The Commercial C-1 Sunbeam was a long-range

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 ...

used in record-setting flights of the 1920s.

Design

The

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 ...

-equipped biplane featured a two-seat open cockpit and a four-passenger enclosed cabin. The fuselage is constructed with welded steel tubing with fabric covering. The wheels were covered with large streamlined wheel pants.

Operational history

On 27 November 1929

Elinor Smith Elinor Smith (August 17, 1911 – March 19, 2010) was a pioneering American aviator,Phyllis R. MosesThe Amazing Aviatrix Elinor Smith ''Woman Pilot'', March 30, 2008. Accessed online December 15, 2008. once known as "The Flying Flapper of Free ...

and

Bobbie Trout Evelyn "Bobbi" Trout (January 7, 1906 – January 24, 2003) was an early American aviator and endurance flying record holder. Trout began her aviation career at the age of 16; however, her first solo flight and solo certificate was not until April ...

set a 42-hour endurance record over Los Angeles flying a C-1 Sunbeam refueled three times from a

Curtiss Carrier Pigeon The Curtiss Carrier Pigeon was an American mail plane of the 1920s. A single-engined biplane designed and built to replace World War I surplus aircraft such as the DH-4, the Carrier Pigeon was one of the first aircraft designed specifically for ...

mail plane. Although the Sunbeam was performing well, the Carrier Pigeon support plane had mechanical difficulties after the third day. 672 gallons of fuel were used in the attempt, making Smith and Trout the first women to refuel in the air.

Variants

;Commercial Sunbeam C-102 :X-564M used a

Wright J-6 The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to incl ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating engine, reciprocating type internal combustion engine, internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinder (engine), cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. ...

for the endurance flights of 1929 and 1931.

Specifications (Commercial C-1 Sunbeam)

References

{{reflist 1920s United States experimental aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear