The Towle WC, or Towle TA-1, was a custom built aircraft for a 1929 round-the world flight.

Design and development

Thomas Towle was an engineer who had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman-E2 Sea Rover, Towle was commissioned by Henry McCarroll to promote Detroit's aviation production capabilities. The WC was a

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

with an aluminum hull. The strut braced

parasol wing 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 confi ...

was fabric covered.

Operational history

The prototype WC flew as far as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

before engine reliability issues forced the cancellation of the round-the-world flight attempt.

Variants

* Towle TA-2 Was built as a successor to the WC model

Specifications (Towle WC)

References

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