The Loening C-4C, later the Keystone-Loening K-85 Air Yacht following the merger of the
Loening
Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation was founded 1917 by Grover Loening and produced early aircraft and amphibious aircraft. After it merged with Keystone Aircraft Corporation in 1928, some of its engineers left to form Grumman and Grover L ...
and
Keystone companies, was an amphibious utility biplane built in the United States in the late 1920s. It was developed by
Grover Loening
Grover Cleveland Loening (September 12, 1888 – February 29, 1976) was an American aircraft manufacturer.
Biography
Loening was born in Bremen (city), Bremen, in what was then Imperial Germany, on September 12, 1888, while his American-born fat ...
from the
C-1 that he had created together with
Leroy Grumman
Leroy Randle "Roy" Grumman (4 January 1895 – 4 October 1982) was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and industrialist. In 1929, he co-founded Grumman Aircraft Engineering Co., later renamed Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and no ...
, incorporating a new fuselage design. This departed from the characteristic Loening design feature of having a slender, "shoehorn" float projecting from the underside of the fuselage with an engine mounted tractor-fashion above it. Instead, the C-4C had a conventional flying-boat hull, with an enclosed cabin for passengers. The engine was mounted in a separate nacelle on the leading edge of the upper wing.
Two C-4Cs were built in 1928, shortly before the corporate merger. In 1931, Keystone-Loening built two examples of a revised version, but no further production ensued.
Thompson Aeronautical Corporation (TAC), a U.S.-based air carrier, was operating scheduled passenger service between Detroit and Cleveland in 1930 with Keystone–Loening Air Yacht aircraft with six round trip flights a day between the two cities.
[http://www.timetableimages.com, 1930 Thompson Aeronautical Corp. timetable]
Specifications (K-85 Air Yacht)
References
*
aerofiles.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keystone-Loening Air Yacht
1920s United States civil utility aircraft
Flying boats
Air Yacht
Air Yacht
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
Amphibious aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1928