Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Two-seat light training monoplane

Power Plant:

One 93 kw (125 hp) Menasco C-4 four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Ryan Aeronautical Company was a successor to the Ryan Company which produced the Ryan Brougham, the type used by Charles Lindbergh in his Atlantic crossing, a few examples of which were registered in Australia in the 1930s. This Company, like many others of the time, ceased production in 1931 during the Great Depression. In 1934 the Company was revived and began building the ST series of sports/training monoplanes. The prototype of the series was powered by a 71 kw (95 hp) Menasco engine, and was flown for the first time on 8 June 1934 by John Fornasero at Lindbergh Field, San Diego in California. In advertising Ryan described the Ryan ST as “the most beautiful of airplanes, but its pleasing lines are but a hint of its wonderful ‘fly-ability’. It will thrill you with its surge of reserve power, its climb, its speed, and its feature-light-control, plus its great stability and exceptionally slow landing speed”.

The prototype Ryan ST (Sport Trainer) was fitted with a Menasco B-4 air-cooled in-line engine of 71 kw (95 hp). This engine was also fitted to early production aircraft (only five examples of this model were completed) but soon production aircraft were fitted with the four-cylinder inline air-cooled inverted Menasco C-4 which produced 93 kw (125 hp) at 2,175 rpm, this model becoming known as the ST-A. Normally a wooden propeller was installed but a metal propeller was available. The type certificate was issued on 23 May 1935 and at least 71 examples were completed between 1935 and 1940.

Later a super-charged variant of the engine known as the C-4S Pirate became available and, providing 112 kw (150 hp), this engine was fitted to the aircraft flown by US aerobatic champion, Tex Rankin, in aerobatic demonstrations at the Cleveland Air Races in Ohio, and in May 1937 at St Louis in Missouri he won the International Aerobatic Championship in an ST-A. Others were used for record setting. Peter Dana flew one from California to the east coast of the United States in 22 hrs 6 mins. Aircraft with this engine were able to reach 257 km/h (160 mph) which meant that they could produce more than one mph per horsepower.

The ST-A was a wire-braced, low-wing, metal-framed monoplane with two open cockpits. One of the first operators of the type was the Ryan School of Aeronautics. Construction took place at the Company’s facility at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, California. The performance of this model was used to market the type as a fighter, fitting bomb racks, fairing in the front cockpit, and arming it with two 7.62 mm (0.30 in) machine guns, one on each wing, or a single machine gun in front of the rear cockpit firing through the propeller. Examples of these were supplied to the air forces of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, becoming known as the ST-M (M for military).

Four aircraft in the ST-A series were delivered to Australia in 1937 for private owners. VH-UZQ (c/n 132 – ex NC16043) with a 93 kw (125 hp) Menasco Pirate was registered on 18 June 1937 to Kenneth M Frewin of Elwood, VIC. Subsequent owners included F Watkins Jnr of Caulfield, VIC, the Royal Aero Club of NSW, S & J Barthwaite of Griffith and the Royal Aero Club of South Australia. On 19 October 1951 it became VH-BWQ. It crashed near Barham, NSW on 11 May 1960. After many years of storage it was restored and was airworthy at Toowoomba, QLD as VH-UVQ² (c/n 132) on 21 August 1997, being flown for a period but on 6 June 2012 being exported to France where it became F-AZVQ.

VH-UYN (c/n 147) was registered to Airflite Ltd of Mascot, NSW in May 1937 and was initially fitted with a Menasco Pirate engine. In February 1939 it was registered to AJ Meehan of Sydney, NSW the Certificate of Airworthiness lapsing in February 1941. In February 1946, because of spares problems with the Menasco engine, it was fitted with a Gipsy Major engine, being based at Belmont Common, Geelong, VIC until it crashed at Belmont, VIC in July 1946.

In mid-2013 an ST-A built for the Cuerpo de Aviacion Militar (Guatemalan Air Force) in 1938 was imported for a Melbourne pilot, this aircraft (c/n 302) being one of 12 ST-A Specials supplied, having been equipped with two over-the-wing mounted Lewis machine guns and an enlarged cockpit. The aircraft was restored and flown in the United States for a period as N302D in California. It has been restored as VH-SQD (c/n 193 – ex N17347, NC17347) and was registered to Mr G Hosking of Mt Eliza, VIC on 10 December 2015, making its first public debut at an airshow at Tyabb, VIC in March 2016. Painted in Honduran Air Force markings, the aircraft was seriously damaged in a forced landing near Tyabb, in late November 2016 and has been rebuilt.

The fourth ST-A imported to Australia from the United States was restored and flown as NC14986. It later went to the United Kingdom where it flew for a time before being imported to Caboolture, QLD where it became VH-ROM (c/n 118) on 30 January 2019 to its owner at Mapleton QLD.