The General Aircraft G1-80 Skyfarer was a 1940s

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two-seat cabin

monoplane 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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

aircraft built by the General Aircraft Corporation of

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Development

The General Aircraft Corporation was established to build an aircraft designed by Doctor

Otto C. Koppen Otto C. Koppen (1901 – 1991) was an American aircraft engineer. Early life Otto Koppen graduated with a Bachelor of Science from MIT in 1924. MIT Koppen was the professor emeritus of aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts In ...

from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. The aircraft was the G1-80 Skyfarer, a two-seat cabin high-wing braced monoplane with a light alloy basic structure and a mixed steel tube and fabric covering. It had an unusual tail unit, a cantilever tailplane with the elevator mounted on the upper surface of the tail with aluminum endplate fins and no movable rudders. It was powered by a 75 hp (56 kW) Avco Lycoming GO-145-C2 geared air-cooled four-cylinder engine. The aircraft incorporated aerodynamic control principles covered by patents issued to Fred Weick, an early aeronautical engineer who went on to design and market the Ercoupe. Since it had no

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 ...

s (or rudder pedals), it was simpler to fly (it had a single control wheel, which controlled the

aileron 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 aroun ...

s and elevator), and was considered spin-proof. The aircraft was certified in 1941 with a placard that stated that the aircraft was characteristically incapable of spinning. It was claimed that an average person could learn to fly the Skyfarer in about an hour. It was anticipated that many aircraft would be ordered and built, but the United States became involved in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the Skyfarer program was abandoned after either 17 or 18 examples had been built. At one point, a company called Tennessee Aircraft planned on manufacturing the airplane. However, the rights and tooling passed to Grand Rapids Industries, who built two aircraft before stopping production. The company became a manufacturer of the

Waco CG-4A The Waco CG-4 was the most widely used American troop/cargo military glider of World War II. It was designated the CG-4A by the United States Army Air Forces, and given the service name Hadrian (after the Roman emperor) by the British. The ...

troop glider.

Operational history

The prototype was built in 1937 in a stable behind the General Aircraft Company president's house. In October 1944, a Skyfarer was used by Alverna Babbs, the first legless pilot to be granted a student pilot's permit, to complete her first solo flight at

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Variants

L.W. DuVon and Dr. David O. Kime of Western Union College convinced the type holder Grand Rapids Industries, to give the equipment, tools and one of the finished planes to the college. They then found local investors who formed Mars Corporation in 1945. The aircraft was later licensed as the Mars M1-80 Skycoupe with a 100 hp engine. One example was built and production plans were estimated to be as high as 75 planes in its first year. The glut of aircraft produced after the war left little market for the aircraft. The facility to manufacture the aircraft was sold by 1946. The aircraft, NC29030, resides in the

Plymouth County, Iowa Plymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,698. The county seat is Le Mars. Plymouth County was named after Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth County is part of the Sioux City, ...

Historical Museum.

Specifications (G1-80 Skyfarer)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing *

External links

{{commons category, General Skyfarer
''No Spin Plane Easy For Auto Drivers To Fly'', October 1941
early article on Skyfarer

''Dan Shumaker Collection'' 1940s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft General Aircraft Corporation aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1940 Twin-tail aircraft Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft