Paulic/Thorp/Boeing School T-3 and T-5

[sienar]

From ebay; https://www.ebay.com/itm/335540791041

A low wing, well streamlined affair with heavily spatted gear and an ellipse cross section fuselage that must have made the wing roots unique. Engine is a likely a single-row 7 cylinder radial though too much of it is obscured to make out anything more than that.

Given the attire of the people and the vehicles, as well as the general look of the aircraft, this may be 30s USA but it could be shortly after the war as well.

 

[Stargazer]

Definitely American. And I know I have it in my files. Had several ideas but they were not right. I'm still looking...

 

[Arjen]

Looks like a Spartan 7W, but the fixed landing gear points against it.

 

[Stargazer]

Looks like a Spartan 7W, but the fixed landing gear points against it.

Actually my very first hunch was the Spartan 7X prototype... Not that. Not the Paulic, not the Stinson M...

 

[Justo Miranda]

The windshield design is Spartan

 

[Justo Miranda]

I've been looking at some engines from the time, and I think this could be a 90hp Lambert R-266 or Warner Scarab Junior.

https://www.aviationart.com/product...-90-lambert-r-266-ground-adjustable-propeller

 

[357Mag]

From ebay; https://www.ebay.com/itm/335540791041
View attachment 790159View attachment 790160
A low wing, well streamlined affair with heavily spatted gear and an ellipse cross section fuselage that must have made the wing roots unique. Engine is a likely a single-row 7 cylinder radial though too much of it is obscured to make out anything more than that.

Given the attire of the people and the vehicles, as well as the general look of the aircraft, this may be 30s USA but it could be shortly after the war as well.

All -

Granville Bros “ GB Eightster “ ?


With regards,
357Mag

 

[sienar]

Looks like a Spartan 7W, but the fixed landing gear points against it.

Actually my very first hunch was the Spartan 7X prototype... Not that. Not the Paulic, not the Stinson M...

The windshield design is Spartan

I first thought Spartan as well. Besides the gear, the size looks much smaller and the wing is mounted very low like a Northrop Gamma. Its more apparent when the image is brightened.

 

[Justo Miranda]

I first thought Spartan as well. Besides the gear, the size looks much smaller and the wing is mounted very low like a Northrop Gamma. Its more apparent when the image is brightened.
View attachment 790260

OK
7-Cylinder Warner 110 Super-Scarab 110 hp or Jacobs R-755-9 (L-4) 200 hp.???

 

[Stargazer]

Granville Bros “ GB Eightster “ ?

It does look the part... except the Eightster was never built!!!

 

[juanT]

Hi everyone
It looks like the Paulic XT3B....photo: model Airplane news ..... https://elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com/2022/02/09/paulic-xt3-b-gimme-the-original/

 

[southwestforests]

It looks like the Paulic XT3B

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

I'm subscribed to that blog and he does find some interesting stuff.
I did not know this was on it!

Playing with Paulic XT3-B in Google found this other photo angle, "off the starboard bow", included in a post about an airplane inspired by the XT-3

W.T. LARKINS MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 3039. Paulic XT3-B (NX21726)
Photographed at Oakland, California, USA, by W.T. Larkins
01/28/2005. Remarks by Ron Dupas: "Rebuilt in 1959 as T-3B."

https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Larkins/3039.htm

 

[Arjen]

Hi everyone
It looks like the Paulic XT3B....photo: model Airplane news ..... https://elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com/2022/02/09/paulic-xt3-b-gimme-the-original/

Ace!
From that site:

This lovely all-metal side-by-side trainer was built by Boeing employees Rudy Paulic and John Thorp in the late 1930s to be operated by the Boeing School of Aeronautics (Oakland). Powered by a gorgeously cowled 125hp Warner Scarab, it made its maiden flight in 1939. Test flown thoroughly, the XT3-B was soon dismantled because of the war and stored. In 1959 it was resurrected by Paulic and converted into a 4-seater equipped with a retractable undercarriage and powered by a 190hp Lycoming O-435. Called the T-3B-1, it resided nowadays at the Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos (CA).

The airport-data.com page linked to in the last line shows an image of the T-3B-1 as it looked post-conversion.
Second image, from @juanT 's link, also linked to by @southwestforests , shows it pre-conversion.

 

[Tonton-42]

Finaly it was so easy to find ...

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorp_T-3

 

[Stargazer]

Believe it or not, even before I thought Spartan the first thing that came to mind was "XT-3 / Boeing School"... I looked it up, found that it was related to Thorp, went to look there, then thought I'd got it wrong and discarded it... In fact, the photos there showed the later version with an opposed, not radial engine, a totally redesigned cockpit, etc. Mixed with the original version. It fooled me completely!

So here are two other photos of the same prototype, the XT-3B [NX21726], designed by Thorp for the Boeing School of Aeronautics:




And for comparison, the same aircraft completely reworked as a two-seater in 1959 and re-registered as [NX6497C]. No wonder it fooled me, it looks so incredibly different and smaller like that!






As a side note, but relevant to the subject, the students of the Boeing School of Aeronautics built their own prototype trainer, inspired by the Thorp/Paulic T-3B: the T-5 [NX15542]. It was powered by a 350 hp Wright R-760 engine:

 

[juanT]

Great, I also remembered that I had 2 pages about T5.....from: "Aviation Week " (September - October 1937)

 

[sienar]

I didn't even think of the Thorp, the later modifications make it look completely different.

It says that the preceding issue of Sept 37, an issue google hasn't digitized, had a detailed write up.
From; https://books.google.com/books?id=jkJvAsaSp98C

from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Oakland_Aviation/nd0Ciei_IYoC

What might be the wing under construction

From; https://books.google.com/books?id=iMetjmMRBOIC

It was apparently rebuilt post-war

From; https://books.google.com/books?id=JYV6dT2yR-cC&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false