The General Aircraft G1-80 Skyfarer was a 1940s

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

two-seat cabin

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 ...

aircraft built by the General Aircraft Corporation of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

Development

The General Aircraft Corporation was established to build an aircraft designed by Doctor Otto C. Koppen from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. The aircraft was the G1-80 Skyfarer, a two-seat cabin high-wing braced monoplane with a light alloy basic structure and a mixed steel tube and fabric covering. It had an unusual tail unit, a cantilever tailplane with the elevator mounted on the upper surface of the tail with aluminum endplate fins and no movable rudders. It was powered by a 75 hp (56 kW)

Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 The Lycoming O-145 is a family of small, low-horsepower, four-cylinder, air-cooled engines. It was Lycoming Engines' first horizontally opposed aircraft engine and was produced from 1938 until the late 1940s. The family includes the reduction-ge ...

geared air-cooled four-cylinder engine. The aircraft incorporated aerodynamic control principles covered by patents issued to

Fred Weick Fred Ernest Weick (1899–1993) was an airmail pilot, research engineer, and aircraft designer. Working at the NACA, he won the 1929 Collier Trophy for his design of the NACA cowling for radial air-cooled engines. Weick's aircraft designs inc ...

, an early aeronautical engineer who went on to design and market the

Ercoupe The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued its ...

. Since it had no

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

s (or rudder pedals), it was simpler to fly (it had a single control wheel, which controlled the

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s and elevator), and was considered spin-proof. The aircraft was certified in 1941 with a placard that stated that the aircraft was characteristically incapable of spinning. It was claimed that an average person could learn to fly the Skyfarer in about an hour. It was anticipated that many aircraft would be ordered and built, but the United States became involved in the

Second World War 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 ...

and the Skyfarer program was abandoned after either 17 or 18 examples had been built. At one point, a company called Tennessee Aircraft planned on manufacturing the airplane. However, the rights and tooling passed to Grand Rapids Industries, who built two aircraft before stopping production. The company became a manufacturer of the

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troop glider.

Operational history

The prototype was built in 1937 in a stable behind the General Aircraft Company president's house. In October 1944, a Skyfarer was used by Alverna Babbs, the first legless pilot to be granted a student pilot's permit, to complete her first solo flight at

Lunken Airport Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field (Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport) is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles (5 km) east of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircr ...

Variants

L.W. DuVon and Dr. David O. Kime of Western Union College convinced the type holder Grand Rapids Industries, to give the equipment, tools and one of the finished planes to the college. They then found local investors who formed Mars Corporation in 1945. The aircraft was later licensed as the Mars M1-80 Skycoupe with a 100 hp engine. One example was built and production plans were estimated to be as high as 75 planes in its first year. The glut of aircraft produced after the war left little market for the aircraft. The facility to manufacture the aircraft was sold by 1946. The aircraft, NC29030, resides in the

Plymouth County, Iowa Plymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,698. The county seat is Le Mars. Plymouth County was named after Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth County is part of the Sioux City, I ...

Historical Museum.

Specifications (G1-80 Skyfarer)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing

External links

{{commons category, General Skyfarer
''No Spin Plane Easy For Auto Drivers To Fly'', October 1941
early article on Skyfarer

''Dan Shumaker Collection'' 1940s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft General Aircraft Corporation aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1940 Twin-tail aircraft