The Buttonville Flying Club COPA Flight 44

 
The Airplane of the Day is the Aeronca Champion or “Champ”.
 
The Champ, designed for flight training and personal use, entered production in the United States in 1945, was the brainchild of design genius, Jean Roché, one of the most outstanding and overlooked aeronautical engineers of the early days of flight. Roché not only developed the Aeronca line, but also many new concepts, including swept wings and winglets.
 
The Champ first flew in 1944, and was designed along with the 11AC Chief. The Champ has tandem seating with joystick controls, and the Chief has side-by-side seating with yoke controls. The idea was to simplify production and control costs by building a pair of aircraft with a significant number of parts in common; in fact, the two designs share between 70 - 80% of their parts. The tail surfaces, wings, landing gear, and all parts firewall forward, most accessories, and cowling, are common to both airplanes.
 
Originally selling for $2,095, the Champ outsold the Chief by an 8 to 1 margin. Engine upgrades in 1948 and 1949 resulted in the Models 7DC and 7EC. Between 1945 and 1950, Aeronca was producing 50 light aircraft per day and by the time production ended in 1951, the company had sold more than 10,000 Champions. Aeronca ceased all production of light aircraft in 1951, and the Champ design was sold in 1954 to Champion Aircraft.
 
Champion Aircraft was acquired in 1970 by Bellanca Aircraft which continued production of their Champ-derived Citabria and Decathlon designs. In 1971, Bellanca introduced the 7ACA version of the Champ as a more basic complement to their other designs. Only a handful of 7ACA's were built between 1971 and 1972. Bellanca ceased all production in the early 1980s.
 
American Champion Aircraft Corporation acquired the Champ and related designs in 1989. In 2001, they were rumored to be considering a reintroduction of the Champ design as a 7EC powered by a Jabiru Aircraft engine. While a test version was flown, this combination was not put into production. With the creation of the Light Sport category of aircraft in the United States by the FAA, American Champion in late 2007 began producing a revised version of the 7EC.
 
 

 
General characteristics (7AC)
Crew: one, pilot
Capacity: 1 passenger
Length: 21 ft 6 in (6.7 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 2 in (10.7 m)
Height: 7 ft 0 in (2.3 m)
Wing area: 170 ft² (15.8 m²)
Empty weight: 740 lb (325 kg)
Maximum weight: 1,220 lb (533 kg)
Powerplant: Continental A65-8, 65 hp (50 kW)
Performance
Maximum speed: 100 mph (160 km/h)
Cruise speed: 85 mph (137 km/h)
Fuel burn rate: 4.0--4.5 gph
Range: 460 miles (740 km)
Stall speed: 38 mph (62 km/h)
Service ceiling: 12,400 ft (4,100 m)
Rate of climb: 370 ft/min (1.8 m/s)