Waco Custom Cabin series explained

The Waco Custom Cabins were a series of up-market single-engined four-to-five-seat cabin sesquiplanes of the late 1930s produced by the Waco Aircraft Company of the United States. "Custom Cabin" was Waco's own description of the aircraft which despite minor differences, were all fabric-covered biplanes.

Design

Nearly all of the Waco Custom Cabins were powered by radial engines (there being one factory-built exception, the MGC-8) and the purchaser could specify almost any commercially available engine and Waco would build an aircraft powered by it, hence the profusion of designations, as the first letter indicates the engine installed. Some models were offered in case someone wanted a specific engine but not all were built. Fuselage structure was typical for the period, being welded steel tubing with light wood strips to fair the shape in. The wings were made of spruce with two spars each, having ailerons on only the upper wings, mounted on a false spar. Split flaps were installed on the undersides of the upper wings, though two designs were used depending on model – placed either mid-chord (OC, UC and QC), or in the conventional position at the trailing edge of the wing (GC and N). The model N was unusual in being the only model with flaps on the lower wings while the model E was the only one with plain flaps. Wing bracing was with a heavily canted N strut joining upper and lower wings, assisted by a single strut bracing the lower wing to the upper fuselage longeron, except on the E series which replaced the single strut with flying and landing wires. Elevators and rudder were aerodynamically counterbalanced and braced with wire cables. Both could be trimmed, the rudder via a ground-adjustable tab, the elevators via jack screw on the OC, UC and QC, while the GC, E and N used a single trim tab on the port (left) elevator. The main landing gear was sprung with oleo struts, and a castoring tailwheel was fitted on all versions except the VN model, which had a nosewheel.

Designation clarification

Waco had been building a series of successful cabin biplanes, when in 1935 they introduced a new series of upmarket cabin sesquiplanes intended for the wealthy private individual or business. The original biplanes had been given a designation ending in C, however with the new Custom Cabin, Waco decided to differentiate the new design and existing C types that remained in production were recoded as C-S types to indicate Standard Cabin, until Waco changed their designation again in 1936 to just an S.[1] For example, the 1934 Standard Cabin YKC was redesignated as a YKC-S in 1935, and as a YKS-6 in 1936.[1] 1936 also saw the adoption of a numerical suffix to indicate the model year of the design, as "-6" for 1936, "-7" for 1937, etc. Since it referred to a model and not the year of production, the "-7" was carried into 1939 for some Custom Cabins, while others were designated "-8".[2] In 1936, Waco started using a short form to refer to the types of aircraft without the engine and model identifiers resulting in C-6, C-7 and C-8 however as Waco only built one type of Custom cabin in each of those years, they refer to the QC-6, GC-7 and GC-8 series respectively.[3]

Operational history

The Custom Cabin series, with its improved performance proved to be popular and many were purchased by small commercial aviation firms and non-aviation businesses. Approximately 300 Custom Cabin Wacos of all types (excluding the Waco E series and the Waco N series), were produced between 1935 and 1939. Some were employed as "executive transports". Many served in the Canadian bush country, where they normally operated on skis in winter and EDO floats in summer. Many of these Canadian Wacos were ordered and built as freighters with additional doors. In 1936 an EQC-6 operated by Speers Airways of Regina, Saskatchewan was the first non-military government operated air ambulance in Canada.[4] With the onset of World War II, examples were impressed into the air forces of many Allied nations, including the US (USAAC and US Navy), the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Most were used as utility aircraft, however a small number were operated by the US Civil Air Patrol, conducting anti-submarine patrols off the US coastline from March 1942 to August 1943 armed with 50- or 100-pound bombs.[5] A single impressed ZGC-7 referred to as the Big Waco, RAF serial AX695, was used by the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) along with a Standard Cabin YKC named Little Waco to support their activities behind Axis lines.[6] Flight Regiment 19, Finnish Air Force (Swedish Volunteer Air Force) used one Waco ZQC-6 (OH-SLA) during the Russo-Finnish Winter War in support of Finnish military operations. Numerous Custom Cabin series aircraft of several sub-models are currently registered in the US, and more are in under restoration. This is still a popular design among owners of classic aircraft.

Variants

The Waco Custom cabin series included all of the enlarged-cabin sesquiplanes from 1935 and can be further divided into six basic models, OC, UC QC, GC, RE and VN, with additional subtypes differing primarily in engine installation (indicated by the first letter of the designation or by a low dash number, i.e. -1, -2) and by model year (dash numbers -6, -7, -8). Letters were not used sequentially.Each basic type was offered with almost any engine the customer wished and designations were created accordingly, however some engines were more popular than others resulting in some types being offered, but never built. Due to the wide variety of engines already offered, it was both relatively easy and common to change the installed engine, resulting in a lot of confusion as to the correct designation to use for a specific airframe.

