Erco Ercoupe 415-C

The Erco Ercoupe is a civilian monoplane designed by aviation pioneer Fred Weick. Originally known as the ERCO 310, the Ercoupe was first flown in 1937 and was sold to the public beginning in 1940. With the outbreak of America’s involvement in WW ll beginning on December 7, 1941, and with the shortage of aluminum that was being used for the war effort, Erco ceased production of the Ercoupe for the civilian market and began manufacturing Ercoupe’s for the military that were made from wood. These Ercoupe’s would be used during the Second World War by the Civilian Pilot Training Program, (CPTP) a U.S. government initiative to train pilots and by the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) who used the Ercoupe to search for German submarines. In 1945, Erco resumed production of the Ercoupe for the civilian market where it was heavily marketed, including at locations such as Macy’s Department Store. Unfortunately, post-war sales of civilian aircraft were weak and sales of the Ercoupe suffered as a result. In 1950, Univair Aircraft Corporation purchased the Ercoupe design from ERCO. In April of 1955, Univair sold the Ercoupe type certificate to Forney Aircraft Company of Fort Collins, Colorado who, in turn, would sell the certificate to the Air Products Company of Carlsbad, New Mexico. In 1974, the certificate was sold back to Univair Aircraft Corporation who currently retains ownership of the type certificate. In total, 5,685 Ercoupe’s were produced over the aircraft’s lifetime by several different manufacturers.

The Erco (Engineering and Research Corporation) was founded by Harry Berliner in 1930 for the production of tools that would be used to build aircraft. In 1936, when Fred Weick joined ERCO as its Chief Engineer, ERCO began the development and production of the ERCO Ercoupe, the aircraft for which it is best known for. During WW ll, ERCO was also a government contractor who built gun turrets for the war effort. In 1947, Harry Berliner sold the company to Sanders Aviation. Beginning in 1948 under Sanders Aviation, ERCO began producing flight simulators, its main business. In 1954, American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) purchased ERCO’s assets where they remain to this day.

SPECIFICATIONS

Type                  Two-Seat light aircraft

Weight               749 lbs.

Wingspan         35 ft. 0 in.

Length               20 ft. 9 in.

Height                5   ft. 11 in.

Power                One Continental C-75 four-cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine

PERFORMANCE

Maximum Speed               110 mph

Cruise Speed                      95 mph

Range                                   300 miles

Service Ceiling                 13,000 ft.