The Eastman E-2 Sea Rover, also called the Beasley-Eastman E-2 Sea Rover, was a light

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

built in the late 1920s for business and shuttle use.

Development

Beasley-Eastman_flying_boat_Aero_Digest_April_1928

The E-2 was designed by former Ford engineer Thomas Towle for industrialist Jim Eastman of Eastman Laboratories. Towle was in the process of starting his own company, the

Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light amphibious aircraft. The short lived Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Company, and its successor Towle Aircraft Company were founded by former Stout Metal ...

to produce his twin-engine amphibian design, the Towle WC. Eastman founded the Eastman Aircraft Corporation of Detroit to build the E-2 The prototype E-2 was flown with a single

Anzani 6 Alessandro Anzani developed the first two-row radial from his earlier 3- cylinder Y engine by merging two onto the same crankshaft with a common crankweb. Development By December 1909 Anzani had a 3-cylinder air-cooled true radial engine runn ...

engine. The production model was outfitted with a Warner Scarab. The E-2 received

type certificate A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...

#338 on 17 July 1930 By the end of 1929 Eastman Aircraft had been merged into the Detroit Aircraft Corporation.

Design

The E-2 used a wooden hull with

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

cladding. The aircraft used a parasol wing supported by large V-struts with secondary lower

shoulder 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 ...

s with tip floats at the ends. The single engine was mounted in the center of the wing root of the upper wing with a rear teardrop fairing.

Variants

;E-2 Sea Rover :Flying boat powered variously by,

Warner Scarab The Warner Scarab is an American seven-cylinder radial aircraft engine, that was manufactured by the Warner Aircraft Corporation of Detroit, Michigan in 1928 through to the early 1940s. In military service the engine was designated R-420. Vari ...

and other engines of similar power. Eighteen aircraft were built ;E-2A Sea Pirate :Two E-2 flying boats converted to amphibians, powered by

Curtiss Challenger The Curtiss R-600 Challenger was a six-cylinder, double-row, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft use built in the United States in the late 1920s. It developed . Design and development Curtiss started work on a small six-cylinder engine in Ma ...

engines. ;E-2D Sea Pirate :A single E-2 flying boat, converted to amphibian, powered by a Packard DR-980 diesel radial engine.

Operators

* Gorst Air Transport operated one E-2 from 1929-1930.

Aircraft on display

An E-2 is on display at the British Columbia Aviation Museum. It is a composite made up of the wreckages three E-2s recovered throughout British Columbia.

Specifications (Eastman E-2 Sea Rover)

References

Bibliography

External links

No. 9096. Eastman E-2 Sea Rover (NC466M c/n 11)
{{Detroit aircraft Flying boats 1920s United States civil aircraft E-2 Sesquiplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928