Spartan C2
Role sport aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Spartan Aircraft Company
Designer Willis Brown[1]
First flight 1931[2]
Number built over 56[1]
Jacobs L-3-powered Spartan C2-60

The Spartan C2 is a light aircraft produced in the United States in the early 1930s as a low-cost sport machine that would sell during the Great Depression.

Design and development

The C2 is a conventional, low-wing monoplane design with two seats side-by-side in an open cockpit.[2][3] The wing was braced with struts and wires and it carried the main units of the divided fixed undercarriage. Power was supplied by a small radial engine mounted tractor-fashion in the nose, which drove a two-bladed propeller.

Spartan introduced the C2 in 1931 with a 55-hp engine, and sold 16 examples before ongoing economic circumstances brought production to a halt.[2] Spartan then built 2 examples with 165-hp engines to use in their own flying school. These latter aircraft were fitted with hoods that could be closed over the cockpit for training pilots in instrument flying.[1][4] Spartan offered this version to the U.S. military as a trainer,[5] but officials at the time believed that low-wing monoplanes were unsuitable for pilot training.[4] Spartan also tendered a proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Air Commerce to provide its inspectors with a two-seat light aircraft.[5] The design in question was probably the C2-60,[5] but in any case, the tender was not accepted.[5]

Variants

  • C2-60 — initial production version with 55–60 hp (41–45 kW) Jacobs L-3 engine (16 built)[1][2]
  • C2-165 — trainer with 165 hp (123 kW) Wright J-5 engine and hood for instrument training for Spartan School of Aeronautics (2 built)[1]

Operators

  • Spartan School of Aeronautics (2 × C2-165)

Aircraft on display

Three C2s are preserved in museums — a restored example on display at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum,[6] a restored and flyable example at the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon, and an example awaiting restoration at the Golden Wings Flying Museum, Blaine, Minnesota.[7]

Specifications (C2-60)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931,[8] Aerofiles: Spartan[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Capacity: 1 pax
  • Length: 22 ft 5.25 in (6.8390 m)
  • Wingspan: 40 ft (12 m)
  • Height: 6 ft 11.5 in (2.121 m)
  • Wing area: 161.8 sq ft (15.03 m2)
  • Airfoil: Clark Y
  • Empty weight: 684 lb (310 kg)
  • Gross weight: 1,125 lb (510 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: Fuel:15 US gal (12 imp gal; 57 L); Oil:1.5 US gal (1.2 imp gal; 5.7 L)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Jacobs L-3 3-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 60 hp (45 kW)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed metal propeller

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 95 mph (153 km/h, 83 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 80 mph (130 km/h, 70 kn) </li.
  • Landing speed: 39 mph (34 kn; 63 km/h)
  • Range: 320 mi (510 km, 280 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (4,000 m) service
  • Rate of climb: 800 ft/min (4.1 m/s) initial
  • Wing loading: 6.96 lb/sq ft (34.0 kg/m2)
  • Power/mass: 18.756 lb/hp (11.409 kg/kW)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spartan C2.
Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "C2-60, -165", Aerofiles
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, p.2955
  3. ↑ Taylor 1989, p.835
  4. 1 2 "Spartan's Aircraft Manufacturing History"
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The Spartan Aircraft Company"
  6. ↑ "Exhibits", Tulsa Air and Space Museum
  7. ↑ "Aircraft", Golden Wings Flying Museum
  8. ↑ Grey, C.G., ed. (1931). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p. 316c.
Bibliography
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