The Call-Air Model A is an American two- to three-seat utility aircraft designed by the Call brothers and built by the

Call Aircraft Company The Call Aircraft Company (CAC or CallAir) was established by Reuel Call in 1939 at Afton, Wyoming to build a touring aircraft of his own design. History The Call Aircraft Company hoped to advance the development of its CallAir Model A to the poin ...

, later developed into a successful line of agricultural aircraft.

Design and development

The Model A was designed by the Call family, who were Wyoming ranchers. The aircraft was ready to be produced in 1940 but the start of

World War II 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 ...

delayed the start of production to 1946. The family had formed the

(known as Call-Air) to produce the aircraft. The prototype Model A was powered by a

Continental A-80 The Continental O-170 engine is the collective military designation for a family of small aircraft engines, known under the company designation of A50, A65, A75 and A80. The line was designed and built by Continental Motors commencing in the 194 ...

engine but was redesignated the Model A-1 when re-engined with an

Avco Lycoming O-235-A The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier Lycoming O-233, O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engin ...

engine. A United States type certificate was awarded in July 1944 and the production model was designated the Model A-2. The Model A-2 was a two-seat braced low-wing monoplane with fabric-covered wooden wings and fabric-covered welded steel tube. It had a fixed tailwheel landing gear. Further models were introduced with different engines. Examples of the three-seat A-4 were converted for agricultural use followed by a new-build agricultural version the A-5. In 1962 the assets of the company were acquired at auction by the Intermountain Manufacturing Company (IMCO) who developed their own version the IMCO CallAir A-9. IMCO was later taken over by the Aero Commander division of the Rockwell Standard Corporation and later became part of North American Rockwell, the design was further developed and redesignated.

Variants

:;A :

-engined prototype, one built converted to A-1 :;A-1 :Re-engined with an

Avco Lycoming O-235-a The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier Lycoming O-233, O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engin ...

engine, four built and prototype converted. :;A-2 :Two-seat cabin monoplane production version powered by an

Avco Lycoming O-290-a Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...

engine, 16 built. :;A-3 :125 hp (93 kw)

Continental C-125-2 The Continental C115, C125 and C140 aircraft engines were made by Continental Motors in the 1940s, all sharing the US military designation O-280. Of flat-6 configuration, the engines produced 115 hp (86 kW) 125 hp (93 kW) or ...

-powered version, 15 built. :;A-4 :Two/three-seat cabin monoplane version powered by a 135 hp (101 kw)

Avco Lycoming O-290-D2 Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming. History The Aviation Corporation was formed on March 2, 1929, to prevent a takeover of CAM-24 airmail service operator Embry-Riddle Compa ...

engine, 65 built. :;A-5 :Open-cockpit two-seat agricultural version of the A-4, 74 built. ::;A-5T Texan ::A-5 with revised fuselage structure, nine built. :;A-6 :Improved version of A-5 with

Avco Lycoming O-360-A1A The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

engine, 34 built. :;A-7 :Similar to A-5 powered by

West Coast Dusting West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

-built

Continental W-670-240 The Continental R-670 (factory designation W670) was a seven-cylinder four-cycle radial aircraft engine produced by Continental displacing 668 cubic inches (11 litres) and a dry weight of . Horsepower varied from 210 to 240 at 2,200 rpm. The eng ...

engine. One converted from an A-6 ::;A-7T ::Proposed development of A-7 with higher gross weight

Specifications (A-2)

References

External links

{{commons category, CallAir A-2
Vintage Aircraft Museum
1940s United States civil utility aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1940

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (A-2)

References

Further reading

External links