The Command-Aire did not at first appear to offer much of an advancement over the vast multitude of three seat biplanes built around the ubiquitous Curtiss OX-5 engine to similar designs, with similar dimensions and construction methods, many of which were already in production. The basic design was by Morton Cronk, and although it had excellent high altitude capabilities, it was slow. This setback nearly foundered the company before its first aircraft entered production.
Albert Vollmecke, a Heinkel engineer was in the US attempting to find a customer to build Heinkel HD 40 mailplanes under licence for the US market. Seeing that there was little prospect of any sales in the US, he decided to hire on with an American company, Command-Aire.
His first task was to rework the design to provide documentation for the new approval process. While there was only one major visible external difference, he undertook an extensive redesign based on his experience in the much more scientifically-grounded German aviation industry, and to bring the design into line with CAA (now FAA) certification requirements, which involved a lot of submissions, and alterations, and resubmissions before they signed off on it. Many parts had to be redesigned when it was easier to redo the design, than to use the existing design to calculate the necessary strength margins. The most obvious change was a switch from four small conventional ailerons at the tips to two slotted nearly full-span ailerons on the lower wing. This improved low speed control dramatically, allowing lateral control even after the aircraft had stalled – a novelty among American aircraft at the time, and a recurring advertising theme.
The second change was the incorporation of a Phylax fire suppression system capable of putting almost any fire out in flight. The third novelty was the use of a rotisserie type fuselage jig, that ensured accuracy and consistency between the airframes they built, reducing the chance of building an airplane that couldn’t be rigged to fly right. Although Command-Aire’s advertising claims that Vollmecke invented this, he claimed he merely brought the idea from Europe.
The fuselage was built from welded chromium-molybdenum alloy steel tubes, faired with wooden battens. The top of the fuselage was covered in large metal panels that could be readily opened to provide access, and a compartment for luggage was provided between the cockpits large enough for a suitcase.
The slightly staggered wings were built around solid spruce spars, with spruce and plywood warren truss type ribs. The wings were braced with cables.
The ailerons and the entire empennage were also built from chromium-molybdenum alloy steel tubing, and all controls were actuated through pushrods and bellcranks, with no cables or pulleys used. The ailerons on the prototype were conventional, however on production variants, they extended across nearly the full span on the lower wings only, and had a slot that allowed air to flow over the aileron at low airspeeds and high angles of attack, which helped ensure lateral control even after the wings had stalled. These were not Frise-type ailerons though, but conventional ailerons with a slot at the hinge line.
The undercarriage was a split axle type, braced to a steel tube four point pyramid that extended from the belly of the aircraft, with suspension provided with bungee cords which were protected by leather boots. Both cabane and interplane struts took the form of an N and were steel tubing as well. The 3C3 can be distinguished from later types by having an additional strut providing lateral bracing from the forward strut anchor point on the wing, to the lower longeron at the firewall, triangulating the structure. The 4C3 and later types dispensed with this extra strut, and coincided with an extensive redesign that otherwise had few external differences.
The 3C3 first flew in January 1928 and received certification in July 1928.
While normally a three-seat design, those aircraft with a T in the designation were built as two-seat trainers specifically for flight instruction, and a crop-dusting version was also sold, with the space in the front cockpit being filled with a large hopper, and the fuel tank relocated to the wing centre section. At least 17 of these were built, with others converted from other variants.
The 3C3 was one of the most pleasant and stable aircraft of the 1920’s. In the companies “hands off” flight demonstration, the fearless pilot would climb out of the cockpit and straddle the turtle deck like a horse while the aircraft cruised the skies, this proved a quite effective sales technique. He turned the aircraft by leaning in the desired direction.
The 3C3 is similar in construction to most aircraft of the period and used a war surplus OX-5 engine. One of the notable features was the metal cowls, cockpit and turtle deck which made half the aircraft metal covered–not fabric covered. The aircraft was controlled by push-pull tubes and bell cranks, there were no wires, cables or pulleys.
In another publicity stunt, a flight of over 100 mi (160 km) from San Diego to Los Angeles was made without once using the control stick as all control inputs were through the rudder pedals.
In 1929, the government decided to allow aerobatics (known as stunting at the time), during the Annual Arkansas Air Tour being held in 1929 and so a team of three Warner-powered Command-Aire 3C3-As were formed as “The Blue Devils”, but painted incongruously in black and orange stripes.
The 3C3 sold for $5500 in 1929.
The BS-14 and BS-16 (BS standing for Biplane sport) were the final developments, and again featured extensive redesign work, but once again with few visible external alterations. The rudder was redesigned, and a new and promising engine was added to the lineup – the Lycoming R-680. On the BS-16, the undercarriage was changed to the outrigger type and a tailwheel was provided in lieu of the skid used previously, while the rear seat was raised to improve visibility.
A variety of engines were installed during the life of the design, with the area ahead of the firewall being redesigned to accommodate lighter engines, with longer noses to maintain the correct balance.
The problematic engine supply situation was well understood long before the last Curtiss OX-5 was installed in an airplane, and substantial efforts for alternatives were made. Simplicity and reliability were key, and the solutions invariably involved air-cooled radial engines, however the designs were not sufficiently developed, and there were many failures, and for various reasons. As a German, it was natural for Vollmecke to look to Germany, where some of the best designs were available, however two major problems surfaced. The first was that the supply of these engines was endangered by economic instability in Germany. The second was that the Command-Aire people were never able to get their engines to run right on the fuel available. Vollmecke suspected that the octane rating was too low, which caused knocking – potentially damaging the engine. Only 7 aircraft were built with the German radials. The Czechoslovakian Walter NZ-120 was even less successful, and only one was used. The most successful of the replacement engines with Command-Aire, was the Curtiss Challenger, despite its poor reputation elsewhere. Over 50 aircraft were fitted with this engine. Had the company continued in existence, then the Wright J6 and Lycoming R-680 that were only installed in a small number of airframes, would probably have eventually outsold the OX-5 as they did with other aircraft types.
