The Hockaday Comet was a two-seat light civil aircraft, built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

before

World War II 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 ...

but not flown until near the war's end. It failed to attract buyers and only one was completed.

Design

The design of the Hockaday Comet, led by H.W. Yarick, began in October 1939 when the Hockaday Aircraft Corporation was founded. It followed the classic single engine, high braced

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 ...

layout pioneered for small cabin aircraft in the early 1930s by, for example, the

Taylor Cub The Taylor Cub was originally designed by C. Gilbert Taylor as a small, light and simple utility aircraft, evolved from the Taylor Chummy. It is the forefather of the popular Piper J-3 Cub, and total production of the Cub series was 23,512 a ...

. It was substantially complete by May 1939, powered by a Allied Monsoon engine. This was a licence-built

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Régnier L.4 four-cylinder, air-cooled inverted inline unit. However, work on the Comet was halted in 1940 when the company were preoccupied with sub-contract work for others. In spring 1944 work resumed and it made its first flight in June. It had a one-piece wing of rectangular plan out to semi-elliptical tips and built around two

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'' ...

spars and

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

s. There was no dihedral. The

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

was ply covered, with

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

elsewhere. The centre-section was joined to the upper

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 ...

frame by internal, vertical struts and the wing braced on each side with a parallel pair of streamlined steel tubes between the wing spars and the lower fuselage frame. Its short, broad

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 were metal framed, fabric covered apart from

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...

leading edges and externally mass-balanced. The Comet's fuselage had a welded steel tube structure, with a light wooden-framed upper section aft of the cabin. Apart from the engine housing, the fuselage was fabric covered. It was advertised with a choice of two

flat-six engine A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed c ...

s, a

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

or a

Continental C125 The Continental C115, C125 and C140 aircraft engines were manufactured by Teledyne Continental Motors, Continental Motors in the 1940s, all sharing the US military designation O-280. These engines feature a flat-6 configuration and produce 115&n ...

. Both drove a two-bladed

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

. Electric generator and starter were provided. Fuel and oil tanks were in the enclosed cabin, which had two side-by-side seats, with a large transparency in the wing centre section above them and accessed via a door on each side. The cabin was equipped with dual controls, radio and blind-flying instrumentation. Behind the seats there was of luggage space in which loads of up to could be accommodated. The

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 ...

had a steel tube structure and was fabric covered, with wire bracing between 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 ...

, the in-flight adjustable

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 the lower fuselage. The fin and tailplane were broadly straight-edged, carrying curved

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 and

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 latter extended to the keel and worked in a cut-out between the elevators. The Comet's

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 ...

was of the fixed, tailwheel type, with

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

oleo strut An oleo strut is a pneumatic air–oil hydraulic shock absorber used on the landing gear of most large aircraft and many smaller ones. This design cushions the impacts of landing and damps out vertical oscillations. It is undesirable for an air ...

legs from the lower fuselage frame providing a track of . Legs and wheels were enclosed in generous fairings. Its tailwhel, mounted on a long, vertical, sprung leg, was steerable from the rudder bar via a link from an external extension of the rudder hinge. Despite intensive advertising, for example in

Flying magazine ''Flying'', sometimes styled ''FLYING'', is an aviation magazine published since 1927 and called ''Popular Aviation'' prior to 1942, as well as ''Aeronautics'' for a brief period. It is read by pilots, aircraft owners, aviation enthusiasts and ...

, the Comet failed to attract buyers in the post-

market and only the prototype was built.

Specifications

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1948, last= Bridgman , first= Leonard , year=1948, publisher=Sampson, Low, Marston and Co. Ltd, location= London, page=270c {{cite journal , last=Frachet , first=André , date=25 May 1939, title=L'avion de tourisme Hockaday "Comet", journal=Les Ailes, issue=936 , pages=9, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65546960/f9 {{cite journal , date=December 1946, title= advert, journal=Flying , pages=80, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JFK-H9IULqMC&q=Hockaday+Comet&pg=PA80 1940s United States civil utility aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944