The correct answer is the Ercoupe. The ERCO Ercoupe is a low wing monoplane first manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (or ERCO) shortly before World War II. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing aircraft that aerospace engineering could provide at the time, and the type still enjoys a very faithful following today.
The correct answer was submitted by jeaton, skybolt2003, wayne baker, intruder38, sgtgarand, mhvink, ashley messenger, WWI fan, FlyingCoach2 and denniscermak. The current standings: jeaton, skybolt2003, wayne baker, intruder38, and sgtgarand are all tied for 1st win 2 out of 2 correct. Question #3 will post shortly, I am glad to see new participants!
Brian [C):-)]
Brian,
Another unique feature of the Ercoupe, it didn’t have rudder pedals! [:O]
Take care,
Frank
I’d really love to have the opportunity to fly one of these planes! And I REALLY wish they would release a 1:48 kit with decent detailing in/out (are you listening, Tamigawa, Acc Min? [:-^] )
Brian [C):-)]
When I was a kid, there was a show on TV for a very short time called (I think . …) SFO. It was right around the time the first “Airport” movie came out. (Not “Airplane.”) Anyhow, it was about all the stuff that went on at a major airport. I was especially excited about it, especially because my dad flew for Pan Am out of SFO. I remember a scene with a kid, disaffected somehow, hopped in an ercoupe and took it for a joyride. Only problem – he couldn’t fly. He had to be talked down, probably by George Kennedy from the control tower. Cheesey, right? But as a 7 year old, I thought that Ercoupe looked like one hot ship. It had the fighter looking canopy and everything. My dad explained to me its unique characteristics, spin-proof, no rudder pedals (the ailerons are interconnected by bungees to the rudder, plus a decent amount of dihedral.)
That was a cool show, wasn’t it? From what you describe. it sounds like flying an Ercoupe is akin to driving a car - I understand that the FAA had a special license category for the Ercoupe due to no rudder pedals to deal with…
Brian [C):-)]
The Ercoupe was a very advanced design, and was also one of the more efficient lightplanes, as it had a pretty good cruise speed for its horsepower. There was a mixer assembly under the floorboards that translated rotation of the control wheel into both aileron and rudder motion. The rudders only moved outward, not in, I think they were spring loaded inward, only one moved at a time. The ailerons had a very extreme differential. When the control wheel was rotated to the right, at first the left aileron would move down, and then as more rotation of the wheel was made, it would come back up to neutral. The aileron on the right wing kept moving up until it reached full travel. The control wheel also steered the nosewheel, and a lot of rotation was required to get full control travel.
The Ercoupe has always been a little less expensive to buy than other lightplanes, and was pretty cheap to maintain as well because of its simple, mostly metal construction. It is supposed the lower selling price is because it lacks that “hair on the chest” aura owned by more complex to fly airplanes, “extreme” examples being the Cessna 180, or Bret’s 195. (Hey, it happens, my old 180 was a real chick magnet for the right kind of girl!) I owned S/N 6 for some time but never flew it because it had corrosion in its lower main spar. I lost it when some kids burned the barn it was stored in. The first few had a different mixer assembly (mine may have been the last) which had a bolt which could be removed that separated the rudders from the ailerons, and brackets to attach rudder pedals to. This was done because when the first few were built the CAA had not yet approved a pilot certificate for people who had trained only in a 2 control airplane. There is an STC to modify the two control Ercoupes to 3 control, but the small rudders have little authority and the real secret is in the aileron differential anyway. There was a guy around local in the fifties who did aileron rolls (more accurately barrel rolls) with a 2 control Ercoupe. Another advanced feature of the Ercoupe was it’s airfoil, which was a NACA 23000 section as on the Cessna 140 and all of the Beech airplanes except the first Staggerwings right on through the King Air series, but it had a modified leading edge with a fixed “droop”, much like the Robertson STOL modification for many of the high wing Cessnas, and that along with the restricted up elevator travel is what keeps it from stalling. You don’t want to get too slow on approach with an Ercoupe, because the drag gets high at low speed and the little Continental just can’t power you on out of that situation unless you have sufficent altitude to trade back into airspeed.
It is great fun to motor around in the Ercoupe with the side windows slid down and your arm hanging over the side.
I don’t know about the special license, but they advertised it as if it were like driving a car - steer where you want to go. X-wind landing technique was I guess just land in a crab and let the tricycle gear sort it out. I know that some did have rudder pedals. How many companies actually produced them? ERCO, Alon, Forney, Mooney. The Mooney was called the M10 Cadet and had a single tail, typical Mooney (many people think the Mooney tail is swept backward, but it is really straight. ) Univair now owns the TC and provides parts. There is a nice little expample at my local airport. It looks exactly like the one from the TV show.
A fellow pilot friend of mines wife has one that she just loves. Hers has the rudder pedal conversion. The first time i flew one it was a hoot to say the least!!!