The Douglas C-1 was a cargo/transport aircraft produced by the

Douglas Aircraft Corporation 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 ...

for the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

starting in 1925.

Design and development

Douglas received an order for nine single-engined transport aircraft in 1925, the first aircraft flying from Douglas's

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 ...

factory on 2 May 1925.Francillon 1979, p. 96. The C-1 was the first aircraft assigned in the new C- category. The aircraft design was based on several earlier and similar designs developed by Douglas in the early 1920s (including the

Douglas World Cruiser The Douglas World Cruiser (DWC) was developed to meet a requirement from the United States Army Air Service for an aircraft suitable for an attempt at the first flight around the world. The Douglas Aircraft Company responded with a modified varia ...

s used in the first round-the-world flight in 1924). The C-1 featured an enclosed passenger compartment capable of carrying six passengers or about 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) of cargo. A trap door was placed in the lower fuselage to allow large and/or heavy cargo (particularly aircraft engines) to be lifted directly into the cargo compartment. An auxiliary door for passengers and light cargo was included on the right side of the center fuselage.

Operational history

The C-1

biplane 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 ...

was powered by the

Liberty L-12 The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized Marinisation (also m ...

engine and carried a crew of two in an open cockpit. A C-1 was flown in the 1926

Ford National Reliability Air Tour The Ford Reliability Tour, properly called "The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy", was a series of aerial tours sponsored in part by Ford from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliability ...

.Forden 2003, p. 24. Seventeen additional aircraft were ordered in 1926 and 1927 for 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 ...

as C-1Cs and were slightly larger than the original C-1s. Several C-1s were used in test programs—as an engine testbed, as a prototype air ambulance and as refueling aircraft for early air-to-air refueling experiments. Two of these aircraft were used as "tankers" in the 1929 record endurance flight of the

Fokker C-2 Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...

''Question Mark''.

Variants

;C-1: Single-engined cargo/passenger transport aircraft, powered by a 435 hp (324 kW) Liberty V-1650-1 piston engine, accommodation for two crew and six to eight passengers. ;C-1A: One C-1 used to test a variety of engines and cowlings, it was also used for number of experiments with ski landing gear. ;C-1C: Single-engined cargo/passenger transport aircraft, fitted with a metal cabin floor, modified landing gear, it had a higher gross landing weight and increased dimensions, plus a new balanced rudder; 17 built

Operators

; *

Specifications (Douglas C-1)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Forden, Lesley. ''The Ford Air Tours: 1925-1931.'' New Brighton Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003, First edition 1972. No ISBN. * Francillon, René J. ''McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920''. London: Putnam, 1979. .

External links

* The National Museum of the United States Air Force has articles on th
C-1C-1AC-1B
(never built), an
C-1C
and also on the use of the C-1 as a
air ambulance
{{USAF transports C-001 Douglas C-01 Aircraft first flown in 1925 Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft