The Spencer Amphibian Air Car is an American light

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boats ...

. The name was first used in 1940 for a prototype air vehicle that developed into the

Republic Seabee The Republic RC-3 Seabee is an all-metal amphibious sports aircraft designed by Percival Spencer and manufactured by the Republic Aircraft Corporation. Design and development The RC-3 Seabee was designed by Percival Hopkins "Spence" Spence ...

. The name was later used by its designer Percival Spencer for a series of homebuilt amphibious aircraft roughly based on the Seabee design.

Design and development

Percival H. Spencer formed the Spencer-Larsen Aircraft Corporation and designed the SL-12C amphibian. Disenfranchised with corporate policies in the development of the SL-12C amphibian, Spencer started the Spencer Amphibian Air Car in 1940. The original Spencer Amphibian Air Car was test flown in 1941. The aircraft was put into storage due to restrictions in place in America during World War II. The aircraft and rights to its design were sold to Republic as the "Seabee" in 1943. After leaving Republic, he designed the on-off two-seat Air Car. In 1968, Spencer and retired USAF Col. Dale L. "Andy" Anderson formed a new company to market a four-place amphibious homebuilt design once again called the Spencer Amphibian Air Car, with S-12C, S-12D, S-12E, and S-14 variants. The first example was test flown in 1970 in

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino is adjacent to Chino ...

. The unit had a build cost of $8700.00 The S-12-D Aircar is an improved and larger four-seat aircraft, which retains the basic layout of the Seabee. The two seat S-14 used advanced composites and was test flown by Spencer in 1983 at the age of 86. Its design did not meet expectations and the sole example was donated to the

EAA AirVenture Museum The EAA Aviation Museum, formerly the EAA AirVenture Museum (or Air Adventure Museum), is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historic and experimental aircraft as well as antiques, classics, and warbirds. The museum is lo ...

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

. The Air Car is built from wood, steel and glass-fibre. It has a strut-braced high wing and the cabin and fuel-carrying floats are similar to the Seabee, but the tail unit is more angular and a retractable tricycle undercarriage is fitted. In addition to examples constructed by Spencer, plans of the design have been sold for home construction and the first amateur-built Air Car flew in September 1974. Over 50 had flown by 2001. Examples are currently (2009) flying in the US and Canada.

Variants

;Spencer Amphibian Air Car : initial two-seat version ;S-12-C : early production with Lycoming ;S-12-D : main production version with

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

Lycoming O-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming ...

;S-12-E : prototype re-engined with Continental Tiara 6-285 ;S-14 Air Car Junior : two-seater, twin booms,

Lycoming O-320 The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. They are commonly used on light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. Different variants ...

, one example ;Spencer-Larsen SL-12C :Later prototype built in association with the (Victor A) Larsen Aircraft Co, incorporating many design changes, but flight test were unsuccessful and the sole prototype was dismantled after 10 hours flying.

Specifications S-12-E

References

External links

{{commons category, Spencer Air Car
aerofilesSPENCER AMPHIBIAN AIRPLANE Percival H. Spencer
1970s United States civil utility aircraft Homebuilt aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1941