The Zenith Z-6 is a single engine biplane U.S. airliner built in the late 1920s. Its cabin, in the fuselage immediately behind its radial engine, holds five or six passengers depending on engine power. It is flown from an open cockpit further aft. Nine were completed and one has been restored to flight.

Design and development

The first Zenith Z-6, a five passenger product of Zenith Aircraft based in

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, first flew in 1927. After serious commercial confusion with another Zenith Aircraft, based in

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, the west coast company changed its name in 1928 to Albatross Aircraft. Hence both the Z-6 and their later, trimotor Z-12 have been referred to as Zenith Albatross Z-6 and

Zenith Albatross Z-12 The Zenith Albatross Z-12 was a large, three-engined airliner built in the United States in 1928. It could carry up to 11 passengers. Only one was completed. Design and development The Zenith Albatross Z-12 was designed and built by the Zen ...

or Albatross Z-12. Its unequal span,

single bay 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 ...

wings are rectangular in plan out to rounded tips and are mounted with strong stagger. There is dihedral only on the lower wing. The wings have

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box spars and ribs and are fabric covered. The upper and lower wings are braced together with N-form interplane struts between the spars and four short, near vertical cabane struts hold the upper wing over the fuselage. There are externally interconnected, inset ailerons on both upper and lower wings. The Z-6 has a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and tail, with its nine cylinder radial engine in the nose. Two different engines were fitted: the original Z-6 had a Wright J-5 and carried five passengers but both the Z-6-A and the Z-6-B have Pratt & Whitney Wasp Cs, carrying six passengers. Some engines were uncowled, some had short-

chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...

Townend ring-type cowlings and one Z-6-B had a long chord, NACA cowling. The cabin was between the wings immediately behind the engine and was illuminated with long, continuous windows; the pilot's open cockpit was above and behind it. Its blunted triangular plan tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage and carried more rounded, separated elevators. A cropped, triangular profile fin carried a blunted rectangular

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevators and ...

. The steel tube, fixed landing gear was of the split axle type. The axle's inner ends were hinged on a short longitudinal member held just below the fuselage as were the rear drag struts. Z-6-B users could choose between two shock-absorbing systems with either conventional inward-leaning Bendix oleo struts, extended to the upper fuselage longerons, or Goodyear Airwheels, large, low pressure balloon tyres more suitable for soft strips.

Operational history

Though exact dates are not known, the original Z-6 first flew in 1927, the Z-6-A in 1928 and the Z-6-B in 1929. The histories of most of the nine examples built are not known but one Z-6-A was used by Bennett Air Lines in the Idaho region. It was later fitted with a fibreglass hopper for crop dusting then restored and is the only Z-6 still flying. It is part of the collection of the

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-based Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum. The other Z-6-A was later fitted with a

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

Pratt & Whitney Wasp SC.

Variants

''Data from'' Aerofiles:Zenith ;Z-6: Wright J-5. Span ;Z-6-A: Pratt & Whitney Wasp C. Span ;Z-6-B: Pratt & Whitney Wasp C. Span

Specifications (Zenith Z-6-B)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Aviation Museums and Collections of North America, last=Ogden, first=Bob, year=2011, edition=2, page=379, publisher=Air-Britain (Historians), location=Tonbridge, Kent , isbn= 978-0-851-30-427-4 {{cite journal , title=Zenith Z-6-B, journal= Aero Digest, date= April 1931, volume=18 , issue=4 , page=114 , url=https://archive.org/details/aerodigest1819unse/page/n625/mode/1up {{cite web , url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_yz.html#_z, title=Aerofiles:Zenith, access-date=1 August 2020 {{cite web , last1=Parsons , first1=Don , title=Restoration , url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/restoration-17309062 , website=Air & Space , access-date=6 August 2020, date=March 2007 Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft 1920s United States airliners Aircraft first flown in 1927 Conventional landing gear