Unmarked Buhl CA-5 Airsedan prototype (cropped)

The Buhl AirSedan was a family of American civil cabin

sesquiplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a ...

aircraft developed and manufactured by the

Buhl Aircraft Company CA-6 Airsedan ''Spokane Sun God'' The Buhl Aircraft Company was a US aircraft manufacturer founded in Detroit in 1925 which remained in operation until 1933. Buhl designed and manufactured the Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, the first aircraft to re ...

in the late 1920s. One example completed the first transcontinental non-stop roundtrip flight, made in 1929 by the CA-6 ''Spokane Sun-God'', and the first

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

to have flown did so in a Buhl Airsedan.

Design and development

The Airsedan series were designed by Etienne Dormoy following the departure of

Alfred V. Verville Alfred Victor Verville (November 16, 1890 – March 10, 1970) was an American aviation pioneer and aircraft designer who contributed to civilian and military aviation. During his forty-seven years in the aviation industry, he was responsibl ...

from Buhl, with whom he had worked previously. Dormoy had worked with Deperdussin before

World War one World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, flew combat operations during the war before returning to work with SPAD, travelled to the US to coordinate production of SPADs with

Curtiss Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

until the project was cancelled with the end of the war. He then worked with

Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...

on automobiles for a year in 1919 before working as a civilian with the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

with Verville, who convinced him to work at Buhl.Bleneau, Les berlines Buhl (Première partie), p.2-3 As a Frenchman, he was familiar with the advantages of the sesquiplane concept as it was a popular configuration in France, such as with the

Breguet 26T Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

airliner, but rare in the US. The fuselage framework, lower wing and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

were welded chromium-molybdenum alloy steel tubes faired with wooden battens, with the lower wing integral with the fuselage structure. The upper wings were built around spruce spars, with built up ribs made from spruce and plywood. The entire airframe was covered with doped aircraft-grade fabric. To reduce control forces, projecting aerodynamic balance horns on rudder and elevators, while inset aerodynamic horns were used on the ailerons, which were fitted to the upper wing only. To provide trim control, the rudder was ground adjustable while the elevators could be adjustable in flight. Depending on the models, three different designs of lower wings were used - either constant chord with reversed N struts on the CA-5, a triangular wing with a vee strut on the CA-3, CA-6 and CA-8, or a constant chord wing with two rigged struts, on Canadian built CA-6Ms. All were conventional

s with fully enclosed

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s, fitted with dual controls in front of a passenger cabin. The number in the designation generally referred to the number of occupants as originally designed, with a larger number of seats corresponding to a larger airframe. The first variant built was the CA-5, while later variants had a much slimmer

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

, a greatly improved windscreen design and a modified cockpit. The CA-5 had the undercarriage legs connected to the fuselage, and part way out from the fuselage, on the lower wing. The CA-3 had the undercarriage mounted solely to the fuselage, while the CA-6 and CA-8 had additional bracing struts from the top of the fuselage to the lower wing which allowed the undercarriage track to be widened. Buhl asserted that its undercarriage design reduced camber changes during landing, and the tendency to yaw due to bumpy ground. The CA-6 was certified to use Edo J-5300 floats.Anderson, 1990, p.20

Canadian production

Buhl Airsedan CA-6M CF-OAR, Ontario Provincial Air Service, front port side

After Buhl had ceased operations in 1932 due to declining sales as the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

deepened, the drawings and jigs were purchased by the Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS) in

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 ...

who then built four CA-6M's for use as fire spotting aircraft at their facility in Sault Ste. Marie between 1935 and 1937. These differed from the original aircraft in having

Canadian Vickers Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada during the early part of the 20th century until 1944. A subsidiary of Vickers Limited, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. C ...

floats, a new fin and rudder and larger lower wings. Due to the excessive weight of the Canadian-Vickers built floats, the first

Ontario Provincial Air Service The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown land ...

-built CA-6M refused to leave the water until given a more powerful

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled radial piston engines developed in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Gunston 1989, p.114. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentsch ...

engine.

