Brunner-Winkle Bird

Brunner-Winkle Bird
Bird A of 1929 fitted with Curtiss OX-5 engine preserved at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum near St Louis, Missouri.
Role	air-taxi/joyrider
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Brunner-Winkle
Designer	Michael Gregor
First flight	September 1928
Status	some aircraft still flying and on display in museums
Primary user	private flyers and barnstorming
Number built	ca. 240

The Brunner-Winkle Bird was a three-seat taxi and joy-riding aircraft produced in the USA from 1928 to 1931.

Design and operation

The Model A version was powered by the ubiquitous Curtiss OX-5, and featured a welded steel-tube truss fuselage with metal and fabric skinning. The wings, constructed of Spruce and plywood were also covered with metal and fabric skinning. The Model A had a reasonable performance for an OX-5 powered aircraft. The Model A's ease of handling led to its entry into the 1929 Guggenheim Safety Airplane contest, where it was awarded the highest ratings for a standard production aircraft.

The Model A was awarded Group 2 approval no 2-33 in January 1929 for the first nine aircraft serial no. 1000 to 1008. Aircraft serial no. 1009 upwards were manufactured under Air Transport Certificate no. 101.

The Model B followed on from the initial Bird design and was fitted with the uncowled Kinner radial engine. Production aircraft were designated BK.

Variants

Data from: aerofiles.com

Bird BK of 1930 with Kinner K-5 engine preserved at the Yanks Air Museum at Chino, California

• Model A - original production version with Curtiss OX-5 engine (ca. 80 built)
  • Model AT - version with Milwaukee Tank engine (2 converted from Model A)
• Model B - version with Kinner K-5 engine (1 prototype)
  • Model BK - production version of Model B (84 built)
• Model C - version with Wright J-5 engine (1 built)
  • Model CC - version with Curtiss R-600 Challenger engine (1 built)
  • Model CJ - version with Jacobs LA-1 engine (6 built)
  • Model CK - version with Kinner B-5 engine (50 built)
    • Model RK - export version of Model CK (1 built)
• Model E - 4-5 seat version with enclosed cabin and Kinner B-5 engine (1 built)
• Model F - version with Packard DR-980 (1 built)

Specifications (Bird Model A)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Length: 22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
• Wingspan: 34 ft 0 in (10.36 m)
• Height: 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m)
• Wing area: 266 ft² (24.7 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,315 lb (598 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,150 lb (977 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Curtiss OX-5, 90 hp (67 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 105 mph (168 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 88 mph ( km/h)
• Range: 450 miles (720 km)
• Service ceiling: 12,500 ft (3,800 m)
• Rate of climb: 520 ft/min ( m/s)

Notes

References

• "Aircraft Ba-Bl". aerofiles.com. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
• U.S. Civil Aircraft VOL.2. Los Angeles CA: Aero Publishers. pp. 9 to 11.
• "The BrunnerWinkleBird". cradleofaviation.org. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
• "Brunner-Winkle Bird BK". yanksair.com. Retrieved 2016-07-31