The Aerial Engineering Corporation Standard 6W-3 was a commercial transport modification of the US

Standard J-1 The Standard J is a two-seat basic trainer two-bay biplane produced in the United States from 1916 to 1918, powered by a four-cylinder inline Hall-Scott A-7a engine. It was constructed from wood with wire bracing and fabric covering. The J-1 ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

military trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

, with new wings, engine and accommodation for four passengers. First flown in 1925, it was built in small numbers.

Design and development

The Standard J-1 military trainer had been built in large numbers at the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. With many surplus after the war, it was a natural choice for adaptation by several manufacturers. Ariel Service, with the experienced designer Harvey Mummert who was an early collaborator with

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

, produced the Mercury Standard 6W-3 by combining a completely new wing with a Standard J

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

, modified to accommodate four passengers rather than a student and with a new and more powerful engine. The Standard 6W-3 was a single bay biplane with constant chord, straight-edged wings swept at 5° and with a more modern, thicker

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

than most of those used during WWI. Its upper wing was flat but the lower one had 1.5° of dihedral. There were

balanced In telecommunications and professional audio, a balanced line or balanced signal pair is an electrical circuit consisting of two conductors of the same type, both of which have equal impedances along their lengths, to ground, and to other c ...

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

on the upper wing. Both wings were wooden structures based on twin

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

box spars A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very ...

with the lower wing attached to the lower fuselage

longeron In engineering, a longeron or stringer is a load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural fram ...

s and the upper wing braced to it. without stagger, by a pair of vertical

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s on each side between the spars. The narrow centre section, where the chord was reduced to improve the pilot's upward field of view, was supported over the fuselage with pairs of N-form

cabane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s. Its modified Standard fuselage, with new

s and covering, now housed a six-cylinder, water-cooled inline Curtiss C-6 engine with a honeycomb

radiator A radiator is a heat exchanger used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

in front of it and a fuel tank in the upper wing. Immediately behind it a new, large, under-wing cockpit with seats for four passengers, two in aft-facing side-by-side seats and two more opposite them. The seats were easily replaceable, allowing the 6W-3 to act as a mailplane. The pilot was in a separate cockpit behind the passengers with a large fairing behind his head. The

was conventional, with a low

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

and generous

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s mounted on top of the fuselage. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

was triangular, with a rounded

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

. The 6W-3 had conventional, fixed, tailskid

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

with wheels on a single axle held by twin V-struts to the lower fuselage longerons. Rubber cord shock absorbers were fitted. The first flight was in 1925. Fewer than ten were built.

Specifications

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , last=Serryer , first=J. , date=25 February 1926, title=L'avion "Mercury" Standard 6W-3, journal=Les Ailes, issue=245 , pages=2–3, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9607225z/f2 {{cite web , url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_ma.html, title=Aircraft Ma to Mg, author=K.O. Eckland , date=2 May 2009 , publisher= , accessdate=22 May 2017 1920s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1925