Page 23 - Volume 12 Number 2

controls. Unfortunately, it was immediately apparent that the war-surplus OX-5s were completely inadequate, and after a few flights the ship languished in storage until May 1922 when Laird decided to replace the two Curtiss engines with one 12-cylinder Liberty engine rated at 450 horsepower. That engine, however, was never delivered. Disappointed but determined to re- engine the Limousine, Laird turned to his good friend in Chicago, Charles Dickenson, who agreed to sell him a 12-cylinder Packard 905 rated at 250 horsepower.
Laird had a host of improvements in mind for the cabin ship that included changing the wings to a single-bay design to reduce weight, streamlined interplane and cabane struts to reduce drag, and a new empennage featuring a vertical stabilizer instead of the three used on the original airplane. In addition, two large water cooling radiators were mounted on either side of the fuselage below the cockpit to keep the Packard from overheating.
Laird put Lloyd C. Stearman in charge of the rebuilding project but kept a watchful eye on the proceedings. Work began in August 1921 and completed early in 1922. The reborn Limousine flew in February with Walter Beech at the stick. As flight testing progressed Walter noted problems with cooling the big Packard, which gulped enormous amounts fuel and limited flight time. Trouble with the engine persisted. Finally, in 1923 Laird had the Packard removed and installed a 400-horsepower, 12-cylinder Liberty engine in its place. That powerplant was plagued with failures and only a few brief flights were made by Beech that ended with forced landings.
Unsure of what to do next, Irl telephoned Jake and asked for instructions. Moellendick’s answer was succinct: “Burn it!” The column of smoke rising above the Kansas countryside marked not only the Limousine’s final resting place, but a fitting epitaph for Jake’s dream of creating an airline.
Wichita’s next enclosed cabin airplane was the Travel Air Model CH that could accommodate four passengers in a cramped cabin forward of the open cockpit. Built in 1926, the biplane featured a 180-horsepoer Wright/ Hispano Suiza V-8 engine turning a Hamilton Standard fixed-pitch, twisted steel propeller. The first airplane was built for the Gerbracht Aeronautic Corporation in Iowa. Travel Air built one additional Model CW biplane in 1926 that saw service in Alaska. A redesigned version designated the Type 7000 was built in 1928.
A pre-production prototype of Travel Air’s Type 5000 enclosed cabin monoplane arrived on the scene in 1926. It was based largely on a private venture design by Clyde V. Cessna that first flew in June of that year. It was powered by an Anzani 10-cylinder static, air-cooled radial engine that produced 110 horsepower. The five- place cabin could be converted in minutes to an air ambulance configuration, and when Walter Beech flew the ship he was impressed by its overall performance.
In the wake of that flight, Travel Air engineers embarked on a design that would become the Type 5000 aimed at small regional airlines. The prototype flew for the first time in December 1926 with Clarence Clark at the controls. Kansas City, Missouri-based National Air Transport ordered eight of the Type 5000 for service on short-haul routes in the Midwestern United States.1
By 1928, Walter Beech had become acting president of the Travel Air Manufacturing Company after the departure of Lloyd Stearman and Clyde Cessna to establish their own companies. Eventually Beech was formally elected president by the company’s board of directors. One of his first initiatives was to conduct an extensive market survey to determine if air-minded businessmen would buy a modern, enclosed cabin monoplane for exclusive use as a business aircraft. Walter knew that the Type 5000 was a resounding success for National Air Transport, and he believed that the time had come to design and build a larger, more powerful cabin ship specifically for executive transportation.
To test the market’s waters, Beech intentionally leaked information about the proposed aircraft to the local press, stating only that the company planned to develop a “sedan model.” The businessman that flew was a new market for the fledgling small airplane industry, and Beech sensed an opportunity. He was not the first to do so. Other men, such as Giuseppe Bellanca, had realized the potential of selling airplanes with enclosed cabins. In 1922 he introduced the Anzani-powered Bellanca C.F. that was among the earliest attempts in America to build an enclosed cabin monoplane.
In an effort to determine if there was sufficient interest in such an airplane for executives, Travel Air mailed hundreds of market surveys to companies and their
In 1925 Travel Air engineer Lloyd C. Stearman designed the Model BH cabin biplane powered by a 180-horsepower Wright-Hispano V-type engine. Four passengers could be accommodated in the cabin forward of the open cockpit. Featuring a wingspan of 42 feet, the Model BH was a large airplane and performed well, but only one was built. It was used by the Gerbracht Aeronautic Corporation. S-200 and Pegasus were not official designations used by Wichita’s Travel Air Manufacturing Company. (EDWARD H. PHILLIPS COLLECTION)
After two years of time and money expended in an attempt to make the Limousine into an airliner, Moellendick’s patience ran out. He ordered the biplane flown to Arkansas City, Kansas, where it would be placed in storage to await its fate. A local pilot named Irl Beach (no relation to Walter Beech) was hired to make the short flight. Soon after takeoff, the engine rebelled and Beach was forced to land the Limousine in a field near the campus of Fairmount College.
FEBRUARY 2018
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 21