Luscombe Aircraft was a United States aircraft manufacturer from 1933 to 1950.

History

Donald A. Luscombe Donald Arthur Luscombe (May 25, 1895 – January 10, 1965) was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder of Luscombe Aircraft, which produced an advanced sheet-metal-fuselage light aircraft during the 1930–1950 t ...

founded the Luscombe aircraft company in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

in Kansas City, Missouri. Luscombe had already made his reputation as an aircraft designer with the

Monocoupe Monocoupe Aircraft was a manufacturer of light airplanes originally produced in the late 1920s and 30s.Richard Harris"Monocoupe: Speed for the Common Man" ''AAHS Journal,'' Vol. 56, No. 4 (Winter 2011), American Aviation Historical Society They in ...

series of light aircraft, but he felt that the tube-and-fabric method of construction was too expensive and inefficient. He planned to create a light aircraft that was all-metal

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

construction. The new company's first aircraft was the Luscombe Model 1, commonly known as the

Luscombe Phantom The Luscombe Phantom was a 1930s American two-seat cabin monoplane and the first product of the Luscombe Aircraft Engineering Company. Design and development Donald A. Luscombe formed the Luscombe Aircraft Engineering Company in 1933 at Kansas ...

. This was a high-wing, two-place monoplane of all-metal construction (except for the fabric wing covering). The Phantom was tricky to land, and was never a financial success. In the winter of 1934/35, Luscombe Aircraft moved to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city, capital city (New Jersey), city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.

, and was incorporated as the Luscombe Aircraft Development Corporation. Shortly afterwards, the Luscombe School of Aeronautics opened. Trainees from the school worked in the Luscombe factory, and the school helped support the aircraft company for many years. In 1936, the company designed and began flying a simplified version of the Phantom known as the Luscombe 90, or Model 4. The Luscombe Aircraft Corporation was re-formed as a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

company in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Febr ...

, and a new design was begun. The

Luscombe 50 The Luscombe 8 is a series of high-wing, side-by-side-seating monoplanes with conventional landing gear, designed in 1937 and built by Luscombe Aircraft. Development Luscombe Aircraft closed in 1949, with its assets purchased by Temco Aircr ...

(Model 8) became the company's most famous product. The

Type Certificate A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applic ...

for the Model 8 is A-694 and is now held by Good Earthkeeping Organization, Inc. of

Corona, California Corona ( Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and nor ...

, USA. In 1946, Luscombe also introduced the four-place

model 11 A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

, designed to specifications produced by the

Flying Farmers of America Flying may refer to: * Flight, the process of flying * Aviation, the creation and operation of aircraft Music Albums * ''Flying'' (Grammatrain album), 1997 * ''Flying'' (Jonathan Fagerlund album), 2008 * ''Flying'' (UFO album), 1971 * ''Fl ...

. The firm was bankrupt in 1948 and its assets were purchased the following year by

Temco The Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company (TEMCO), also known as Temco Aircraft Corporation, was a U.S.-based manufacturing company located in Dallas, Texas, USA. It is best known for eventually forming part of the conglomerate Ling-Temco-Vo ...

Aircraft

8-F Production by Silvaire Uranium and Aircraft Company, Ft. Collins, Colorado

When TEMCO of Dallas, Texas chose to discontinue production, the Luscombe tooling, parts and other assets were purchased by Otis Massey (not the Houston mayor,

Otis Massey Otis Massey (May 26, 1891 – September 1968) was mayor of Houston, Texas from January 1943 to 1946. He was married to Mayme Kiser, they had two daughters, Dorothy and Marion. Massey was the first mayor of Houston to serve under the city manag ...

.) Massey had been a Luscombe dealer since the 1930s. His new venture opened in

Fort Collins A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facer ...

, Colorado, as Silvaire Uranium and Aircraft Company. From 1956 to 1961, this firm produced 80 aircraft. The make and model for all 80 was Silvaire 8-F, with "Luscombe", shown in quotation marks, in company literature. The company's prototype aircraft, N9900C, serial number S-1, was built in 1956. N9900C first flew on September 10, 1956 and was sold, according to the FAA aircraft database, to a dealer, Boggs Flying Brokers, in California the following spring. Six aircraft were built in the next twelve months (serial numbers S-2 through S7). Serial numbers S-2 and S-3 were shipped via

C-46 The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

aircraft to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first aircraft, S-1, was constructed from spares or Material Review Board serviceable parts remaining from TEMCO's prior production. TEMCO supplied enough inventory for the completion of approximately four aircraft (Swick, 2005).

References

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External links

The Luscombe EndowmentContinental Luscombe AssociationLuscombe Association
{{Luscombe aircraft 01 Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Kansas City, Missouri Companies based in Trenton, New Jersey American companies established in 1933 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1933 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1955 Defunct companies based in Missouri