Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Three-seat light sport biplane

Power Plant:

One 164 kw (220 hp) Wright J-5 Whirlwind nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

History:

The Waco 10 was launched in 1927 and certificated (ATC-13) in October that year.  It was much improved on the Model 9, and was similar in layout and dimensions.  Ailerons were fitted on all four wings and connected top to bottom.  The undercarriage was of the split axle type with long oleo springs connected to the top longerons.  The engine was fully cowled and the balanced horns on the rudder and the ailerons were replaced by internal weights.

In 1923 the Waco company became known as the Advance Aircraft Co but all production aircraft were known as the Waco. The number built is not exactly known but 365 were completed in 1927, and total production was in the vicinity of 1,052, although some references say 1,660. Production continued into 1930 by which time it had become known as the Model 90, or GXE.

Power plants which could be installed included the 67 kw (90 hp) Curtiss OX-5, the 164 kw (220 hp) Wright Whirlwind J-5, the 112 kw (150 hp) Hispano Suiza A, the 134 kw (180 hp) Hispano Suiza E, and the Ryan-built 93 kw (125 hp) Siemens Model 125.  One was fitted with a Fairchild Caminez engine.  Early Waco open-cockpit models were initially powered by the Curtiss OX-5 eight-cylinder VEE engine, large quantities of which were in storage after the end of hostilities in World War I.

Construction was conventional for the time, with a welded steel tube fuselage faired to shape by wooden strips and covered with fabric.  The tail surfaces were of similar construction and the wings had spruce spars and built-up ribs, also fabric covered.

The Waco 9 was the first of the Company’s aircraft designs to be given an Aircraft Type Certificate (ATC 11 in July 1927) and first flew in April 1925.  It seated three and was in production from 1925 to 1927, at least 276 examples being delivered.  In 1927 and 1928 the Model 10 won the US Transcontinental Air Race; the Sweepstakes Trophy; the Windsor, Ontario to Los Angeles, California race; and the Henry Ford Reliability Tour.  About 35 examples are known to survive.

In the 1927 Ford Air Tour Waco 10s with the Whirlwind engine came in at 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th places.  The Model 10 was known by a number of names, including ‘Ten-W’, ‘Waco Sport’, ‘J-5 Waco’, ‘Whirlwind Waco’, ‘J-5 straight wing’, ‘220’, etc.  In 1929 the 168 kw (225 hp) Wright J-6 Whirlwind was installed in new-build aircraft, this being a seven-cylinder unit.

One Model 10T was brought to Australia in 1929.  This aircraft VH-ULV (c/n A.100) had a 164 kw (220 hp) Wright J-5A Whirlwind radial engine, was initially registered to Holden’s Air Transport in August 1929 and was used by the Oroville Gold Dredging Company in Papua New Guinea.  It was used by US mining engineer J Ward Williams from December 1936, and in July 1937 was obtained by Stephens Aviation, being operated successfully for some time until it made a forced landing in a swamp west of Madang on 20 November 1937.  It was rebuilt by New Guinea aviation identity, Eric Noble, and continued in service but is recorded as being destroyed by strafing Japanese fighters in January 1942 at either Lae or Salamaua.

In Colorado the NuWaco Aircraft Company is now producing replicas of the Waco 10T (first produced in 1927) as complete aircraft or in kit form. These aircraft are usually fitted with the 269 kw (360 hp) VOKBM nine-cylinder radial engine designed in Russia and built in  Romania.  An example of this aircraft was imported to New Zealand in mid-2015, becoming ZK-WTW (c/n 21 – ex N275TW) and being registered to its owner at Mt Maunganui in June that year.