General Aviation GA-43
| GA-43 | |
|---|---|
| |
| General Aviation GA-43 HB-ITU in service with Swissair | |
| Role | Airliner |
| National origin | United States of America |
| Manufacturer | General Aviation |
| Designer | Virginius E. Clark |
| First flight | 22 May Template:Avyear |
| Primary user | Swissair |
| Number built | 5 |
The General Aviation GA-43 was an airliner produced in small numbers in the United States in the mid-1930s, also known as the Pilgrim 150, Fairchild 150, and Clark GA-43. The prototype was developed and built by Fairchild's American Pilgrim division, but the program was taken over by General Aviation when the firm purchased American Pilgrim shortly before the prototype had flown. Although this first flight took place in 1932, manufacture did not commence until 1934, by which time General Motors had, in turn, gained a controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with General Aviation, which they already owned. The upshot of this was that the GA-43 became the first aircraft produced by North American. The GA-43 was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane of all-metal construction. The prototype had fixed tailwheel landing gear, but the main units of this were later changed to be made retractable, and three of the four production examples also had retractable mainwheels, the fourth aircraft having twin pontoons instead. The oval-section fuselage contained a ten-seat passenger cabin, and the cockpit was located atop the fuselage under a separate canopy.
Operators
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: two pilots
- Capacity: ten passengers
Performance
References
- Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 417.
- "The Clark GA-43 Commercial Monoplane". Flight: 1176. 23 November 1933. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
- aerofiles.com