Page 25 - Volume 12 Number 2

true Type 2000 or Type 4000 open-cockpit biplanes, but for the new cabin monoplanes. After consulting his marketing analyses, Beech concluded that the ratio of production open-cockpit to enclosed cabin ships would be about 60 percent in favor of biplane and 40 percent for monoplanes.
By 1929 it had become clear that Travel Airs with one wing and a comfortable cabin were the way of the future. By the end of 1929 the company had certificated the six-place Type 6000B (300-horsepower Wright J6-9 engine), the Type A6000B powered by a 420-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine, and the four-place Type 10B and 10D (Wright R-760 rated at 225 horsepower and J6-9, respectively). More than 150 “cabin jobs” had been delivered before the stock market collapse in October 1929 severely affected sales of new airplanes. By the end of 1930, production was down to a trickle and the factory closed its doors in 1931.
Meanwhile, across town at the Cessna Aircraft Company, Walter Beech’s friend and now competitor Clyde V. Cessna was enjoying initial success of the Model AA cabin monoplane, the first example of which was delivered to Edmund A. Link in February 1928. Cessna had been a strong proponent of the monoplane since 1911 when he attended an airshow in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Clyde watched famous European “bird men” Roland Garros, Rene’ Simon and American Charles Hamilton flying Bleriot monoplanes. Cessna was
particularly impressed by Garros’ 12-minute flight in his Bleriot as the pilot circled the crowds below while climbing the machine ever higher. Later in his career Cessna would remark that monoplanes were “worth more to see than any of the biplanes” that dominated early aerial exhibitions.
Clyde’s goal was to design, build and sell monoplanes featuring a full-cantilever wing with no supporting struts. It was not a new concept – Anthony Fokker had been building such airplanes for years and the new Lockheed Vega cabin monoplane of 1927, designed chiefly by Jack Northrop, was both handsome and fast. Cessna’s best-selling airplane was the Model AW. Certificated in September 1928, the four-place monoplane featured a seven-cylinder, 110-horsepower Warner Scarab static, air-cooled radial engine and a maximum speed of 128 mph. In terms of overall value for the dollar (standard- equipped price of $7,500), the Model AW offered pilots good performance and fuel economy without sacrificing useful load and payload.2
Clyde’s next step was to design a six-place cabin ship that would expand the company’s product line. In 1929 Cessna introduced the Model DC-6 (17 years before the Douglas DC-6) powered by a six-cylinder Curtiss Challenger radial engine rated at 170 horsepower. Grossly underpowered, only five were built before production changed to the superior Model DC-6A and DC-6B. Certified in September 1929, the DC-6A
FEBRUARY 2018 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23