The Kirkham Air Yacht, also called the Kirkham Gull, was an early
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 con ...
executive transport
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
.
Design and development
The Kirkham Air Yacht was a custom built
executive transport built in 1925 for
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt CBE (July 6, 1884 – July 4, 1970) was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family.
Early life
He was born in Oakdale ...
. Design and construction was started in 1920 by Charles Kirkham. H T Booth, previously of
Curtiss
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...
, was also involved in the design. Its mission was to provide transport to and from New York City and
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
. Its design is very similar to the
Collier Trophy-winning
Loening S-1 Flying Yacht. The all-metal
gull-winged Kirkham Flying Yacht was built concurrently in the same shop in Long Island as the
Bonney Gull, another more experimental gull wing design.
The Air Yacht is an all-metal seaplane with a mid-gull wing planform. Power is from a single
pusher engine
A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...
. The cockpit is open and the passenger compartment is enclosed.
Specifications (Kirkham Air Yacht)
See also
References
{{reflist
External links
Image of the Kirkham Air Yacht
Flying boats
Air Yacht
Gull-wing aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft