The Spartan 7W Executive is a cabin

monoplane 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 con ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

that was produced by the Spartan Aircraft Company during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The 7W features an all-metal

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

, as well as a retractable undercarriage. The 7W Executive was popular with affluent buyers worldwide."American airplanes: Spartan."
''Aerofiles''. Retrieved: August 27, 2017.

Design and development

Designed expressly for the executive market, the Spartan Executive was configured for both performance and comfort. Built during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the 7W was the brainchild of company-founder William G. Skelly of

Skelly Oil Skelly Oil Company was a medium-sized oil company founded in 1919 by William Grove (Bill) Skelly, Chesley Coleman Herndon and Frederick A. Pielsticker in Tulsa, Oklahoma. J. Paul Getty acquired control of the company during the 1930s. It b ...

who desired a fast, comfortable aircraft to support his tastes and those of his rich oil-executive colleagues. Through a series of acquisitions, J. Paul Getty took over ownership of the Spartan Aircraft Company in 1935, and directed its fortunes from that point to 1968."Spartan History."
''spartanexecutive.com'', 2003. Retrieved: August 27, 2017. The interior of the 7W is spacious and features of slide-back seat room for front-seat passengers, arm rests, ash trays, dome lighting, deep cushions, cabin heaters, ventilators, soundproofing, large windows, and interior access to the capacity luggage compartment. The interior can be configured for four or five passengers.Taylor 1989, p. 983. The 10th airframe in the production run was modified into a military demonstrator, the Spartan 7W-F, incorporating two forward-firing .30 calibre

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

s mounted on the port side near the

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spre ...

and firing through the propeller arc through a synchronized mechanism. A further modification was to provide a gunner's station at a dorsal hatch on the roof with a windscreen and machine gun fitted. Provision was also made for bomb racks under the wings. The military experiment was short-lived and the aircraft was reverted to a stock model and sold to aviatrix Arlene Davis who entered the Executive (NC17605) in the 1939 Bendix Air Races.Johnson, Frank. "Spartan Executive." ''Sport Flying'', Volume 8, No. 12, December 1974, p. 31. Davis was the first woman to complete the race flying solo, and took the high-performance aircraft to fifth place. Including the 7X prototypes, 36 7W Executives were built before production was halted in 1940. Following up on a modified Spartan Executive military demonstrator, a two-seat military variant of the 7W Executive, named the

Spartan 8W Zeus The Spartan 8W Zeus was a prototype military aircraft trainer built by Spartan Aircraft Company in the United States in 1937. It was based on the airframe of the Spartan Executive civil aircraft. The sole airframe produced was designated serial ...

, was developed. The aircraft featured a greenhouse canopy covering a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

cockpit and was powered by a more powerful

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled radial piston engines developed in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Gunston 1989, p.114. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentsc ...

engine. A small production run of four or five examples was made but with no official interest, the project waned.Donald 1989, p. 853. In 1942, a total of 16 7W Executives were impressed into military service with the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

. The 7Ws served as executive transports for military staff as the UC-71. A post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

effort to rekindle interest in the Executive series, under the re-branded Spartan 12-W designation, failed to gain interest. Only one Model 12 was completed, and today is part of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium collection. In August 2018 a total of 17 model 7Ws were still registered with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

in the United States.

Notable owners

Notable owners of 7Ws included aircraft designer and aviator

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...

, wealthy industrialist J. Paul Getty, and

King Ghazi Ghazi ibn Faisal ( ar, غازي ابن فيصل, Gâzî ibn-i Faysal) (21 March 1912 – 4 April 1939) was the King of Iraq from 1933 to 1939 having been briefly Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Syria in 1920. He was born in Mecca, the only s ...

of Iraq. King Ghazi's Spartan Executive was designated "Eagle of Iraq" and was outfitted with his

Coat of Arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

, an extra-luxurious interior and customized features."Spartan Executive FS Review & History."
''Farmboyzim's Flight Sims''. Retrieved: August 27, 2017.

Variants

;Spartan 7X Executive : (also known as Standard Seven) The first prototype, fitted with a

Jacobs L-5 The Jacobs R-830 or L-5 is a seven-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft manufactured in the United States, production started in 1935.Gunston 1989, p.85. Design and development The R-830 was effectively an enlargement of the R-755 ...

radial engine. One built - identifiable by the very small vertical tail. Sparexec7W

;Spartan 7W-P Executive :Second prototype, indistinguishable from 7W. Sole example exported to China in 1937. Berry, Peter
"The Spartan Executive: Research Project 7233."
''AAHS Journal'' (American Aviation Historical Society, Huntington Beach, California), Volume 25, Summer 1980, pp. 145–153. ;Spartan 7W Executive :Production version powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp SB radial engine. 34 built ;Spartan 7W-F :A two-seat armed version with two fixed forward firing guns and one flexibly mounted machine gun in the rear cabin, as well as provision for 10 x 25lb bombs on wing racks. One built which was later converted to 7W Executive standard. ;Spartan UC-71-SP :Spartan 7W Executives impressed by the US Army Air Corps. ;

:Two-seat fighter version. ; Spartan 12W Executive :Postwar tricycle gear-equipped variant.

Specifications (Spartan 7W Executive)

Military operators

; *

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

Three examples based in Montreal, formerly

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

examples used in California. ; *

Chinese Nationalist Air Force Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

The second prototype was exported to China and serialed 1309. It was damaged beyond repair and captured by the Japanese who displayed it along with other captured Chinese aircraft. ; *

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica ...

/ Aviación Nacional At least one example was received by the

LAPE LAPE, Spanish Postal Airlines ''(Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas)'', was Spain's national airline during the Second Spanish Republic. History LAPE, often also spelt L.A.P.E. and colloquially known as ''"Las LAPE"'', replaced CLASSA (''Compa ...

(Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas) to be used as an airliner marked as EC-AGM until requisitioned by the

and marked as 30+74. It was later captured by the Nationalists. Several others were purchased by the Republicans. ; *

One example (AX666) was built for

of Iraq. Used by

No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (or 1 PRU) was a flying unit of the Royal Air Force, first formed in 1940. History On 24 September 1939, the Royal Air Force formally took over the "Heston Flight", a civilian photo reconnaissance unit h ...

. Three examples with serials KD100, KD101 and KD102 were used in California for flight training.Peek and Goodhead 1994 ; *

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

16 examples impressed from civil owners. All but two survived to return to civil service.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Davisson, Budd. "Spartan Executive." ''Air Progress'', March 1971. * Donald, David. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: Prospero Books;, 1997. . * ''FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet TC628''. Washington, D.C.: Federal Aviation Administration. * Peek, Chet and George Goodhead. ''The Spartan Story''. Norman, Oklahoma: Three Peaks Publishing, 1994. . * Taylor, Michael J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989. .

External links

Spartan on Aerofiles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spartan 7W Executive 1930s United States civil utility aircraft Low-wing aircraft Spartan Aircraft Company aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936