The Timm Aircoach, also called the Timm Coach and the Golden Shell Special, was a custom-built, high-capacity, high altitude aircraft for charter flights.

Design and development

The Aircoach was built in a shop at

Glendale Airport Glendale Regional Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located west of the central business district of Glendale, a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for ...

, where Otto and Wally Timm had a shop. Al Menasco had a shop nearby where he modified engines. The Aircoach used a Menaso modified Salmson engine. The Aircoach was a single engine,

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 with an open cockpit for two pilots and enclosed passenger cabin. The

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 ...

was made of welded steel tubing with

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 ...

covering.

Operational history

Roscoe Turner Roscoe Turner (September 29, 1895 – June 23, 1970) was a record-breaking American aviator who was a three-time winner of the Thompson Trophy air race and widely recognized by his flamboyant style and his pet, Gilmore the lion, Gilmore the L ...

flew the underpowered Shell Special ''Golden Shell'' twice, attempting endurance records. Each flight resulted in damage and the efforts were abandoned.

Specifications (Aircoach)

References

{{Reflist Biplanes

Aircoach First Bus Ireland Limited trading as Aircoach is an Ireland-based subsidiary company of FirstGroup. It provides airport express coach services from Cork, Belfast, Derry, Southside Dublin and Dublin to Dublin Airport and from Derry to Belfast ...