Operational history

Buhl CA-3C The Angelino Junior NC7448 Oakland-Cleveland race August 1929

Buhl CA-5 Air Sedan NR3763 The Angeleno in flight

A CA-5 Airsedan NC2915, dubbed ''Miss Doran'', and flown by Auggie Pedlar with

V. P. Knope ''V.'' is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Wh ...

navigating, was one of the entrants in the disastrous August 1927

Dole Air Race The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a deadly air race across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, California to Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii held in August 1927. There were eighteen official and unofficial entrants; fifteen of ...

and like many competitors, was lost at sea. Two other aviators lost their lives in a Swallow monoplane while searching for them. A CA-3C Sport Airsedan NC7448, named ''Angelino Jr'' was piloted by Loren Mendell to first place in the Oakland-Cleveland Air Derby during the 1929 National Air Races. ''The Angeleno'', CA-5A NR3763, also flown by Loren Mendell, along with R.B. Reinhart, set an endurance record of 246 hours, 43 minutes and 2 seconds on July 12th 1929 using

inflight refuelling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

. They had just barely beaten the previous record when trash tossed from the aircraft jammed the tail and ended their run - and worse, their record would be bested within two weeks with a

Curtiss Robin The Curtiss Robin, introduced in 1928, was a high-wing monoplane built by the Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company. The J-1 version was flown by Wrongway Corrigan who crossed the Atlantic after being refused permission. Design The ...

.Parks, 2015, p.25 Another Airsedan, a CA-6 Special NC9628 named ''Spokane Sun God'' made the first nonstop round-trip crossing the United States by air.

Nick Mamer Nicholas Bernard Mamer (1897 – January 10, 1938) was a noted American aviation pioneer and pilot in the Pacific Northwest during the 1920s and 1930s. Early career Mamer learned to fly in San Diego and served with the Aviation Section, U.S. ...

and Art Walker flew from

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and back beginning on August 15, 1929, taking 120 hours (five days) for the trip, using

inflight refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

. They covered and made eleven fuel transfers. That was not Mamer's only connection to the Airsedans, as his airlines operated five examples in addition to the record breaking aircraft. After having served as a technology demonstrator for

, the

Packard DR-980 The Packard DR-980 is an American nine-cylinder air-cooled aircraft Diesel engine first certificated in 1930. The engine was unpopular despite its economy and reliability due to the unpleasant nature of its diesel exhaust fumes and ...

Diesel powered CA-3E NC8451 was re-engined with a

Wright J-6 Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to incl ...

and exported to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for use by Aeroposta Argentina in 1931. In 1934 it made a flight over

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

with Cardinal Monsignor Pacelli, shortly before he was elected as

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

, becoming the first Pope to have made a flight in an aircraft. After a career spent seeking out forest fires in the northern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

bush, as an airborne counterpart to

fire lookout tower A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...

s, the last of the Ontario Provincial Air Service CA-6Ms would be sold off to private operators in 1948. Their service predated the use of aircraft for directly extinguishing fires, so after spotting a fire, the Buhls would transport firemen to the fire, equipped with portable firefighting equipment, supplanting or replacing earlier types of aircraft such as the

Curtiss HS-2L The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June 1 ...

and

Canadian Vickers Vedette The Canadian Vickers Vedette was the first aircraft designed and built in Canada to meet a specification for Canadian conditions. It was a single-engine biplane flying boat purchased to meet a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) demand for a smaller ...

