Warbird Information Exchange

Read the post on the Walter NZ 120 engine by Kevin.
Is there a list of the original owners of the first production run of the Spartan C
-3-120 available? Have a photo of the Spartan at the Hutchinson airport but can't make out the registration numbers and there are no notes on the photo.

My dad was in the crash of one of the early models on the Hutchinson Kansas Municipal Airport in the early 1930's. I have been trying to track down the accident history but have had no luck finding info on it.

The Spartan was likely registered to the Mid American Air College or Hutchinson Airways Corporation. I always remember dad mentioning the Czech engine and how underpowered it was for a 3 place airplane. Ralph Heimer was most likely the pilot.

Phillip

Phillip-

There is no "master list" of early Spartan owners, though someone like me would love to put one together! Can you post the photo of the C3-120? I have a list of all of the known serial numbers for Spartan aircraft, and have some ownership information connected to those serials. Since your crash took place in the early 1930's, it's entirely possible that the Spartan in question was used, as many were, by the Spartan School and was then sold as surplus. I have a photo of about 20 C3-120s in storage in the Spartan factory around 1930, when the school was running on fumes and there were not enough students to keep the airplanes on the flight line, and there were no customers for the aircraft either. So yours might have been in that batch that were eventually sold off.

Have you contacted the FAA about it? You can request the aircraft record if we can figure out the registration. I requested the information on another Spartan C3 that crashed in the 1930's, and it took about 6 months for them to find the file and copy it for me. But they did find it for me! Post the photo or shoot it to me and we can see what we can figure out!

kevin