The Doyle Aero O-2 Oriole or Doyle O-2 was a
parasol wing
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 ...
aircraft.
Development
Brothers Harvey and Wilson Doyle designed the
Vulcan American Moth Monoplane
The Vulcan American Moth Monoplane was an early parasol-wing monoplane developed by the Doyle brothers.
Development
Wilson Doyle graduated Harvard in 1925, and his brother Harvey from Yale the same year. They moved to Detroit looking for employ ...
in 1928. They left the
Vulcan Aircraft Company after a disagreement with its founder and moved to Baltimore Maryland with backing from Lawyer Charles Baldwin. They set to work on a new monoplane, with test pilot Otto Melamet flying the prototype O-2 Oriole on 15 October 1928.
Design
The O-2 is a parasol wing,
conventional landing gear
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 ...
,
strut-braced
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...
,
tandem
Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction.
The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...
-seat, open cockpit, sport aircraft. The
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 ...
is constructed of welded steel tubing with an aluminum turtledeck and belly covers, covered with
fabric
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
. The wing uses wooden
spars
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...
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- ...
with the fuel tanks the
wing root
The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage,Peppler, I.L.: ''From The Ground Up'', page 9. Aviation Publishers Co. Limited, Ottawa Ontario, Twenty Seventh Revised Edition, 1996 ...
s. A small door provided access to the front seat.
Operational history
Serial number 2 and 3 were wrecked en route to the All-American airshow in Detroit to demonstrate the aircraft. Serial number 5 was rushed to completion to be trucked to the event. The same aircraft was restored in 1987 and still is airworthy with a private owner.
Variants
;O-3 Oriole
:O-2 modified with a
Chevrolair D-4 engine
Specifications (O-2 Oriole)
See also
References
{{reflist
Parasol-wing aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1928
1920s United States sport aircraft