The Hurlburt Hurricane, also known as the Camburn Special, is a midget-class racing plane designed in the mid 1940s by aviators

Marge Hurlburt Marge Hurlburt (December 30, 1914 – July 4, 1947) was an American aviator who flew with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II and set a women's international air speed record in 1947. Biography Margaret M. "Marge" Hurlbu ...

, Anna Logan, and Duke Caldwell, all former members of the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

(WASP). When WASP was disbanded after

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 ...

, former WASP aviator

took up

air racing Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a pre ...

, becoming interested in a new midget class of racing airplanes that had first been proposed before the war: these would be smaller, lighter, and cheaper to build than those then in use and thus suitable for civilian pilots and homebuilders to build and fly. Together with fellow WASP aviators Anna Logan and Duke Caldwell, she formed a consortium to design and build such a plane, which required a stock engine, fixed pitched propeller, and non-retractable

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 ...

. Known ultimately as the "Hurlburt Hurricane", their design was powered by an

Continental C85 The Continental O-190 (Company designations C75 and C85) is a series of engines made by Continental Motors beginning in the 1940s. Of flat-four configuration, the engines produced 75 hp (56 kW) or 85 hp (63 kW) respectively ...

engine. It was sponsored by the

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, recreati ...

, Continental Motors, and Kendall Motor Oil. The trio moved to Michigan, where the plane was being built, to supervise and to put on the plane's covering themselves. Its registration number was NX1223, with the 'X' designating it as an

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or '' testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

. Given entry number 85 in the 1947 Goodyear Trophy Race, a course for midget racers, the trio hoped for Hurlburt to pilot the plane, but she was killed prior to the race when her aircraft crashed at an air show in Iowa. Neither of the other members of the trio was ultimately able to take over because the race remained restricted to male pilots. The Hurlburt Hurricane thus flew with Joe Smith as pilot and was eliminated in the heats. A group of pilots and aviation enthusiasts has formed to make the Hurlburt Hurricane airworthy again. Peanut-scale models of the Hurlburt Hurricane have been built from plans drawn by Dave Livesay.

References

External links

Hip Pocket Aeronautics Builders' Plan Gallery
— Downloadable plans for scale-model Hurlburt Hurricane (membership required) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurlburt Hurricane Racing aircraft 1940s United States experimental aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Mid-wing aircraft