Luscombe 8

I soloed in the Luscombe 8A on skis at the Troy Airport, Troy, NY in the winter of 1944 when I was 16yrs old. A great airplane.

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Recently tried hard to make a comeback and should have done it but politics and poor leadership sunk the dream once again.Bankrupt two or three years ago from our plant in Oak. too damn bad. Hell of an airplane, had a hell of a future.

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I have owned a Luscombe 11A Sedan since the 70's and it is a great airplane,it is a shame that several flybynight outfits have said they were going to build the 11E but never did. N1642B is still flying here in the State of WA and will soon be looking for a good home.

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I first started flying this at a very young age. In fact Genny alias Genevieve Conrad, True, Quam, Friet, Pribilo taught me how to earn my wings as she pushed me down stairs. Oh the memories. Remember Gen?

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I was in the Luscombe float plane in Sausalito, CA in 1955.
A Korean Vet, I wanted to fly float planes and go to Alaska. I loved that plane, and I also fell in love and she hated flying. So my life changed and I flew no more after the solo in the summer of 1955.

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Owned 8 F. Metal wing 90 H P. Loved her. Put 250 + hours in it. Lovely airplane, no bad habits, but a pilot's aircraft while moving on the ground. Tried tracking N1866B through FAA registration, but believe it was demolished out in Montana or close to there. Was a beauty, and drew admiring looks and questions wherever we went. Was difficult finding dual instruction, as brakes only on pilot side! John Clark, Jonesboro, GA

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I took my fright lessons in an 8A, out of the Columbia Airport in the Sierra upper foothills of Northern California. During the course of my instruction, we learned to add 'PURGE YELLOWJACKETS (wasps)' to our checklist.

I'd just taken off when, at about 200' AGL, a big ol' nasty yellowjacket flew right across my nose...yikes! If you've ever tried to open the door at 100 mph with one hand, while shooing out an angry insect with a machine-gun on it's tail with the other hand, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't, well...I hope you never do!

Sadly, our little Luscombe was converted into beercan stock by my instructor's partner. He was unhurt, but our little airplane never flew again.

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Mr. Burns, You might want to try the American Aviation Historical Society for the photographs you need. They have an extensive photo file of aviation and will supply you with what you need for a nominal charge. Publication and business office is: 15211 Springdale Street, Huntington Beach, California 92649. Image Services is under the direction of one Kase Dekker; President of AAHS is Bob Brockmeier. Neither phone number nor E Mail address was listed in the latest AAHS Journal. This is probably because all AAHS Staff are strictly volunteers with varied work hours. You might try going on line. Best wishes for what appears to be a worthy project. EdJ.

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To Luscombe Community,

Would anyone - including those who operate this site - know how one could gain access to the photo of the Luscombe 8 at the top of this web page?

My company is producing a documentary about Jimmy Van Heusen, the Oscar-winning songwriter who was also an avid aviator, and whose first airplane was a Luscombe 8, purchased in 1938. Unfortunately, there are no photos of his Luscombe, or of his other early airplanes. In the absence of information about the one as pictured above, a similar high quality shot would be usable for our purposes. We would need to have a larger file of the photo - 1 meg or over, and of course information on the ownership of the photo for a release to use it.

Thank you so much.

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You are a little bit short with your Luscombe Lore. The Phantom was the first product of the Luscombe Airplane Development Corp. and was called the Luscombe One. Other designs followed but never got past the drawing board until the Model Four, or Ninety, was built and flown in 1938. The Phantom was powered by a 145 h.p. radial while the Model Four used a 90 h.p. radial. There is an artical in the American Aviation Historical Society Journal, Vol. 54, Number one, Spring 2009, describing the Model Four complete with a 1 /48 3-view drawing by none other than Lloyd S. Jones. Extreme modesty (cough!) prevents this humble writer from expounding on how brilliantly the article was written...
The Model 4 evolved into the famous Model 8. Everything aft of the cabin was essentially the same. That's why the Model 8 has a round front end. Don Luscombe wanted it that way in case the flat four cyl. 50 h.p. didn't work out(!).
Then, in 1946 we had the neat Model 10, but only one. This was followed by the four place 11A Sedan. Our good friend, the late Joe Johnson, of Luscombe Acres, Grandview, TX, owned a Sedan. He also owned, for a time, the one and only Luscombe Colt four place. Last we heard it was in Houston, TX.
Joe's Sedan was featured in an article by Gene Smith in Air Progress, Oct. 1970. Other references include Model Airplane News, March 1948, 3-view drawing of the 11A Sedan.
Yo, Bob @ MEHS2004=MSV.com, the aircraft you flew in sounds like the Model 4, NC1337, serial no.403, and was not a Phantom. It was owned by one Hans Browatzki for a time, wound up in the Museum at Morgan Hill and, the last we heard, was purchased by Ron Price of Fremont , California.
Gadzooks! Didn't mean to go on this long! Regards to all Luscombe Lovers. Ed J.

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I soloed in an 8A or B and flew 15 hours before one of our six owners did a steep turn stall and spun it into an oak tree. He destroyed the airplane and killed his wife. Really sad and unnecessary.

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My flying time with the Luscombe...was in 1958
Enjoyed it as MY sports car..now it's 2011 and gone forever

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Flew one with a friend a long time ago, kind of cramped but flew fine for me, I soloed in a 7BCM Champ in Denver in a few hours. I had flown a lot of other planes, from both seats before I was 16.

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I would like to build a R /C mode / of the Luscombe Sedan. If anyone has planes or specs for one please let me know. Thanks.

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Bill, A check of FAA records shows N28627 was reassigned to a Cherokee 181 apparently based in Rhode Island. Your little friend's last known locale was VENTURA COUNTY JR DISTRICT COLLEGE in California where it was "decommissioned" probably to be used for a "lab rat" in an A&P training program. When I was an A&P student I learned on many an old bird I would have loved to rescue, but at least she wasn't just outright scrapped.

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There was also a Luscombe Sedan, four place, flew one
once. Never saw one since. My brother owned a Luscombe
Silvair.

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I owned a 1939 8a in the 60's N25178. It is now in Bluffton Ohio i believe. I learned to fly a 1946 8a near ann arbor Mi.in 1962. It was my brothers N71185.They were wonderful planes to fly. I should have kept up with it.

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I own a 1938 Luscombe, N20659. Anyone who has flown or once owned this airplane, I would love to hear from you!!! Most of it's time was spent in Mich,IL,KY.

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Hi I was looking at your information on luscombe's looking for info on the 1938 luscombe Phantom model 4 useing the Warner 5 cyl Radial engine , but looks like you don't have any info. A friend of mine used to own one back in the late 60's & I flew in it with him fairly often out of San Carlos airfield just south of SFO , good flying old plane-(he let me fly once we were airborne) -had a strut mounted generator , and the over head valve assy had to be hand lubed with a grease gun , he used to put it on loan to the Morgan Hill Museum south of San Jose ca. I understand he sold the plane so I lost track of it - it looked much like your Luscombe 8 except for the difference in engines - I well recall that big Radial filling the windshield when the tail wheel found the tarmac.

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I was fortunate to own 2 Luscombe. First N76T, was ground looped by my partner I had sold 1 /2 interest the week before. I had loged only 5 hours of flight traing in it.My step father, Jim Cox, completely refurbished my next one, N7789K, it was a beauty.He wanted me to complete my training so he sold her to me. I did my first solo in her
and then my check ride. I checked her N number with the FAA
last year and found she is in North Carolina and still flying .I owned her in the early 60's.

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