|
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 Royal Air Force. 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-designated the Y-1S. Although designed to
be easy to fly the high price meant only 20 aircraft were produced.
The aircraft had no rudder as such, the tailplane fins being
adjustable but fixed in flight. Turning was by differential aileron
and elevator alone. 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. 25 examples were ordered
by the bureau at a price of $3190 each. The first delivery was
considered unnacceptable in finish, prompting the production
of the re-engineered Y-S model. Two Y-1S, serial numbers 0908
and 0909, were used for radio controlled development trials by
the United States Navy as the JH-1. 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. Takeoff and landing was
controlled via a landbased radio set; for flight maneuvers, control
was shifted to an airborne TG-2. KLM purchased a Y-1 (PH-APY)
for use in training their pilots in tricycle undercarriage. The
Royal Air Force also evaluated a former KLM Y-1S in the 1940s. |