A Challenger powered-Command-Aire 5C3 was entered into the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition in 1929. The 3C3 was the last aircraft not specially designed for the contest to be eliminated, and would actually enter revenue service. It later succeeded on a repeat of the test that it was eliminated on.
The Command-Aire 5C3 was featured in the Berryloid advertising series for aircraft dope, each featuring a different fabric covered aircraft, and each aircraft painted as a different bird. This advert was from the November 1929 Aerodigest
In 1929, Command-Aire contracted the Curtiss Flying Service to handle sales, through their large number of facilities, and Curtiss purchased a large number of aircraft for flight training for their own schools. Recognizing that the excessive number of aircraft companies in the aviation industry would force consolidation into a smaller number of larger companies, it had long been the intention to merge Command-Aire into a larger company even before the onset of the Great Depression forced matters. Negotiations had been underway for just such a merger – into Curtiss, at one time the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States, however while negotiations were still underway, Curtiss’s financial problems forced it to merge with Wright Aeronautical. Unfortunately, Wright had themselves recently absorbed Travel Air, whose offerings included the Travel Air 2000 which was similar to the Command-Aire biplanes. Negotiations collapsed, and along with them, went the contracts for supplying the flying schools – and access to the sales network.
Command-Aire landed a by now much needed contract from the Chilean government to produce 36 3C3-BTs to be built at a specially-built facility in Chile, however no Command-Aires seem to have been either used in that country, either civil or military.
Only one example appears to have been exported, a 3C3 that went to Canada in 1931, where it went through a succession of private owners as CF-APQ, having previously been NC5590 in the US.
Produced 1928-1931a total of 184-254 (total for 3C3, 4C3, 5C3, BS-14 and BS-16) were built/
Known production:
3C3 N7885 msn 530
3C3 N136E msn 532
3C3 N476E msn 586
3C3-T N583E msn 607
3C3-B N610E msn W-69
3C3-AT N970E msn W-108
5C3 NC925E
5C3 N939E msn W-93
5C3 N946E msn W-95
5C3 N996E msn W-135
5C3 N997E msn W-136
Variants:
3C3
1928
ATC 53, 2-201
Engine: 90 hp (67 kW) Curtiss OX-5
Propeller: 2-bladed Wooden fixed pitch
Upper wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Upper chord: 60 in (1.5 m)
Wing sweep: 0°
Lower wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
Lower chord: 60 in (1.5 m)
Wing area: 303 sq ft (28.1 m2)
Airfoil: Aeromarine 2A
Length: 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Height: 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)
Empty weight: 1,410 lb (640 kg)
Gross weight: 2,200 lb (998 kg)
Useful load: 790 lb (360 kg)
Fuel capacity: 40 US gal (150 l; 33 imp gal)
Oil capacity: 4 US gal (15 l; 3.3 imp gal)
Maximum speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
Cruise speed: 85 mph (137 km/h, 74 kn)
Minimum control speed: 36 mph (58 km/h, 31 kn)
Range: 440 mi (710 km, 380 nmi)
116 built.
Crew: One
Capacity: Two
Undercarriage track: 87 in (2.2 m)
3C3-A
1929
ATC 118
Engine: 110 hp (82 kW) Warner Scarab
20 built.
1 fitted with Edo floats.
3C3-AT
1929
ATC 151
2 seat trainer developed from 3C3-A
about 6 built.
3C3-B
1929
ATC 120, 2-440
Engine: 105 hp (78 kW) Siemens-Halske Sh 12
5 built
1st possibly modified from 3C3 with a new c/n.
3C3-BT
1929
ATC 209
Engine: 113 hp (84 kW) Siemens-Halske Sh 14
2 seat trainer developed from 3C3-B.
2 built plus 1 converted from 3C3-B.
3C3-T
1929
ATC 150
Engine: 90 hp (67 kW) Curtiss OX-5
30 built.
4C3
1929
Engine: 120 hp (89 kW) Walter NZ-120
1 built
5C3
Curtiss Challenger-powered Command-Aire 5C3 N609
1929
ATC 184
Engine: 170 or 185 hp (127 or 138 kW) Curtiss Challenger
35 built.
5C3-A
1929
ATC 185
Engine: 180 hp (130 kW) Hisso-Wright E
3 built.
5C3-B
1929
ATC 214
Engine: 150 hp (110 kW) Axelson A
4 built, One might be conversion of 3C3-A.
5C3-C
1929
ATC 233
Engine: 165 hp (123 kW) Wright J-6
5 built
Some converted to cropdusters with front cockpit faired over
Cotton Duster
1930
Engine: 170 hp (130 kW) Curtiss Challenger-powered 5C3 cropduster
17 built.
BS-14
1930
ATC 2-204
Engine: 125 hp (93 kW) Warner Scarab
2 seat Biplane Sport aerobatic trainer
1 built.
BS-16
1930
Engine: 210 hp (160 kW) Lycoming R-680
2 seat aerobatic trainer
1 built.
All Aero 