Towle TA-3

TA-3
Role Amphibious aircraft
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer Towle Aircraft Company
Designer Thomas Towle
First flight May 1930
Developed from Towle TA-2

The Towle TA-3 was an amphibious aircraft based on the Towle TA-2.

Development

Thomas Towle was an engineer that had been involved with many early aircraft designs. Having just co-designed the Eastman E-2 Sea Rover. The TA-3 was a six-seat follow-on to the Towle TA-2 which wrecked on its first flight. The wing from the TA-2 prototype was salvaged and reused on the TA-3.

Design

The TA-3 featured two diesel radial engines on tall struts above the wings. Diesel engines were relatively new and were touted as being safer because they used a less volatile fuel than gasoline. The engines were provided on loan from the Packard Motor Car Company.[1] The salvaged all-metal wing featured internal bracing based on the Ford Trimotor design that Towle had worked on previously. The tail used two rudders placed in the slipstream of the engines.[2]

Operational history

The prototype was built at Grosse Ile Municipal Airport and first flew in May 1930 piloted by George Pond.[3] The prototype was leased to Kohler Airlines for two years before being flipped in a gear-down water landing in 1932. The aircraft was later sold and used in running liquor from the Bahamas to Florida during prohibition until it was destroyed in a storm at Bimini Island.[4]

Variants

Towle TA-2
The TA-3 used a salvaged wing from the TA-2

Specifications (Towle TA-3)

Data from Michigan Manufacturers

General characteristics

See also


References

  1. ↑ ROBERT B. MEYER (1964). The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • NATIONAL AIR MUSEUM WASHINGTON, D.C.
  2. ↑ E. R. Johnson. American flying boats and amphibious aircraft: an illustrated history. p. 324.
  3. ↑ E. R. Johnson. American flying boats and amphibious aircraft: an illustrated history. p. 324.
  4. ↑ Robert F. Pauley. Michigan Aircraft Manufacturers.

External links

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