The Buhl CA-1 Airster was a sports airplane 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 territori ...

in 1930. It was a conventional low-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

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 con ...

with fixed

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and an open cockpit for the pilot. The CA-1 was designed for air-racing and for use as a

mail plane A mail plane is an aircraft used for carrying mail. Aircraft that were purely mail planes existed almost exclusively prior to World War II. Because early aircraft were too underpowered to carry cargoes, and too costly to run any "economy class" ...

. No market was found for the aircraft and only the single prototype was ever constructed. A two-seat variant was developed with a second open cockpit in tandem with the pilot's and with a

Townend ring A Townend ring is a narrow- chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling. Development The Townend ring was the invention of Dr. Hubert Townend of the British National Physica ...

and wheel spats, but this didn't sell either.

Versions

*CA-1 Airster (1930) **300 hp Wright J-6 **one built *CA-1WA Airster (1930) **420 hp P&W Wasp **one builthttp://www.aerofiles.com/buhl.html

References

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aerofiles.com
CA-001 1930s United States sport aircraft Racing aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1930 {{aero-1930s-stub

Versions

See also

References