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The Spartan Aircraft Company was an American
aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
manufacturing company, headquartered on Sheridan Avenue near the Tulsa Municipal Airport in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. Previously known as Mid-Continent Aircraft Company, the company had been reorganized under the Spartan name in 1928 by oil baron William G. Skelly—and operated until 1961, manufacturing aircraft, aircraft components, and recreational vehicle trailers. The company was known for the luxurious
Spartan Executive The Spartan 7W Executive is a cabin monoplane aircraft that was produced by the Spartan Aircraft Company during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The 7W features an all-metal fuselage, as well as a retractable undercarriage. The 7W Executive was ...
aircraft produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pion ...
acquired the company from Skelly in 1935. After World War II, Getty ended aircraft production and converted the company to manufacturing trailers under the Spartan Manor brand—subsequently ending all production in 1961.Tolman, Keith. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Spartan Aircraft Company".


History


Early history

Successful oilman William G. Skelly purchased the struggling Mid-Continent Aircraft Manufacturing Company of Tulsa in January, 1928. He renamed the company Spartan Aircraft Company, reorganized it financially and began the Spartan School of Aeronautics. Skelly continued to support the venture during the early years of the Great Depression, while it began producing a line of airplanes. The economic depression strained Skelly's personal finances, and in 1935,
J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pion ...
purchased a controlling interest in the company from Skelly. At the beginning of World War II, Getty assumed direct control of the company operations. He expanded manufacturing by making sub-assemblies for warplanes and opened branches of the Spartan School of Aeronautics in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Muskogee and
Ponca City, Oklahoma Ponca City () is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 24,424 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 25,387 at the tim ...
.


Early aircraft

The first aircraft produced by the Spartan Aircraft Company was the
Spartan C3 The Spartan C3 is an American three-seat open-cockpit utility biplane from the late 1920s. Design The C3s fuselage and wing struts were built up from welded 41xx steel, chromium-molybdenum alloy steel tubes, faired with wood battens. It had ...
open-
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
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 1926 (first flight 25 October 1926), the C3-1 was the first of a series of variants of the design for
flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to aviator, pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted un ...
s, sportsman
aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...
s, and Fixed-Base Operators (FBO). The Spartan C3-225 was the last early biplane design produced by the company. At least 160 C-3 aircraft were built, using various engines. 1930 saw the production of Spartan's first
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 ...
design, the Spartan C2-60. Designed for the sportsman flier, the C2-60 was a lightweight design with a small 60 h.p.
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
. Using many of C2-60's characteristics, Spartan produced the heavier, more powerful C2-165 low-wing monoplane. Unpopular with the military due to the view-obstructing low-wing design, the C2-165 was primarily used for civilian training purposes. Improvements in Spartan's manufacturing and technology was evident in the 1930 Spartan C4. The C4 was a high-wing monoplane designed for low-maintenance and high-comfort. The Spartan C4 was designed to accommodate large engines of 230 h.p. and more.


Spartan Executive 7W

The Spartan Executive Model 7W was a result of founder William Skelly's vision for an aircraft designed to accommodate the luxury and performance expected by wealthy people. Powered by a 450 h.p. Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. engine, the Executive was Spartan's first attempt at an all-metal aircraft design using
monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...
technology. The large engine and
aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
airframe allowed for a then-remarkable an hour cruise speed, a range of over and a service ceiling. Thirty four 7W aircraft were produced. Based directly on the high-performance design of the civilian Spartan 7W, a version of the aircraft was developed to meet military needs for high-performance reconnaissance and training aircraft. The re-designed model was named the Spartan Zeus 8W and featured a powerful
Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled, radial piston engines developed in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentschler, who had previ ...
600 h.p. engine.


End of aircraft manufacturing

The last aircraft to be developed by the Spartan Aircraft Company was the Spartan NP-1 biplane. The NP-1 was a throwback to earlier aircraft in appearance, though the technology used in the aircraft's construction was certainly more advanced than the wire and fabric used in Spartan's early biplane designs. Built as a
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
trainer, the Spartan NP-1 featured a lightweight open-cockpit construction with a Lycoming R-680-B4C 225 h.p. engine.


Trailercoaches

After the ebb of personal aviation and the increased competition in the aircraft business following
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 ...
, owner
J. Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pion ...
and Spartan upper-management redirected production to focus on the demand for housing and leisure. Using the same internally braced and space-saving monocoque design of the Spartan Executive 7W, the company produced its first all-metal
travel trailer A caravan, travel trailer, camper, tourer or camper trailer is a Trailer (vehicle), trailer towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent (although there are popup camper, fold-down ...
. The company followed previous design strategies, offering lavish and full-featured trailers. Through the 1940s and 1950s, Spartan produced what some referred to as the "
Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...
" of trailers, commanding prices higher than $4000. Spartan produced over 40,000 trailer homes before ending production in 1961. Given an average home cost in the United States at the time of $8000, Spartan trailers were a discretionary purchase for the wealthy.Tulsa Gal Website: "Spartan Aircraft - Trailercoaches" November 10, 2010. Accessed June 21, 201

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Factories close

After 33 years of manufacturing aircraft and trailers, the Spartan Aircraft Company closed its manufacturing facilities and entered the
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
and
financial Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
business under the name Minnehoma Insurance Co. The Spartan name was sold to the Spartan School of Aeronautics, which operates today under the name Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology. However, Pratt and Whitney R2000 aircraft engines continued to be overhauled under the nominated company the Spartan Aircraft Company as late as 1970 according to Department of Defense appropriations listings Department of Defense Appropriations for 1970: Hearings Volume 4, Part 2 Page 554


Aircraft


References

;Notes ;Bibliography *


External links


"The Spartan Story" by Chet Peek - With history of Bill Skelly, The Spartan School, and The Spartan Aircraft Co.
{{Authority control Aerospace companies of the United States Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Tulsa, Oklahoma Manufacturing companies established in 1928 1928 establishments in Oklahoma Portable buildings and shelters Recreational vehicles Defunct manufacturing companies based in Oklahoma