The Laird Solution, also called the Laird LC-DW Solution, Laird LC-DW300 Super Solution and Laird LC-DW500 Super Solution, was touted as being the "solution" to the problem of the Travel Air Mystery Ship. The Solution won the 1930 Thompson Trophy race days.

Design and development

In 1930

Matty Laird Emil Matthew Laird (November 29, 1895 – December 18, 1982) was a pioneering American aircraft designer, builder, pilot, and businessman. He put the first commercial aircraft into production at his E. M. Laird Aviation Company. Biography C ...

was commissioned to build a racing plane based on the

Laird Speedwing Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

by B.F. Goodrich's Lee Schoenhair for the 1930 Thompson Trophy race. Schoenhair backed out of the project, believing the aircraft would not be tested in time. Laird entered the Solution himself in the 1930 Thompson Trophy with Charles "Speed" Holman as the pilot. The Solution, (registered NR10538), was a

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 ...

with conventional landing gear, having a welded steel fuselage and

aircraft fabric covering Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as ar ...

. The aircraft kept the same registration number NR10538, and was repainted several times from black and gold, white and gold, to lavender and gold. A second aircraft, (NR12048), powered by a 535 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp was built as the Laird LC-DW300 Super Solution, retaining the fixed undercarriage of the original, for the 1931 Bendix Trophy which it won, piloted by Jimmy Doolittle. This aircraft was modified with retractable landing gear for the 1932 Bendix Trophy but on a test flight the gear failed to lower and Doolittle was forced to belly land the aircraft, forcing withdrawal from the race.

Operational history

* 1930 Thompson Trophy (Solution NR10538) - Chicago, Illinois 1 September 1930. Placed first. for 20 laps The pilot Speed Holman flew with exhaust gases leaking into the cockpit causing him to pass out several times during the event. * 1931 Thompson Trophy (Solution NR10538) - Sponsored by the Sweet Kiss Tooth Paste Company. The Laird Solution was restored over a period of seven years and is on display in its Black and Gold paint scheme at the New England Air Museum.

Variants

;Laird LC-DW Solution :Powered by a 300hp

Pratt & Whitney R-985 The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s. These engines have a displacement of ; initial versions produced , ...

, (NR10538), competed in the 1930 and 1931 Thompson trophy races piloted by "Speed" Holman achieving an average speed of 202mph. ; Laird LC-DW300 Super Solution :A second aircraft, (NR12048), built for Jimmy Doolittle to race in the 1931 Bendix Trophy, powered by a 535hp supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr. ; Laird LC-DW500 Super Solution :NR12048 modified with retractable undercarriage. Entered in the 1932 Bendix Trophy, but withdrawn after a belly landing due to the landing gear failing to extend forced withdrawal.

Specifications (LC-DW Solution)

Laird_LC-DW_300_Solution_3-view_Aero_Digest_October,1930

References

{{Laird Aircraft

Solution Solution may refer to: * Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another * Solution (equation), in mathematics ** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds * Soluti ...

1930s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Racing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1930