. If this sounds laborious, aircraft replaced the

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

s which had been used previously. After passing through a number of owners and undergoing unspecified modifications ostensibly for movie photography, CA-6 NC9629 was seized on 9 May 1933 while smuggling of alcohol from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

near

Fallbrook, California Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census. Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...

by the American

Immigration and Naturalization Service The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003. Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...

while the alcohol was being transferred to a waiting Marmon coupe.Bleneau, Les berlines Buhl (Seconde et dernière partie), p.3 Prohibition would end later that same year. Lineas Aereas del Balsas imported one CA-6 which was based out of

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

for a route running between Manzanillo and

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

,Davies, 1984, p.40 while

Carlos Panini Carlos Panini Binosi was a wealthy Mexican businessman of Italian origin, from Mosio di Acquanegra sul Chiese. He is credited with being the first pilot to fly a light plane around the world. In 1927 he had established Mexico's first scheduled air ...

eventually imported four CA-6s into Mexico for his much more successful airline. Carlos was a recent immigrant from Italy, and having taken flying lessons, started an airline in 1934, running the ''Ruta del Balsas'' (Balsas Route), along the

Balsas River The Balsas River (Spanish Río Balsas, also locally known as the Mezcala River, or Atoyac River) is a major river of south-central Mexico. The basin flows through the states of Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla. Downstream of Ciudad Al ...

(sometimes known as the Atoyac River), in Mexico.Davies, 1984, pp.31-32 The river lacked any bridges for over 300 miles, and communities usually travelled back and forth by boat, however, during the flood season, this became extremely hazardous. Beginning in September 1936, he initiated what may be the shortest commercial airline route, between Ciudad Altamirano to

Coyuca de Catalán Coyuca de Catalán is a city and seat of the municipality of Coyuca de Catalán, in the state of Guerrero, south-western Mexico. Formerly called Coyuca, the town was named Coyuca de Catalán in honour of Nicolás Catalán, son of Antonia Nava de ...

, a distance of about , which he covered in a mere two minutes of flight time, and for which he charged 8 pesos per person. This was sufficiently successful that he bought three additional Buhls, and eventually expanded into a major airline. During the 1929

Escobar Rebellion The Escobar Rebellion was a conflict in northern Mexico in 1929 during the Maximato, between the government forces of President Emilio Portes Gil and rebel forces under the command of General José Gonzalo Escobar. After some initial success in ta ...

when the Mexican government faced a large scale mutiny led by General

José Gonzalo Escobar General Don José Gonzalo Escobar (1892–1969) was an officer in the Mexican Army and leader of the failed Escobar Rebellion in 1929, which challenged the political power of Plutarco Elías Calles . Military career Escobar was born in Mazatlán ...

against the office of President going to a civilian, one of these Buhls was operated by the ''Fuerza Aérea Mexicana'' as a light utility transport with standard military red-white-green triangle markings.Hagedorn, 2006, p.37 It is likely the sole example to have seen military service.

Variants

Packard company demonstrator Buhl CA-3E Airsedan powered with DR-980 diesel, in flight

* CA-3 Airsedan (1928) -

wing span The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

three-seater powered by a

Wright J-5 Whirlwind The Wright R-790 Whirlwind was a series of nine-cylinder air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical Corporation, with a total displacement of about and around . These engines were the earliest members of the Wright Whirlwin ...

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric) In mathematics, physics, and engineering, a Euclidean vector or simply a vector (sometimes called a geometric vector or spatial vector) ...

**CA-3A - conversion of CA-3 **CA-3B Junior Airsedan -

Warner Scarab The Warner Scarab is an American seven-cylinder radial aircraft engine, that was manufactured by the Warner Aircraft Corporation of Detroit, Michigan in 1928 through to the early 1940s. In military service the engine was designated R-420. Vari ...

**CA-3C Sport Airsedan (ATC 46) - Wright J-5 WhirlwindJuptner, 1962, p.123-124 ***CA-3CW Sport Airsedan (ATC 2-328) -

**CA-3D Sport Airsedan (ATC 163, 2-72) -

Juptner, 1964, p.179-181 **CA-3E Sport Airsedan (ATC 2-309) -

* CA-5 Airsedan (1927, ATC 12) - wing span five-seater powered by a Wright J-5 WhirlwindJuptner, 1962, p.44-45 ** CA-5A Airsedan (ATC 33) - Deluxe version powered with a Wright J-5 WhirlwindJuptner, 1962, p.96-97 * CA-6 Standard Airsedan (1929, ATC 128, 2-51) - wing span six-seater powered by a Wright J-6 WhirlwindJuptner, 1964, p.81-84 ** CA-6 Special - Wright J-6 Whirlwind ''Spokane Sun God'' endurance aircraft ** CA-6A Airsedan - Pratt & Whitney Wasp ** CA-6B Airsedan (ATC 2-225) - Pratt & Whitney Wasp ** CA-6D Special - 2 converted from CA-3D as six seaters ** CA-6J Airsedan (ATC 2-336) - Pratt & Whitney Wasp five seater (1 converted from CA-6) ** CA-6M Airsedan - Pratt & Whitney Wasp powered Canadian-built CA-6 with local modifications. 4 built. ** CA-6W Airsedan (ATC 2-133) - Pratt & Whitney Wasp four seater (1 converted from CA-6) * CA-8 Senior Airsedan (1929 ATC 2-46) - wing span eight-seater powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp C ** CA-8A Senior Airsedan (ATC 98) - Wright R-1750 Cyclone 9Juptner, 1962, p.241-242 ** CA-8B Senior Airsedan (ATC 99) -

Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displacemen ...

Juptner, 1962, p.243-244

Operators

Buhl CA-6 Airsedan Aero Digest January,1930

Buhl CA-6B NC8449 sn 54 operated by Central Airlines

; * Aeroposta Argentina - operated one CA-3D ; * Brooks Construction & Transportation/Brooks Airways - operated two CA-6sPentland, Civil Aircraft Register - Canada (CF-), p.3 * Cherry Red Airline - operated one CA-6Pentland, Civil Aircraft Register - Canada (CF-), p.1 *

National Air Transport National Air Transport was a large United States airline; in 1930 it was bought by Boeing. The Air Mail Act of 1934 prohibited airlines and manufacturers from being under the same corporate umbrella, so Boeing split into three smaller companies, ...

- operated one CA-3C, one CA-5, and one CA-6Pentland, Civil Aircraft Register - Canada (G-C) p.1 * Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS) - operated four CA-6MsPentland, Civil Aircraft Register - Canada (CF-), p.5 ; * Lineas Aereas del Balsas operated one CA-6Pentland, Civil Aircraft Register - Mexico, p.1 * Servicio Aéreo Panini operated four CA-6s * ''Fuerza Aérea Mexicana'' operated one CA-6 during the 1929

; *

Central Airlines Central Airlines was a passenger airline (the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) called it a "local service" air carrier) in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to oper ...

operated a CA-6B * Nick Mamer/Mamer Air Transport/Mamer Flying Service - operated one CA-3A, one CA-5A, three CA-6Bs and the CA-6 distance record aircraftPentland, Civil Aircraft Register - US, p.4Pentland, Civil Aircraft Register - US, p.18 *Various private operators.

Survivors and aircraft on display

*NC5860: The first CA-3C was built in June 1928, and was raced in the 1928 National Air Tour with Buhl markings. It underwent a major restoration that was completed in 2011. *NC5861: The prototype CA-3, having been converted to a CA-3C, was bought back by the Buhl family in 2007 and restored to flying condition in 2012. *NC8451: A

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

powered CA-3 currently owned by the Golden Wings Museum in

Blaine, Minnesota Blaine is a suburban city in Anoka and Ramsey counties in the State of Minnesota, United States. Once a rural town, Blaine's population has increased significantly in the last 60 years. For several years, Blaine led the Twin Cities metro region i ...

after having been restored from derelict condition as found in Argentina. This was the aircraft in which the first flight made by a Pope, Pius XII. Although painted as it was when it was a CA-3E, it is fitted with the Wright J-6 engine which it had when it was a CA-3D. *CF-OAR and CF-OAT: The unrestored remains from two OPAS Buhl CA-6Ms are on display as found, at the

Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre (CBHC), located on the north bank of the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to preserving the history of bush flying and forest protection in Canada. It was founded in 1987 by a ...

in Sault Ste. Marie,