like a jump-seat than a true passenger seat. The H.20 Pirate's inverted, air-cooled, Menasco C-4
The Menasco Pirate series were four-cylinder, air-cooled, in-line, inverted aero-engines, built by the Menasco Motors Company of Burbank, California, for use in light general and sport aircraft during the 1930s and 1940s. The Menasco engines c ...
was mounted close to the top of the fuselage above the wing, its four-bladed propeller just clearing the central wing trailing edge. The steel tube engine mounting ran down through the fuselage to the main landing gear mountings. The vertical tail was rather straight-edged in profile, with its tailplane mounted about halfway up carrying lobate plan elevators.
The Pirate was stabilized on water with a pair of rather bulky, flat-bottomed, strut-mounted floats at about two-thirds span. Its retractable landing gear was narrow track, with wheels on short, rubber ring-damped legs that were manually retracted into a horizontal position with a wheel in the cabin. The mainwheels had brakes and the tailwheel swivelled for ground manoeuvrability.
The Pirate prototype H.20 first flew in 1934. Its development programme was successfully concluded in late 1935; by then it was described more realistically as a two place aircraft. This programme led to a second aircraft, the H.24, intended as the production prototype. Its span was increased to and the Menasco was strut-mounted well above the fuselage, in clearer air, allowing a diameter, two-bladed propeller to be fitted. Long, V-form struts from the top of the engine mounting to the spars replaced the earlier wire bracing. More refined, V-bottom, floats were used. Its tail was revised with more rounded fixed surfaces and a deeper and more rounded rudder and the elevators had more area with only a small cut-out for rudder movement. These and other production aircraft related changes increased the empty weight of the H.24 by 45%. By 1937 it was once again described as a three-seater, though little is known about the cabin and there was no glazing aft of the cockpit. It was on display at the National Aviation Show held in New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
from 28 January 1937 but no production followed.
Development continued after Argonaut's acquisition by the (Donald G) White Aircraft Co. in 1938, as the White A-R 3-seat amphibian and the White Gull 4-seat amphibian. Only a single White A-R was registered as NX77Y and further work was halted due to lack of market.
Specifications (H.24 Pirate)
See also
References
{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , title=Argonaut Pirate, journal=Aero Digest, date= April 1935, volume=26, issue=4, page=52, url=https://archive.org/details/aerodigest2619unse/page/n319/mode/1up {{cite journal , title=New Aircraft Types Developing, journal=Aero Digest, date= December 1935, volume=27, issue=6, page=58, url= https://archive.org/details/aerodigest2719unse/page/58/mode/1up {{cite journal , title=Argonaut Pirate, journal=Aero Digest, date= March 1937, volume=30, issue=3, page=5, url=https://archive.org/details/aerodigest3019unse/page/n267/mode/1up {{cite journal , title=National Aviation Show, journal=Aero Digest, date=February 1937, volume=30, issue=2, page=26-7, url=https://archive.org/details/aerodigest3019unse/page/n135/mode/1up {{cite journal , title=Mystery Plane, journal=Vintage Aircraft, date= October 1995, volume=23, issue=10, page=7-8,27, url= https://issuu.com/vintageeaa/docs/va-vol-23-no-10-oct-1995 Amphibious aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft 1930s United States sport aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935