The California Coupe, also called the Royer & Montijo California Coupe, was an early cabin

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 ...

built in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It was built in part using parts from a crashed Dayton-Wright OW.1, the last aircraft designed by one of the Wright Brothers. The California Coupe flew in early 1924, but the next year it was damaged in a failed stunt on a movie set. Montijo and Royer were not recompensed, so the company folded and the designed was not developed further.

Design and development

In 1923 John G. Montijo collaborated with Lloyd Royer on a four-passenger aircraft, the California Coupe, that would become the first cabin biplane on the United States west coast. Montijo's design closely matched the Dayton-Wright OW.1 Aerial Coupe that he had recently purchased from the Rinehart-Whelan Company in Ohio. The OW.1 had crashed in an air race in 1924, and Montijo purchased the wreck and used parts from it in the new design. The new aircraft was originally ordered on request of wealthy Dodge dealer C.E. Bellows with the intent on using a

Liberty engine The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 engine, displacing and making , designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It was designed principally as an aircraft engine and saw wide use in aero applicat ...

for power. While the California Coupe was under construction in the Kinner hangars, a client named Doc Young contracted Kinner to build a version for himself. The competing design, the Kinner Argonaut was built at the same time, with the goal to be completed before the California Coupe, with its first flight on 25 May 1924. The California Coupe was an enclosed biplane with

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

, fabric covered wings and very tall and narrow undercarriage that was built in a hangar rented from aircraft maker and engine producer

Bert Kinner Winfield Bertrum "Bert" Kinner (December 16, 1882 – July 4, 1957) was an American aircraft engine designer and designer of the first folding wing aircraft. Kinner founded Kinner Airplane & Motor Corporation in Glendale, California, which p ...

at Kinner Field. The Coupe, powered by a Wright-Hisso V-8 engine, was constructed using Haskelite bonded plywood and had a fuelheader tank in the upper mainplane, fed by a wind driven pump from a main fuel tank under the cabin.

Operational history

A novelty in the early 1920s was to get married in an aircraft. The California Coupe was used in an aerial wedding with its designer Montijo as the best man. During a 1925 filming of "

Partners Again ''Partners Again'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film that was produced by Samuel Goldwyn, released through United Artists, and directed by Henry King. This ethnic Jewish humor film is based on the 1922 Broadway play ''Partners Again'' star ...

" one of the 'Potash and Perlmutter' series of films at Clover Field in Santa Monica, a vehicle performing a stunt ran headlong into the California Coupe ripping off the main gear and one wing, sending it into a brick wall.

Aftermath

Montijo and Royer sued the film production company without success, so the California company was dissolved after the total loss of its major asset without compensation. Royer worked as a mechanic to pay off the rent owed to Kinner.

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

, a close friend and employer of Royer, wrote to Royer asking him to keep some of the proceeds of the sale of her truck business after all the trouble he had with his aircraft venture. Kinner later loaned Royer $350 in 1927 to start his new aircraft production business building the Waterhouse and Royer Cruisair, which also did not go into production, but the plans were sold and used as the basis of the

Ryan M-1 The Ryan M-1 was a mail plane produced in the United States in the 1920s, the first original design built by Ryan Aeronautical, Ryan.Taylor 1989, p. 774. It was a conventional gear parasol-wing monoplane with two open cockpits in tandem and fixed ...

. Montijo would go on to start another collaborative aircraft, the 1928 Warren & Montijo Monoplane.

Specifications (California Coupe)

References

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External links