The RE series is more refined aerodynamically than earlier models; the wings are fully plywood-skinned, and instead of a bulky compression strut carrying lift loads, a more conventional set of streamlined flying wires completes the wing structure. It has the fastest cruise speed of any of the Waco cabin models, with a Vne of 270 mph.

1935 OC Series (54+ built)

UOC : 2100NaN0 Continental R-670-A or 2250NaN0 Continental R-670-B engine. four built.
  • YOC : 2250NaN0 Jacobs L-4 engine. 50+ YOC and YOC-1 built. Built as UOC and re-engined.
  • YOC-1 : 2850NaN0 Jacobs L-5 engine. Built as UOC and re-engined. One impressed by USAAF as UC-72N.

    • 1935 UC Series (30+ built)

    CUC : 2500NaN0 Wright R-760-E engine. 30+ built of all CUC types.
  • CUC-1 : 2850NaN0 Wright R-760-E1 engine. Built as CUC and re-engined. One impressed by USAAF as UC-72F.
  • CUC-2 : 3200NaN0 Wright R-760-E2 engine. Built as CUC and re-engined.

    • 1936 QC Series (C-6) (120 built)

    AQC-6 : 3300NaN0 Jacobs L-6 engine. Seven built. One impressed by USAAF as UC-72G.
  • AQC-6 Freighter: At least two aircraft ordered through Fleet Aircraft and built for use in Canada with additional freight doors on both sides of the fuselage and equipped for floats. Engine same as for standard AQC-6. Additional aircraft may have been modified.[7]
    :
  • DQC-6 : 2850NaN0 Wright R-760-E1 engine. 11 built.
  • EQC-6 : 3200NaN0 Wright R-760-E2 engine. 20 built. USCG used three as J2W-1[8]
  • :
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  • VQC-6 : 2500NaN0 Continental W-670-M1 engine. One built.
  • YQC-6 : 2250NaN0 Jacobs L-4 engine. 13 built. One ex-RAAF example re-engined with 2000NaN0;hp DeHavilland Gypsy 6 inline engine.
  • ZQC-6 : 2850NaN0 Jacobs L-5 engine. 68 built. One impressed by the USAAF as UC-72Q and five as UC-72H.;[9] Swedish AF Tp-8a
  • ZQC-6 Freighter: At least eight aircraft ordered through Fleet Aircraft and built for use in Canada with additional freight doors on both sides of the fuselage and equipped for floats. Engine same as for standard ZQC-6. Additional aircraft may have been modified.[7]

    1937–38 GC Series (C-7 and C-8) (96+ built)

    AGC-8 : 3000NaN0 Jacobs L-6 engine. 17 built, two modified to EGC-8. Two impressed by USAAF as UC-72P.
  • DGC-7 : 2850NaN0 Wright R-760-E1 engine. Two built.
  • EGC-7 : 3200NaN0 Wright R-760-E2 engine. 38 built.
  • EGC-8 : same as EGC-7 for 1938. Seven built, plus two modified from AGC-8, and one used to trial 2600NaN0 Menasco C-6S-4 for MGC-8. Four impressed by USAAF as UC-72B
  • MGC-8 : Menasco Buccaneer inline engine. One modified, unknown number built.
  • :
  • :
  • :
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  • ZGC-7 : 3000NaN0 Jacobs L-5 engine. 28 built. Four impressed by USAAF as UC-72E
  • ZGC-8 : same as ZGC-7 for 1938, four built.

    • 1938 VN Series (N-8) (20 ca. built)

    See main article: Waco N series.

    AVN-8 : 3300NaN0 Jacobs L-6 engine.
  • ZVN-8 : 2850NaN0 Jacobs L-5 engine.

    • 1939 RE Series (30 built)

    See main article: Waco E series.

    ARE Aristocrat : 3300NaN0 Jacobs L-6 (four built, one impressed by USAAF as UC-72A)
  • HRE Aristocrat : 3000NaN0 Lycoming R-680-E3 (five built, two impressed by USAAF as UC-72C)
  • SRE Aristocrat : 4500NaN0 Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr SB-2/-3 (21 built, 13 impressed by USAAF as UC-72)
  • :

    • Military designations

    A-54 : Royal Australian Air Force designation for impressed YQC-6[10]
    Tp-8a : Swedish Air Force designation for ZQC-6. Tp-8 was a generic designation for all Wacos.[11]
    J2W : US Coast Guard designation for three EQC-6 bought from Waco. Additional aircraft impressed by the US Navy were undesignated.
    UC-72/C-72 : US Army Air Forces designation for impressed Custom Cabin series Wacos.

    See main article: Waco C-72.

    UC-72B   :  EGC-8   four impressed
    UC-72E   :  ZGC-7   four impressed
    UC-72P   :  AGC-8   two impressed
    UC-72Q   :  ZQC-6   one impressed
    UC-72G   :  AQC-6   one impressed
    UC-72H   :  ZQC-6   five impressed
    UC-72F   :  CUC-1   one impressed

    Operators

    Civil operators

    Wacos were used in small numbers by a very large number of individual operators in many countries.[12]

    Military operators

    Most operators operated either a single example, or a very small number.

    Canada

    Aircraft on display

    Aside from the large number of privately owned Wacos that continue to exist,[22] a number have also found their way into museums.

    MuseumLocationTypeIdentity
    Canadian Museum of Flight[23] Langley, BCAQC-6CF-CCW
    EAA AirVenture Museum[24] Oshkosh, WIARENC20953
    Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum[25] Maryland Heights, MOAVN-8NC19378
    Golden Wings Flying Museum[26] Minneapolis, MNCUC-1NC15233
    Virginia Aviation Museum[27] Richmond, VAYOCNC17740
    War Eagles Air Museum[28] Santa Teresa, NMEGC-8NC19354
    Yukon Transportation Museum[29] Whitehorse, YTZQC-6CF-BDZ

    References

    Bibliography

    Book: Juptner, Joseph P.. U.S. Civil Aircraft Vol. 6. McGraw-Hill. 1993. 978-0830643714. registration.

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. http://aerofiles.com/wacodata.html Aerofiles 'That Waco Coding System'
    2. Brandly, 1981
    3. Brandley, 1986, p.76
    4. http://www.wdm.ca/skteacherguide/WDMResearch/AirAmbulance_TeacherGuide.pdf Saskatchewan's Air Ambulance Service, by Janet MacKenzie, 30 September 2002 – Accessed 29 May 2012
    5. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r112:S10MY2-0006: Congressional Record – Awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to members of the Civil Air Patrol
    6. Jenner and List 1999, pp.9, 27, 45–46
    7. Brandly, 1986, p.74
    8. Swanborough & Bowers, 1990, p.534
    9. Aerofiles – USAAF Impressed Wacos, 2009
    10. Francillon, 1970, p.8
    11. Annerfalk, 1999, p.188
    12. http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net Golden Years of Aviation (aircraft registrations)
    13. Web site: World Air Forces Argentina Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125034502/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/argentina/arg.html . January 25, 2012.
    14. Web site: World Air Forces Brazil Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20121018212416/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/brazil/brz.html . October 18, 2012.
    15. Web site: World Air Forces Canada Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20121211095214/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/canada/can.html . December 11, 2012.
    16. Book: Brandley . Raymond H. . Waco Airplanes – The Versatile Cabin Series . R.H. Brandly . United States . 1981 . 0-9602734-2-5. 67.
    17. Web site: World Air Forces Finland Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125064912/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/finland/fin.html . January 25, 2012.
    18. Web site: World Air Forces Netherlands Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030417/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/netherlands/net.html . January 25, 2012.
    19. Duxbury, 1987, p.57
    20. Web site: World Air Forces Nicaragua Air Force. www.worldairforces.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20120125074213/http://www.worldairforces.com/Countries/nicaragua/nic.html . January 25, 2012.
    21. Book: Brandley . Raymond H. . Waco Airplanes – The Versatile Cabin Series . R.H. Brandly . United States . 1981 . 0-9602734-2-5. 86.
    23. http://www.canadianflight.org/content/waco-aqc-6 Waco AQC-6
    24. http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/2Waco%20ARE.asp WACO ARE – NC20953
    25. http://fairchild24.com/museum.htm Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum List of Aircraft
    26. http://www.goldenwingsmuseum.com/collection/collection.htm Golden Wings Flying Museum – The Collection
    27. http://www.vam.smv.org/pdfs/VAMHistoricAircraft.pdf Virginia Aviation Museum Historic Aircraft (p 25)
    28. https://web.archive.org/web/20201202114817/http://www.war-eagles-air-museum.com/owms_sendfile.php?%2Fnewsletters%2Fweam_newsletter_2005-1.pdf War Eagles Air Museum Newsletter First Quarter 2005
    29. https://goytm.ca/exhibits/wacos-model-a-ford-doorknobs/ Waco CF-BDZ

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