Ercoupe
 Ercoupe. Photo: Ahunt, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
| |
| Make | ERCO |
|---|---|
| Model | Ercoupe |
| Type | Light aircraft |
| Country |  United States
|
| First flight | 1937 |
| Built | 1940–1969 |
| Number built | 5,685 |
| Registered in the US | 1,333 (FAA register, October 30, 2026) |
| Seats | one, one passenger |
| Engine | Continental C75-12, 75 hp |
| Cruise speed | 95 mph (Ercoupe 415-C) |
| Range | 300 mi (Ercoupe 415-C) |
| Service ceiling | 13,000 ft (Ercoupe 415-C)
|
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The Ercoupe is a low-wing airplane that first flew in 1937, built first by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II and by several other makers after the war. The last model, the Mooney M-10, first flew in 1968, and the last model year was 1970. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing airplane engineering could provide at the time, and it still has a faithful following.[1] In the U.S. there are 1,333 with a valid registration, most of them the 415-C.[2]
History
In 1931 Fred Weick was assistant chief of the aeronautics division of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). In 1934 he and a group of coworkers built an experimental airplane in their spare time, with their own money: the W-1, with tricycle landing gear, a parasol wing and a pusher propeller.[1] At ERCO this work led to the 1937 prototype, the 310, with tricycle gear, metal construction and fabric-covered wings, and then to the production 415.[1]
A rocket-assisted first
The U.S. Army Air Forces bought three 415-Cs in World War II. On August 12, 1941, Wright Field test pilot Capt. Homer Boushey made the first USAAF rocket-assisted takeoff in an Ercoupe, a technique later refined to help heavily loaded airplanes take off from short fields.[1]
Registered in the United States
The FAA register lists 1,333 of these airplanes with a valid U.S. registration. Here they are by the model name the FAA uses.[2]
| FAA model name | Registered |
|---|---|
| 415-C | 778 |
| ERCOUPE 415-C | 267 |
| 415-D | 126 |
| 415-CD | 62 |
| ERCOUPE 415-CD | 32 |
| 415-E | 25 |
| ERCOUPE 415-D | 24 |
| ERCOUPE 415-E | 11 |
| 415-G | 6 |
| ERCOUPE 415-G | 2 |
Specifications (Ercoupe 415-C)
| Item | Ercoupe 415-C |
|---|---|
| Crew | one |
| Passengers / capacity | one passenger |
| Length | 20 ft 9 in |
| Wingspan | 30 ft |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in |
| Wing area | 142.6 sq ft |
| Engine | Continental C75-12, 75 hp (4-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine) |
| Propeller | variable-pitch propeller |
| Maximum speed | 110 mph |
| Cruise speed | 95 mph |
| Stall speed | 48 mph |
| Never-exceed speed | 144 mph |
| Range | 300 mi |
| Service ceiling | 13,000 ft |
| Rate of climb | 550 ft/min |
Figures as given in the Wikipedia article and its sources.[1]
Photos
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Ercoupe. Photo: United States Army Air Force, Public domain -
Ercoupe. Photo: NACA, Public domain -
Ercoupe. Photo: NASA/JPL, Public domain -
Ercoupe. Photo: Coupemanwi, Public domain -
Ercoupe. Photo: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0 -
an Erco 415 Ercoupe at the Les Faucheurs de Marguerites, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Photo: Ahunt, CC0 -
Ercoupe. Photo: Armchair Aviator's, CC BY 2.0 -
Ercoupe. Photo: Armchair Aviator's, CC BY 2.0
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All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; click a photo for its full credit and license.
Buying a Ercoupe
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Wikipedia, "ERCO Ercoupe", read November 1, 2026. Airplane Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Federal Aviation Administration, Releasable Aircraft Database, file dated October 30, 2026. Valid registrations of fixed-wing airplanes whose FAA maker and model names belong to this family. Airplane Wiki uses only counts from this file, never owner names or addresses.