The Aeronca K series, Aeronca Chief, Aeronca Super Chief, Aeronca Tandem, Aeronca Scout, Aeronca Sea Scout, Aeronca Champion and Aeronca Defender were a family of American high-winged light touring aircraft, designed and built starting in the late 1930s by Aeronca Aircraft.
Design and development
Aeronca was noted for producing light side-by-side two-seat touring aircraft since the introduction of the Aeronca C-2 in 1929. A more refined aircraft with an improved undercarriage and steel tube wing bracing struts in place of wires, was developed in 1937 as the Aeronca K, powered by a Aeronca E-113 engine, beginning the long line of Aeronca high wing touring, training, military liaison and observation aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. The K series was powered by a variety of to Aeronca, Continental, Franklin or Menasco engines. Consumer demand for more comfort, longer range and better instrumentation resulted in development of the Aeronca 50 Chief in 1938. Although little more than an incremental development of the K series the Model 50 heralded a new designation system used for the high-winged tourers, including the manufacturer and power rating of the engine, dropping the letter designation system. Thus the Aeronca 65CA Super Chief' was powered by a Continental A-65 with side-by-side seating and improvements over the 65C Super Chief. Other developments included tandem seating for use as trainer, liaison, observation aircraft or glider trainers as well as float-plane versions. Throughout the production life of the Aeronca Chief family the aircraft was improved incrementally, from a rather basic specification to a reasonably comfortable tourer with car-style interior.
Description
The Aeronca high-wing formula used a welded steel tube fuselage covered with fabric, wooden wings covered with plywood and fabric braced by V-struts to the rear undercarriage attachment point on the lower fuselage. Tail surfaces were also built up with welded steel tubing covered with fabric. The fixed tail-wheel undercarriage, sprung with oleo struts and faired triangular side members hinged at the fuselage. A small tail-wheel on a spring steel leaf at the extreme rear of the fuselage completed the under-carriage. The engine is fitted conventionally in the nose and was either semi-cowled or fully cowled using sheet aluminium alloy, depending on model. Some civilian models had side-by-side seating in a well-glazed cabin under the wing centre-section, with entry through car style doors either side. A tandem seating arrangement was developed for training and military models with the rear seat mounted inches higher than the front to allow the instructor to use the same instruments as the trainee and improve forward view from the back seat. Tandem seat aircraft had extensively glazed cockpits to allow good all-round visibility. A wide variety of engines were available for use on the Aeronca Chief series, including home grown Aeronca engines and Continental, Franklin, Menasco or Lycoming engines. The engine installed was reflected in the designation using the initial letter as a suffix in the designation. Aeronca continued development during World War II, introducing the tandem seating Aeronca 7 Champion, taking advantage of the refinements developed with previous versions. The Champion is often regarded as a completely new design, but the influence of the Chief and Tandem is readily apparent. A side-by-side version was also introduced in 1945 as the Aeronca 11 Chief. Military versions of the Aeronca 7 series were operated by the USAF as the Aeronca L-16.
Operational history
Civilian aircraft proved popular as touring aircraft and as trainers. Military aircraft found employment as trainer, liaison, observation aircraft primarily with the USAAF.
