The St. Louis C2 Cardinal family are a series of light sport monoplanes built by the

St. Louis Aircraft Corporation St. Louis Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer founded in September 1917. In 1915, the St. Louis Car Company had been approached by Thomas W. Benoist to build 1000 flying boats. A prototype was built, but the concept did n ...

during the peak of the

Lindbergh Boom The Lindbergh Boom (1927–1929) is a period of rapid interest in aviation following the awarding of the Orteig Prize to Charles Lindbergh for his 1927 non-stop solo transatlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. The Lindbergh Boom occurred dur ...

after the

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

flight of 1927.

Design and development

The Cardinal shares close proportions with the

Monocoupe Model 22 The Central States Aircraft Model 22, Velie Monocoupe, or Monocoupe Model 22 was the first in a series of small, high-performance high-wing monoplanes from Monocoupe Aircraft. Development The Monocooupe model 22 was drawn up by Clayton Folkerts ...

also designed and built in St. Louis in 1927. The Cardinal is a two seat high wing conventional geared aircraft with side-by-side configuration seating. The fuselage is constructed with welded steel tubing. The spar is made of spruce and ribs are basswood with

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

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 are controlled by push-pull tubes. The aircraft were delivered with progressively more powerful engines, the

LeBlond 5DE The LeBlond radial engines, later produced under the name Ken-Royce, were a family of 3-cylinder, 5-cylinder and 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines for aircraft, built in the 1930s by the LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation until the operatio ...

, and

Kinner K-5 The Kinner K-5 was a popular engine for light general and sport aircraft developed by Winfield B. 'Bert' Kinner. With the boom in civilian aviation after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight the K-5 sold well. The K-5 was a rough running but ...

, and one with a Warner engine.

Operational history

The prototype was presented at the 1929 Detroit Air Show.

Variants

;C2-60 Cardinal :1929 -

LeBlond 5D The LeBlond radial engines, later produced under the name Ken-Royce, were a family of 3-cylinder, 5-cylinder and 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines for aircraft, built in the 1930s by the LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation until the operatio ...

- 10 built ;C2-65 Standard Cardinal :1929 - Modified C2-60

1111 Year 1111 ( MCXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Levant * Battle of Shaizar: Sultan Muhammad I (Tapar) appoints Mawdud ibn Altuntash, Turkic governo ...

;C2-85 Cardinal :1930 -

LeBlond 5DF The LeBlond radial engines, later produced under the name Ken-Royce, were a family of 3-cylinder, 5-cylinder and 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines for aircraft, built in the 1930s by the LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation until the operatio ...

- 1 built C559N ;C2-90 Senior Cardinal :1929 -

LeBlond 7D The LeBlond radial engines, later produced under the name Ken-Royce, were a family of 3-cylinder, 5-cylinder and 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial engines for aircraft, built in the 1930s by the LeBlond Aircraft Engine Corporation until the operatio ...

- 6 built, with 1 converted from a C2-60. ;C2-100 Super Cardinal :1929 -

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 ...

- 1 conversion 12319for factory tests. ;C2-100 Special :1 converted from a C2-110 ;C2-110 Super Cardinal :1929 -

- 5 built with one converted from a C2-60

Surviving aircraft

* 103 – C2 airworthy at the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon. * C-106 – C2-110 airworthy at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

Specifications (St. Louis C2-110 Super Cardinal)

References

{{reflist

External links

Aircraft Sa-Si
1920s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft