| CA-3 Airster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Utility aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Buhl |
| Designer | |
| Number built | 20[1] |
| History | |
| First flight | 1926 |
The Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster (also known as the J4 Airster, after its engine), was a utility aircraft built in the United States in 1926, notable as the first aircraft to receive a type certificate in the US,[2][3][4] (i.e. A.T.C. No. 1) issued by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce on March 29, 1927.[5] It was a conventional single-bay biplane with equal-span unstaggered wings and accommodation for the pilot and passengers in tandem open cockpits. Marketed for a variety of roles including crop-dusting, aerial photography, and freight carriage, only a handful were built, some with water-cooled engines as the CW-3, and others with air-cooled engines as the CA-3 . One CA-3 placed second in the 1926 Ford National Reliability Air Tour.[6]
1926 Ford Air Tour, piloted by Louis Meister, and another (designated the CA-3A) placed third in the 1927 Air Derby, piloted by Nick Mamer. One CW-3 and one CA-3 each were evaluated by the United States Army as trainers, but neither were purchased.
- ^ "Verville Sport Trainer AT". Aviation-history.com. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
- ^ "The First Federal Aircraft Type Certificate" (PDF). www.faa.gov. 1927. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-02.
- ^ "ATCs". Aerofiles.com. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-28. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Forden, Lesley. The Ford Air Tours: 1925-1931. New Brighton Minnesota: Aviation Foundation of America, 2003, First edition 1972. No ISBN.