Metal Aircraft Flamingo

The Metal Aircraft Flamingo was a monoplane produced in Cincinnati, Ohio by the Metal Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s.[1]

Flamingo
G-2-W Flamingo El Rio Caroní, on display at Ciudad Bolívar airport, in Venezuela
Role Passenger monoplane
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer Metal Aircraft Corporation
Designer Ralph R. Graichen
First flight 8 April 1928
Status Retired
Number built 21

Design and development

The Metal Aircraft Corporation purchased the design from the Halpin Development Co. and unveiled it at the 1929 National Air Races with Elinor Smith.[2][3] Following an accident at Bowman Field in May 1928, the prototype Flamingo was redesigned with a different nose, windscreen, and tail.[4]

Operational history

The Flamingo was first flown from Lunken Airport on 8 April 1928 by Thomas E. Halpin.[5]

One G-2-W, named El Rio Caroní, is best remembered for its role in the discovery of Angel Falls by Jimmy Angel in 1935. Although well known to the local indigenous population, the falls had been glimpsed only by European explorers until Jimmy Angel crash-landed while attempting to land above the falls on Auyán-tepui during gold exploration.

The Metal Aircraft Corporation Flamingo that crashed above the falls was recovered by helicopter in the 1960s by the Venezuelan government and is on display at the entrance of the Ciudad Bolívar airport, in Venezuela. A replica was put in its place for visitors of the crash site.[6]

Other operators included the Mason & Dixon airline.[2] Another operator of the aircraft was United States Airways which flew a route from Denver to Kansas City in the early 1930s. Stops were made Goodland, Salina, and Topeka, Kansas.[7]

Variants
Halpin Flamingo photo from Aero Digest May 1928
Halpin Flamingo
six-passenger 410hp P&W[8]
G-1
five-passenger 450hp P&W
G-2
six-passenger
G-2-H
six-passenger 525hp P&W
Metal Aircraft Corp Flamingo G-2-W photo from Aero Digest March 1929
G-2-W
eight-passenger 410hp P&W[9]
G-MT-6
five-passenger 410 or 525 P&W[1]

Specifications (Flamingo G-2-W)

Data from Skyways, Air and Space[6]

General characteristics

  • Capacity: eight
  • Length: 32 ft 6 in (9.91 m)
  • Height: 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
  • Empty weight: 2,960 lb (1,343 kg)
  • Gross weight: 5,600 lb (2,540 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp 9-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engine, 410 hp (310 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 117 kn (135 mph, 217 km/h)
  • Cruise speed: 100 kn (115 mph, 185 km/h)
  • Range: 870 nmi (1,000 mi, 1,600 km)
  • Rate of climb: 800 ft/min (4.1 m/s)

References
  1. "Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society & Museum". cahslunken. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. McClure, Rusty; Stern, David; Banks, Michael A. (9 November 2006). Crosley: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation. Clerisy Press. ISBN 978-1578602919.
  3. Grey, C.G., ed. (1928). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd.
  4. Gampfer, Scott (29 May 2018). "The Flamingo Takes Flight: Cincinnati's First All-Metal Airplane, Pt. 2". Cincinnati Museum Center. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  5. "First Flight of Home Ship Success". Cincinnati Enquirer. 9 April 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  6. Skyways. July 1999. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. timetableimages.com, U.S. Airways timetable February 20 1933
  8. "The Halpin "Flamingo"". Aero Digest. Vol. XII no. 5. Aeronautical Digest Publishing Corporation. May 1928. pp. 800, 802. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  9. "The Flamingo G-2-W". Aero Digest. Aeronautical Digest Publishing Corporation. March 1929. pp. 94, 96. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
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