First flight 1929 | Designer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca | |
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Manufacturer | ||
The American Eagle A-129 was a 1920s biplane built in the U.S.A.
Contents
Design and development
The preceding American Eagle A-101 of 1926 had achieved some success, but its fierce spin characteristics had resulted in several crashes during training flights. Giuseppe Bellanca redesigned the biplane with a longer fuselage and narrower cowling to accommodate the five-cylinder Kinner K-5 100 h.p. radial engine, which had its cylinder heads exposed. To mark the year of its first appearance, the designation A-129 was applied.
Operational history
Initially designed to replace the Porterfield Flying Schools A-101s, the new biplane proved to have good flying characteristics and more than 400 were built. The aircraft were also flown by "barnstormers" and sportsmen pilots.
Several A-129s remain airworthy and examples are preserved at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum at Old Rhinebeck in New York state and in the Kansas Aviation Museum Wichita, Kansas.
Variants
A range of engines was fitted to the A-129 without changing the type designation. They included the 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5 and others up to the 200 h.p. Wright J-4.
Specifications (100 h.p. Kinner K-5)
(per www.aerofiles.com/_amereagle.html)
General characteristics
Performance