Global InformationGenairco Biplane information
| Biplane | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genairco inflight at Bundaberg Airport | |
| Role | Utility aircraft |
| National origin | Australia |
| Manufacturer | Genairco |
| Designer | George Beohm[1][2] |
| First flight | 1929 |
| Status | Three extant |
| Number built | 9 |
The Genairco Biplane (also known as the Genairco Moth) was a utility biplane built in small numbers in Australia in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[2]
The General Aircraft Company, (Genairco) in Australia, had been overhauling and repairing 6 DH60 Cirrus Moths for the RAAF and then building 3 local examples of the DH60X Cirrus II Moth, before they went on to design and build their own derivative "Aussie Moth" biplane.
This Genairco design was strongly influenced and based on the DH60 fuselage layout but with intended improvements including a wider fuselage able to seat 2 in the front cockpit, deeper cockpit doors and with a different wing and rudder profile. While initially called a "Genairco Moth" and now more correctly called a "Genairco Biplane", these later 9 aircraft (with 2 built as cabin bi-planes) are not variants of the DH60 Moth despite some DH production lists including them.
The Genairco series of biplanes were often referred to as "Aussie Moths", but in fact their airframe was of larger dimensions, with few similarities when closely compared with the DH.60 Moth range. Their inspiration was to provide a simple biplane which would allow two passengers to be carried - compared with the contemporary range of Moths, Avians, Widgeons and Klemms which could carry just a single passenger.
The three seater Genaircos were expected to find a market with the many Australian aviators of the era who were making a living out of joyrides and barnstorming tours, who could double their payload for each flight at a minimal increase in operating cost. With a little ingenuity, a tight squeeze and children on laps, gypsy joyriders often enticed even more paying passengers for a flight in a Genairco's wide front cockpit.
The later Genairco development, the Genairco Cabin, has been dismissed as a copy of the DH.83 Fox Moth. However work on the prototype had commenced in Sydney six months before news of the new DH.83 had reached Australia in those days before air mail.
[3]
- ^ "Aust. Plane Designer Back Here". The Sun. No. 10852. New South Wales, Australia. 31 October 1944. p. 7 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 8 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. ,...
- ^ a b "AUSTRALIA BUILDS HER FIRST AEROPLANE". Daily Pictorial. No. 15, 897. New South Wales, Australia. 21 November 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 8 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. , ...FIRST ALL-AUSTRALIAN BUILT 'PLANE after highly successful tests at Mascot yesterday. The 'plane, which has been called the Genairco, was designed and built by Mr. Geo. Beohm, and the engine was designed by Mr. Don Harkness, and built by Harkness and Hillier, of Five Dock. In the picture are:. Mr. Childs (Commissioner of Police), Capt. Leggatt (pilot), Mr. Geo. Beohm, the Governor, Mr. Boyle (managing director, General Aircraft Co.), and Mr. Don Harkness...
- ^ https://www.goodall.com.au/australian-aviation/genairco/genairco.html