The Douglas DA-1 Ambassador was an

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single-engined light aircraft of the 1920s. It was a single-engined

parasol-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplane (aeronautics), multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowe ...

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 ...

intended for private use, but only a single example was built, which was destroyed in a crash landing, causing development to be abandoned.

Design and development

In 1926 the

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

designed and built a single example of the Commuter, a small two-seat high-wing monoplane intended as an inexpensive private aircraft. Boeing was busy building aircraft for the military, while there was severe competition at the cheap end of the market for private aircraft, so no production followed.Francillon 1979, p. 104. Douglas did not completely abandon the private aircraft market, however, as the same year it started the design of a new, more capable light aircraft, the Douglas DA-1.Francillon 1979, p. 111. The DA-1 was a

, with a fixed

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 ...

and powered by a 220 hp (164 kW)

Wright 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 ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

. Unlike the mainly wooden Commuter, the DA-1 was of mixed construction, with the fuselage having a metal structure and the wings having

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 ...

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and

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi- ...

made of

with a

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 ...

covering. It had tandem cockpits, and could carry two passengers in addition to the pilot, or be rigged with dual controls for pilot training.Francillon 1979, p. 112. Detailed design and construction proceeded slowly owing to Douglas's heavy workload, and the prototype DA-1, which had been ordered by Ambassador Airways of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

,"Douglas D through Z"
''Aerofiles''. Retrieved 4 February 2011. was not flown until September 1928. It was displayed at the 1928

National Air Races The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...

,''Flight'' 18 October 1928, p. 905. and at air races at

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

later that year, but while being flown back from El Paso to Douglas's factory at

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

with Donald Douglas as passenger, it crashed on takeoff. Although no one was injured, the aircraft's undercarriage was wrecked, with the aircraft not being repaired, and no further examples being built.

Specifications

Notes

References

*Francillon, René J. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920''. London:Putnam, 1979. . {{refend

External links

Photo
DA-1 1920s United States civil utility aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928