Flivver Plane

One way to get the public to fly is to design a combination automobile and autogiro (see above). Another way is to build standard airplanes so inexpensively that the public can afford them. Because this necessitates mass production methods such as many automobile makers already have, they have considered going into the business of making "flivver planes." Last week such a flivver plane was sold. It was not made by an automobile manufacturer, but it was powered by a standard mass-produced automobile engine--the Ford V8.

Arrow Aircraft Corp. of Lincoln, Neb. claims it is waiting only for the financial aspects of its founding to be settled before going into mass production in a few weeks to fill the 1,000-odd orders for flivver planes it has on hand. Its plane is a conventional lightweight, low-wing monoplane. The Ford motor is set in reverse position so that the propeller is attached where the clutch normally is when the engine is used on an automobile. Ford Motor Co. has no connection with Arrow, sells motors in batches so that they cost Arrow but $150 apiece, including the conversion gear. So far Arrow has sold some half-dozen planes at $1,500 apiece. As soon as it can meet its production schedule of four planes a day, it expects to cut their price to $1,000 or lower.

Arrow Aircraft is a new subsidiary of Arrow Aircraft & Motors Corp., oldtime U. S. manufacturer of sport and training planes. Its new flivver plane has been three years in the making, recently passed Bureau of Air Commerce tests.

Expecting great things for it, Arrow's President Mark W. Woods likes to point out that there are 40,000 licensed flyers, and students in the U. S., only 7,000 planes.

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