The Towle WC, aka Towle TA-1, was a custom built aircraft for a 1929 round-the world flight.
Design and development
Thomas Towle was an engineer who had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the
Eastman-E2 Sea Rover, Towle was commissioned by
Henry McCarroll
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
to promote Detroit's aviation production capabilities.
The WC was a
flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
with an aluminum hull. The strut braced
parasol wing
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 ...
was
fabric covered.
Operational history
The prototype WC flew as far as
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
before engine reliability issues forced the cancellation of the round-the-world flight attempt.
Variants
*
Towle TA-2 Was built as a successor to the WC model
Specifications (Towle WC)
References
{{Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering aircraft
Amphibious aircraft