The St. Louis C2 Cardinal family are a series of light sport

monoplanes A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

built by the St. Louis Aircraft Corporation during the peak of the Lindbergh Boom after the

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...

flight of 1927.

Design and development

The Cardinal shares close proportions with the Monocoupe Model 22 also designed and built in St. Louis in 1927. The Cardinal is a two seat high wing conventional geared aircraft with

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

seating. The fuselage is constructed with welded steel tubing. The spar is made of spruce and ribs are basswood with aircraft fabric covering. The ailerons are controlled by push-pull tubes. The aircraft were delivered with progressively more powerful engines, the LeBlond 5DE, and

Kinner K-5 The Kinner K-5 was a popular engine for light general and sport aircraft developed by Winfield B. 'Bert' Kinner. With the boom in civilian aviation after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight the K-5 sold well. The K-5 was a rough running but ...

, and one with a Warner engine.

Operational history

The prototype was presented at the 1929 Detroit Air Show.

Variants

;C2-60 Cardinal :1929 - LeBlond 5D - 10 built ;C2-65 Standard Cardinal :1929 - Modified C2-60

1111 Year 1111 (Roman numerals, MCXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Levant * Battle of Shaizar: Sultan Muhammad I Tapar, Muhammad I (Tapar) appoints Mawdud ...

- LeBlond 5DE ;C2-85 Cardinal :1930 - LeBlond 5DF - 1 built C559N ;C2-90 Senior Cardinal :1929 - LeBlond 7D - 6 built, with 1 converted from a C2-60. ;C2-100 Super Cardinal :1929 -

Warner Scarab The Warner Scarab is an American seven-cylinder radial aircraft engine, that was manufactured by the Warner Aircraft Corporation of Detroit, Michigan in 1928 through to the early 1940s. In military service the engine was designated R-420. Vari ...

- 1 conversion 12319for factory tests. ;C2-100 Special :1 converted from a C2-110 ;C2-110 Super Cardinal :1929 -

- 5 built with one converted from a C2-60

Surviving aircraft

* 103 – C2 airworthy at the

Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) is located in Hood River, Oregon, United States, adjacent to the Ken Jernstedt Memorial Airport. WAAAM is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to the preservation of, and educatio ...

Hood River, Oregon The city of Hood River is the seat of Hood River County, Oregon, United States. It is a port on the Columbia River, and is named for the nearby Hood River. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 8,313. It is the only city in Oregon whe ...

. * C-106 – C2-110 airworthy at the

Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum The Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum, located at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, United States, is dedicated to restoring and preserving historical aircraft. The airplanes in the collection are all fabric-covered, and most ...

Maryland Heights, Missouri Maryland Heights is a second-ring north suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 27,472 at the 2010 census. The city was incorporated in 1985. Edwin L. Dirck was appointed the city's first ma ...

Specifications (St. Louis C2-110 Super Cardinal)

References

{{reflist

External links

Aircraft Sa-Si
1920s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft