History:

The Travel Air 2000 was a three-seat biplane built as a cross-country type of ‘outstanding quality’, of rugged construction with a lively performance, and as an efficient work aircraft.  It was built in some numbers by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in the late 1920s and was referred to affectionately as “Old Elephant Ears”.  The type remained in production until early 1930 when the Company, like others, was absorbed into the Curtiss-Wright organisation in the face of the Great Depression.

Travel Air Inc was formed in January 1925 by Walter Innes Jr, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna, names which later became famous in the field of aviation.  The first Travel Air was the 1000, a three-seat open-cockpit aircraft with a Curtiss OX-5 engine. It was followed by the similarly powered 2000.  In 1925 19 Model 2000s were built, 46 in 1926, and 530 in 1928. Production continued for a period at the Company’s facility in Wichita, Kansas.

The Curtiss OX-5 engine was a liquid-cooled V-8 unit and was the first American-designed aircraft engine to enter mass production, with over 12,000 examples being built.  It had a displacement of 8.2 litres (503 cub in) and weighed 177 kg (390 lb).  Max power was 67 kw (90 hp) at 1,400 rpm and 78 kw (105 hp) for short periods at 1,800 rpm.

In its day the 2000 portrayed many aircraft from World War I in Hollywood movies.  Some saw service as crop dusters, and others were converted to take more powerful radial engines.  The fuselage framework was welded chrome-moly steel tubing shaped with wood fairing strips and fabric covered.  The wing panels were built of laminated spruce spars with spruce and plywood built-up ribs and were fabric covered.  A few Model 2000s were fitted with floats.  Development lead to the 3000 and 4000, the former having the eight-cylinder Hispano-Suiza Model A engine of 112 kw (150 hp) and the latter the nine-cylinder Wright Whirlwind J-5 radial engine of 164 kw (220 hp).

One example VH-UGY (c/n 287) has been registered in Australia, receiving its Certificate of Registration C3669 on 20 March 1928 to Airways of Australia in Melbourne, VIC.  It was fitted with a 67 kw (90 hp) Curtiss OX-5 engine.  It subsequently had a number of owners, including G M Stephenson of Essendon, VIC in January 1931; F W Beck of Melbourne in 1932; and H D Neville of Elsternwick, VIC in February 1933.  The airframe was obtained in February 1934 by Patrick Moore-McMahon of Hurstville, NSW and it was named “Wings of Song”.  In 1934 the engine was changed for a 164 kw (220 hp) Wright Whirlwind radial which basically converted it to Travel Air 4000 configuration.  The aircraft was entered in the 1936 Brisbane to Adelaide Air Race with a violin as company, the pilot giving violin recitals at stopping points until he was forced to withdraw when the aircraft became bogged in Victoria.

Ownership was transferred to J H Bowden of Kogarah, NSW in February 1942, and in May that year to T A Barrett of Orange, NSW.  During 1942 the Department of Civil Aviation directed that all civil aircraft be painted in camouflage and carry RAAF style red-white-blue fin flashes.
The aircraft was removed from the Civil Register in April 1944.  In 1966 its remains were located at Orange, NSW, where it had been burnt. For a period the wings were stored in a shed in Orange but their ultimate fate is not known.

In the United States Orlando Helicopter Airways of Deland, Florida, produces the Travel Air 2000 in kit form using modern technology and a modern reliable powerplant, this aircraft looking similar to the original but having numerous improvements.  Engines up to 224 kw (300 hp) have been installed.