photo taken at East Boston airport, in front of Shobe Airlines hangar, August 8, 1936
click for larger image
Laird Racer, NC14803
From Aero Digest, April, 1935:
E. M. Laird Airplane Company, Chicago, Illinois
• Three-place open biplane. Wright Whirlwind J -6 R-975E engine, 330 horsepower. A TC 176. Span 28 feet. Length overall 22 feet 9 inches. Height overall 9 feet. Wing area 202 square feet. Power loading 10.3 pounds per horsepower. Wing loading 15.3 pounds per square foot.
Empty weight 1922 pounds. Useful load 1088 pounds. Payload 390 pounds. Gross weight 3010 pounds. Fuel capacity 76 gallons. Oil capacity 8 gallons.
Maximum speed 175 miles per hour. Cruising speed 135 miles per hour. Landing speed 55 miles per hour. Service ceiling 20,000 feet. Rate of climb 1500 feet per minute. Cruising range 550 miles.
Fuselage: duralumin tubing trussed with tie rods; forward section metal covered to rear of pilot’s cockpit, remainder fabric covered; tandem seating arrangement; two large baggage compartments directly in rear of pilot’s seat. Wings: fabric covered; solid spruce spars; ribs of three-ply plywood, reinforced with spruce struts and spruce cap strips; solid spruce compression struts and tie rod drag bracing; interplane struts are solid plywood streamline I struts; ailerons are independently controlled by push and pull tube system. Tail group: stabilizer, elevators, rudder and fin are welded steel sheet and tubing, fabric covered; stabilizer adjustable from the cockpit with vernier type control and indicator. Split axle type landing gear of wide tread, with oleo shock absorbers, General streamline tires, Bendix wheels and brakes; brakes operated by Laird rudder-brake pedals, in which rudder and brake pedal are a single unit.
Standard equipment includes a Hamilton Standard variable-pitch propeller, Exide battery, navigation lights, electric starter, dual controls. A Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior, 300 horsepower engine can be substituted in the Speedwing, in which case the plane is known as the Model LC-RW300.
Instruments: compass, air speed indicator, tachometer, turn and bank indicator, engine head temperature gauge, altimeter, oil pres¬sure gauge, oil temperature gauge.