Buhl Aircraft Company

The Buhl Aircraft Company was a US aircraft manufacturer founded in Detroit in 1925 which remained in operation until 1933. Buhl designed and manufactured the Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, the first aircraft to receive a US civil aviation type Certificate in March 1927. Several utility and sport aircraft models were developed from 1925 to 1931, both fixed wings and rotary wing aircraft. Their greatest successes were with the Airsedan and Bull Pup, with approximately 185 aircraft of all types built from 1925 to 1932.

Buhl Aircraft Company
TypePrivate
IndustryAerospace
Founded1925 (1925) in Detroit-Marysville, Michigan, United States
FounderBuhl family of Detroit
DefunctJuly 21, 1932 (1932-07-21)
Headquarters
Detroit, Michigan
,
United States
Key people
CA-6 Airsedan Spokane Sun God
LA-1 Bull Pup single seat monoplane

History

The Buhl Aircraft Company was founded in 1925 by the Buhl family of Detroit. Lawrence D. Buhl hired Etienne Dormoy and Alfred Verville who had previously been employed as engineers by the United States Army Air Service Engineering Division at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. Then, in 1926, the company purchased the former Illinois Tool Company factory and converted it for aircraft production.[1]

The first aircraft to receive an Approved Type Certificate in the United States was the Buhl CA-3 Airster biplane which received Certificate #1 in March 1927. This was a commercial three seat open cockpit biplane suitable for carrying a couple of passengers, training student pilots and carrying light cargo. Other jobs such as crop dusting and aerial photography would be added later. Alfred Verville was the chief designer from the company's founding in 1925 until 1927, during the period when the CA-3 Airster was developed and certified. 20 would ultimately be built.[2]

Etienne Dormoy replaced him, and was responsible for developing the Airsedan sesquiplane family, as well as the CA-1 Airster and Bull Pup monoplanes. Roughly 85 Airsedans in two basic designs (the CA-5, and much more refined CA-3, 6 and 8) were built which won a number of speed and endurance records and placed in the top in the Ford National Reliability Air Tour, the National Air Races. The Airsedan "Spokane Sun-God" was the first aircraft to make a non-stop US transcontinental round-trip flight on 15 August 1929. Sales would be hindered by the deepening Great Depression although over 100 of the tiny single-seat Bull Pup monoplanes were manufactured between 1930 and 1932.[3]

Dormoy also designed the Buhl A-1 autogyro in 1930, optimized for aerial photography, with a pusher engine located behind the pilot and room for a camera operator up front.[4] Only one of these was built.

Following a request by six leading stockholders, the company was dissolved on 21 July 1932.[5][6]

Aircraft

All models are retired. Other than for the autogyro, the number in the designation refers to the number of seats as originally designed.

TypeDateNumberRoleClassNotes
CA-3 Airster192620utilitybiplane
CA-5 Airsedan192714cabinsesquiplane
CA-3 Junior/Sport Airsedan192820cabinsesquiplane
CA-6 Airsedan192923cabinsesquiplane
CA-8 Senior Airsedan19295cabinsesquiplane
CA-1/CW-1 Airster19302sportmonoplane
LA-1 Bull Pup1930~100sportmonoplane
A-1 Autogyro19311photographyautogyro

References
  1. Bloch, Jim (16 September 2016). "Flying high in Marysville: Learn the history of the Buhl Aircraft Co". The Voice. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  2. Donald M. Pattillo (1998). A History in the Making: 80 Turbulent Years in the American General Aviation Industry. p. 9. ISBN 9780070494480.
  3. "Buhl". Aerofiles.com. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  4. "The Buhl A-1 Autogiro"
  5. "Buhl Aircraft Co. Dissolution Asked". Port Huron Times Herald. 14 June 1932. p. 7. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  6. "Buhl Aircraft Co. Ordered Dissolved". Port Huron Times Herald. 21 July 1932. p. 7. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
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