The Barkley-Grow T8P-1 was an

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

developed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

shortly before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Although it saw limited production, the type was well-received as a

bush plane A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon ra ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Design and development

Typical for the era, the Barkley-Grow T8P-1 was a low-wing

monoplane 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 ...

of all-metal construction with a

twin tail A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...

(an additional third tail was installed, à la

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first pressurized-cabin civil airliner series to go into widespread use. Its press ...

, when fitted with floats). The T8P (standing for Transport, 8 Passenger) was designed to be simple and rugged, thus the main units of the

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynami ...

were not retractable, and this may have negatively impacted the type's reception in the marketplace. A novel design feature, however, was the wing structure. Barkley used what might be called a "horizontal cell" technique that has no ribs or spars. Long tapered strips of aluminium were bent to form V shapes which were then riveted tip to tip to form an "X". These "X"s are riveted inside the wing side by side to produce the long "cells". This wing structure was unique to the Barkley-Grow and according to mechanics who worked on the aircraft it was very light, very stiff, very expensive to build, and difficult to repair if damaged, but it gave no problems in service."Dibnah, Larry
"The Barkley-Grow T8P-1. (In My Travels)."
''The Patrician'', Victoria Flying Club, February 2007. Retrieved: December 7, 2009. Like its two main competitors, the

Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior The Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, more commonly known as the Lockheed 12 or L-12, is an eight-seat, six-passenger all-metal twin-engine transport aircraft of the late 1930s designed for use by small airlines, companies, and wealthy private ind ...

and the

Beech 18 The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...

, the T8P-1 was originally designed to a 1935

Bureau of Air Commerce The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents. In 1934, the Aeronautics Branc ...

specification (eventually won by the Lockheed entry). Barkley-Grow T8P-1 floatplane

Operational history

Sales in the US were disappointing, only 11 being built, and most machines (seven) were sold to Canada, where the fixed undercarriage was no obstacle to the fitting of skis or pontoons. One was selected for a record flight from Washington D.C. to Peru, and another was used in the Antarctic by the US Navy. In 1942 A T8P-1 flown by

Maritime Central Airways Maritime Central Airways was a predecessor of Eastern Provincial Airways and was founded by Prince Edward Island native Carl Burke and Josiah Anderson in 1941 out of Moncton, New Brunswick and provided standard passenger, cargo, and charter ...

was used in the rescue attempt of survivors of a B-17 on the

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ice shelf. The aircraft was fitted with skis but force-landed on the ice on 22 December 1942 after encountering strong headwinds. The T8P-1 broke through the ice and sank leaving the pilots to be rescued by

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

tribesmen.

Surviving aircraft

* 1 – T8P-1 in storage at the

Reynolds-Alberta Museum The Reynolds-Alberta Museum is an agricultural, industrial, and transportation museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. The museum is situated on an property containing the main museum building, an aviation display hangar, and its storage facility. ...

Wetaskiwin, Alberta Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word ''wītaskiwinihk'', meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is ...

. * 3 – T8P-1 on static display at the

Alberta Aviation Museum The Alberta Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum is located on-site at the former Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport on the southwest corner of the field (11410 Kingsway Avenue). T ...

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

. It is on loan from The Hangar Flight Museum. * 8 – T8P-1 (CF-BQM) on static display at

The Hangar Flight Museum The Hangar Flight Museum, formerly known as the Aero Space Museum of Calgary is a museum located south of Calgary International Airport in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. History The museum was founded in 1975 as the Aero Space Museum Association of C ...

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

Specifications

Barkley-Grow_T8P_3-view_L'Aerophile_February_1936

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Gerritmas, Joop and Hazewinkel Harm. "The Barkley-Grow T8P-1." ''AAHS Journal'' 50 (4), 2005. * Taylor, J.H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989, p. 121. . * Wegg, John. ''General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. . * ''World Aircraft Information Files (File 890 Sheet 02)''. London: Bright Star Publishing.

External links

{{commons category, Barkley-Grow T8P-1
Calgary Aero Space Museum 2006
T8P-1 1930s United States airliners Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1937 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft