The Zerbe Air Sedan was an American single engine

quadruplane In aviation, a multiplane is a fixed-wing aircraft-configuration featuring multiple wing planes. The wing planes may be stacked one above another, or one behind another, or both in combination. Types having a small number of planes have specific nam ...

passenger aircraft project started by Professor James Slough Zerbe in 1918. The machine made one flight in 1921, was damaged during landing, and was subsequently abandoned.

Design and development

In 1918 Zerbe arrived in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

to begin work on passenger aircraft for local businessmen. The aircraft, completed in 1919, was a positive staggered equal

span Span may refer to: Science, technology and engineering * Span (unit), the width of a human hand * Span (engineering), a section between two intermediate supports * Wingspan, the distance between the wingtips of a bird or aircraft * Sorbitan ester ...

quadruplane with double cambered louvered main wings. Equipped with no

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

ailerons 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 Flight dynamics, roll (or ...

, the machine was controlled using "ganged" or linkage connected wings with variable-incidence. The passenger cabin was made of plywood and fully enclosed with wide stance

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

attached. A French

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

surplus powerplant was used, and has been reported to be a LeRhône or Gnôme

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and i ...

, but evidence suggests it was in fact a

Le Rhône 9J The Le Rhône 9J is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 110 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was fitted to a number of military aircraf ...

of .

Operational history

The Air Sedan was piloted by Tom Flannery on its first and only flight in 1921 at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Fayetteville. The aircraft took off and quickly climbed to 100 ft (30 m), flew approximately 1000 ft (300 m) then was significantly damaged during landing. One report states: "After that Zerbe left town never to be heard of or seen again. (He died in New York in 1921). What happened to the abandoned damaged plane is unknown."

References

{{reflist https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15572779/batesville_daily_guard/

External links

Zerbe Air Sedan
Quadruplanes Zerbe aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1921 1910s United States experimental aircraft Rotary-engined aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft