Hess Blue Bird
Blue Bird | |
---|---|
Role | Light commercial aircraft |
National origin | USA |
Manufacturer | Hess Aircraft Co. |
First flight | 1926 |
Number built | c.19 |
The Hess H-2 Blue Bird was a small US transport biplane, built in the 1920s and carrying two or four passengers according to engine power.
Design and development
The Blue Bird was one of many US 1920s small passenger or mail aircraft offered with a range of readily available World War I engines. The earliest example appeared in mid-1925, with the type description H-1 and named the Wynadotte after its home town. A three-seater powered a 90 hp (67 kW) Curtiss OX-5 V-8, it was used to refine the design into the H-2 production machine. This flew near the end of the year.[1][2]
The H-2 was a single
Its OX-5 engine was closely cowled around the two cylinder banks and was gravity fed from a 30 US gal (25 imp gal; 110 L) fuel tank in the upper wing centre section. The
The fixed landing gear was also conventional, with wheels on split axles mounted below the fuselage centre-line, their outer ends on telescopic shock absorber legs and trailing drag struts from the lower longerons. Both were enclosed in balsa-fairings. Its metal tube tailskid was rubber-sprung.[2][3]
From the start the engines mountings had been designed to accept other engines, specifically either the Wright-Martin E, a 180 hp (130 kW)
Operational history
The histories of only a few of the approximately 18 production Blue Birds are known. A Hispano-engined example took part in the annual
Specifications (OX-5 engine)
Data from Aviation Week, 1927[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Capacity: two passengers
- Length: 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
- Upper wingspan: 33 ft 4 in (10.16 m)
- Lower wingspan: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
- Height: 9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)
- Wing area: 300 sq ft (28 m2) total
- Clark Y
- Empty weight: 1,275 lb (578 kg)
- Gross weight: 2,050 lb (930 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 30 US gal (25 imp gal; 110 L)
- Powerplant: 1 × V-8, 90 hp (67 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 95 mph (153 km/h, 83 kn)
- Stall speed: 42 mph (68 km/h, 36 kn) minimum flying speed
- Range: 340 mi (550 km, 300 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (4,000 m)
- Rate of climb: 400 ft/min (2.0 m/s) initial
References
- ^ "Aerofiles". Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "The Hess Blue Bird". Aviation Week. XXII (1): 680. 31 January 1927.
- ^ a b c d "The Blue Bird". Aero Digest. 10 (2): 136. February 1927.
- ^ a b c d Wesley R. Smith (20 July 2014). "The Alliance Argo A-1". Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ "Hess advert". Aero Digest. 10 (1): 136. January 1927.
- ^ a b "Progress of Distance Flights". Aero Digest. 11 (6): 136. December 1927.
- ^ "Images of 1926 Ford Reliability Tour contestants". Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ "The 1927 National Air Tour". Aero Digest. 11 (1): 900. July 1927.