Y-1
Role Utility monoplane
National origin United States
Manufacturer Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation
Designer Dean B. Hammond
Number built approx 20

The Stearman-Hammond Y-1 was a 1930s American utility monoplane built by the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation and evaluated by the United States Navy and the British Royal Air Force.[1]

Development

Y-1 testing at Langley

In the early 1930s Dean Hammond designed the Hammond Model Y, a low-wing monoplane twin-boom pusher monoplane. Hammond cooperated with the aircraft designer Lloyd Stearman to develop the type for production. They formed the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation in 1936 to build the aircraft as the Stearman-Hammond Y-1. The first aircraft was powered by a 125 hp (93 kW) Menasco C-4 piston engine driving a pusher propeller. The performance was not impressive so it was re-engined with a 150 hp (112 kW) Menasco C-4S and re-named the Y-1S. Although designed to be easy to fly the high price meant only 20 aircraft were produced.[1] The aircraft had no rudder as such, the tailplane fins being adjustable but fixed in flight. Turning was by differential aileron and elevator alone.

Operational history

Amelia Earhart in a Stearman Hammond Y-1 with the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Air Commerce mark

In 1934 the Bureau of Air Commerce held a competition for a safe and practical $700 aircraft. In 1936 the winner of the competition was the Stearman-Hammond Y-1, incorporating many of the safety features of the Ercoupe W-1. Two other winners were the Waterman Aeroplane and a roadable autogyro from the Autogiro Company of America, the AC-35. Twenty-five examples were ordered by the bureau at a price of $3,190 each. The first delivery was considered unacceptable in finish, prompting the production of the re-engineered Y-S model.[2]

Two Y-1S, serial numbers 0908 and 0909,were used for radio controlled development trials by the United States Navy as the JH-1.[3] [4] A successful unmanned radio-controlled flight was made with a JH-1 drone on 23 December 1937 at the Coast Guard Air Station, Cape May, N.J. Take-off and landing was controlled via a land based radio set; for flight maneuvers, control was shifted to an airborne TG-2.[5] KLM purchased a Y-1 (PH-APY) for use in training their pilots in tricycle undercarriage.[6] The Royal Air Force also evaluated a former KLM Y-1S in the 1940s.[1]

Variants

Hammond Model Y
Prototype for the 1934 Bureau of Air Commerce safe airplane competition.[7][8]
Stearman-Hammond Y-1
Prototype aircraft with a 125hp (93kW) Menasco C-4 engine.
Stearman-Hammond Y-1S
Production aircraft with a 150hp (112kW) Menasco C-4S engine.
JH-1
United States Navy designation for two Y-1S used for tests.[4]

Operators

 Netherlands
KLM
 United Kingdom
 United States

Aircraft on display

  • NC15521, a Y-1S at the Netherlands Transport Museum, Nieuw Vennep, The Netherlands.
  • NC15522, a Y-1S at the Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos, California, United States.

Specifications (Y-1S)

Data from Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum[9]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Capacity: 1
  • Length: 26 ft 11 in (8.20 m)
  • Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
  • Height: 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m)
  • Empty weight: 1,400 lb (635 kg)
  • Gross weight: 2,150 lb (975 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Menasco C-4S piston engine, 150 hp (110 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 110 kn (130 mph, 210 km/h) at 3000 ft (915 m)

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Orbis 1985, p. 2958
  2. ↑ Roger D. Launius. Innovation and the development of flight.
  3. ↑ "Aircraft: Stearman-Hammond JH-1" AeroWeb: The Aviation Enthusiast Corner. Web. 3 August 2010. <"Aircraft: Stearman-Hammond JH-1". Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.>.
  4. 1 2 Andrade 1979, p. 198
  5. ↑ Armstrong, William J., and Roy A. Grossnick. United States Naval Aviation, 1910–1995. 4th ed. Washington: Naval Historical Center, 1997. Print.
  6. ↑ Flight p482
  7. ↑ FLIVVER AIRPLANE DRIVES AS EASILY AS AN AUTOMOBILE Popular Science, October 1935, rare photos of first flying prototype
  8. ↑ "Push Type Flivver Plane Easy To Control" Popular Mechanics, October 1935
  9. ↑ "Stearman-Hammond Y-1S". National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 25 June 2021..

Bibliography

  • Andrade, John (1979). U.S.Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Midland Counties. ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis. OCLC 669683964.
  • Meadon, Jack (1998). "The Hammond Y "Safety 'Plane": Part One". Archive. No. 4. Air-Britain. pp. 102–104. ISSN 0262-4923.
  • Meadon, Jack (1999). "The Hammond Y "Safety 'Plane": Part Two". Air-Britain Archive. No. 1. pp. 13–15. ISSN 0262-4923.
  • Meadon, Jack (1999). "The Hammond Y "Safety 'Plane": Part Three". Air-Britain Archive. No. 2. pp. 53–56. ISSN 0262-4923.
  • "Rational Unorthodoxy", Flight, pp. 482–484, 18 November 1937

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