The Brunner-Winkle Bird was a three-seat taxi and joy-riding aircraft produced in the US from 1928 to 1931.

Design and operation

The Model A version was powered by the ubiquitous Curtiss OX-5, and featured a welded steel-tube truss fuselage with metal and fabric skinning. The wings, constructed of

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 ...

and

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 ...

were also covered with metal and fabric skinning. The Model A had a reasonable performance for an OX-5 powered aircraft. The Model A's ease of handling led to its entry into the 1929 Guggenheim Safety Airplane contest, where it was awarded the highest ratings for a standard production aircraft. The Model A was awarded Group 2 approval no 2-33 in January 1929 for the first nine aircraft serial no. 1000 to 1008. Aircraft serial no. 1009 upwards were manufactured under Air Transport Certificate no. 101. The Model B followed on from the initial Bird design and was fitted with the uncowled Kinner radial engine. Production aircraft were designated BK.

Variants

''Data from:'' aerofiles.com Brunner-Winkle Bird BK Yanks Chino 05

;Model A:original production version with Curtiss OX-5 engine (ca. 80 built) ;Model AT:version with

Milwaukee Tank Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

engine (2 converted from Model A) ;Model B:version with

Kinner K-5 The Kinner K-5 was a popular engine for light general and sport aircraft developed by Winfield B. 'Bert' Kinner. With the boom in civilian aviation after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight the K-5 sold well. The K-5 was a rough running bu ...

engine (1 prototype) ;;Model BK:production version of Model B (84 built) ;Model C:version with Wright J-5 engine (1 built) ;;Model CC:version with

Curtiss R-600 The Curtiss R-600 Challenger was a six-cylinder, double-row, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the United States in the late 1920s. It developed . Design and development Curtiss started work on a small six-cylinder engine in Ma ...

Challenger engine (1 built) ;;Model CJ:version with

Jacobs LA-1 Jacobs may refer to: Businesses and organisations *Jacob's, a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the UK *Jacobs (coffee), a brand of coffee *Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company, former American aircraft engine company ...

engine (6 built) ;;Model CK:version with Kinner B-5 engine (50 built) ;;Model RK:export version of Model CK (1 built) ;Model E:4-5 seat version with enclosed cabin and Kinner B-5 engine (1 built) ;Model F:version with Packard DR-980 (1 built)

Specifications (Bird Model A)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{cite web, title=Yanks Air Museum, last=, first=, url=https://yanksair.org/collection/brunner-winkle-bird-bk/, accessdate=22 December 2019, url-status=live, website=
Photos of Brunner-Winkle Bird
1920s United States civil utility aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928

Design and operation

Variants

Specifications (Bird Model A)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related lists

References

Citations

Bibliography