A National Aeronautic Association official, Larry Therkelson, took the recording barograph from the airplane and sent it to the N.A.A. headquarters in Washington, D.C., for certification. The record had previously been held by Ruth Rowland Nichols.²
“Were I to make the simple statement that I climbed to an altitude of thirty-three thousand feet, that statement in and of itself would mean nothing because I have often gone higher than that. But when I add that I did this in 1937 in a fabric-covered biplane without heating, without pressurization and without an oxygen mask, the elements of an accomplishment are added. I nearly froze; the pipestem between my teeth through which I tried to get an oxygen supply from a tank and connecting tube was inadequate for the purpose, and I became so disoriented through lack of oxygen that it took over an hour to get my bearings and make a landing. The difference between the pressure my body was accustomed to on the ground and the atmospheric pressure at 33,000 feet was such that a blood vessel in my sinus ruptured. All this was a part of the cumulative evidence that led up to cabin pressurization and and mandatory use of the oxygen mask above certain altitudes.”
— The Stars at Noon, by Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1954, Chapter IV at Pages 61–62.
According to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, Jackie Cochran “. . . set more speed and altitude records than any other pilot.”
The “Staggerwing” was a single-engine, four-place biplane with an enclosed cabin and retractable landing gear, flown by a single pilot. The basic structure was a welded tubular steel framework, with wood formers and stringers. The wings and tail surfaces were built of wood spars and ribs. The airplane was covered with doped fabric, except the cabin and engine, which were covered in sheet metal.
The D17W was 26 feet, 15/32 inch (8.0677 meters) long with a wingspan of 32 feet, 0 inches (9.754 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 0 inches (2.438 meters). It had an empty weight of 2,553 pounds (1,158 kilograms) and loaded weight of 4,200 pounds (1,905 kilograms).
While most biplanes had staggered wings, the Staggerwing was unusual in having negative stagger. (The upper wing was “staggered” aft of the lower wing.) This not only increased the pilot’s field of vision, but improved the airplane’s stability in a stall. The leading edge of the Model 17 upper wing was 2 feet, 1–19/32 inches (0.65008 meters) aft of the lower wing. The leading edges had 0° 0′ sweep. Both wings had an angle of incidence of 5° 5′. The upper wing had no dihedral, but the lower wing had +1°. The mean vertical gap between the wings was 5 feet (1.52 meters), and the chord of both wings was 5 feet, 0 inches (1.524 meters). The total wing area was 269.5 square feet (25.04 square meters). The horizontal stabilizer had 0° incidence, while the vertical fin was offset 0° 43′ to the left of the airplane’s centerline.
The Staggerwing was offered with a selection of engines of different displacements and horsepower ratings. The standard Beechcraft D17S was equipped with an air-cooled, supercharged, 986.749-cubic-inch-displacement (16.170 liters) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. A, a direct-drive nine-cylinder radial engine producing 300 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m at Sea Level.
The D17W had a maximum speed of 235 miles per hour (378 kilometers per hour) at 13,500 feet (4,115 meters). Its fuel capacity was 120 gallons (454 liters). It could climb at a maximum rate of 2,500 feet per minute (12.7 meters per second) and had a service ceiling of 30,000 feet (9,144 meters).
Jackie Cochran flew this same D17W, NR18562, in the 1937 Bendix Trophy Race, held 3 September 1937. She finished in third place with an elapsed time of 10 hours, 29 minutes, 8 seconds, averaging 194.740 miles per hour (313.404 kilometers per hour). She won a $5,500 prize.
Max Arthur Constant flew Miss Cochran’s Staggerwing in the 1938 Bendix Trophy Race. He finished in fourth place with an elapsed time of 10 hours, 14 minutes, 39 seconds, averaging 199.330 miles per hour (320.791 kilometers per hour).
Beechcraft D17W c/n 164, was impressed into military service at Tarrant Field, Texas, 12 March 1943. Assigned to the United States Army Air Corps, it was given the designation UC-43K Traveler and Air Corps serial number 42-107277. It was turned over to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 22 November 1944, for sale to the civil market. The airplane was now powered by a 971.930-cubic-inch displacement (15.927 liter) Wright R-975-5 Whirlwind nine-cylinder radial and was redesignated Beechcraft D17R. The Staggerwing was sold to the Carver Pump Company, Muscatine, Iowa, and registered NC50958.
The record-setting Beechcraft Staggerwing crashed at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, 15 December 1945.
¹ This is not the same D17W that Jackie Cochran used to set A U.S. National Speed records, 26 and 29 July 1937. Please see TDiA at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/26-july-1937/
² FAI Record File Number 12228: 8,761 meters (28,743 feet), 6 March 1931. Please see TDiA at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/6-march-1931/
© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes
