Admin: New aircraft page: history, US registrations (FAA), specifications, photos, sources

2026-11-01T20:21:25Z

New aircraft page: history, US registrations (FAA), specifications, photos, sources

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{{Aircraft infobox
| name = Aeronca Champion
| image = Aeronca.7ac.champion.kemble.arp.jpg
| caption = Aeronca Champion. Photo: Arpingstone, Public domain, via [[commons:File:Aeronca.7ac.champion.kemble.arp.jpg|Wikimedia Commons]]
| make = Aeronca
| type = Light utility aircraft / trainer
| first_flight = April 29, 1944
| produced = 1946–1951, 2007–2018
| status = Production completed
| number_built = more than 10,000, all manufacturers and variants, (over 7,200 Aeronca 7AC Champion, 1945–1948)
| faa_registered = 2,782 (FAA register, October 30, 2026)
| seats = one, one passenger
| engine = Continental A65-8, 65 hp
| cruise = 85 mph (7AC)
| range = 270 mi (7AC)
| ceiling = 12,500 ft (7AC)
| gross_weight = 1,220 lb (7AC)
| developed_from = Aeronca L-3, Aeronca T, Aeronca Defender, Aeronca 50 Chief
| category = Piston singles
}}

The '''Aeronca Champion''', the Model 7 known as the "Champ" or "Airknocker", is a two-seat, single-engine, high-wing airplane with tailwheel landing gear and seats one behind the other. It was designed for flight training and personal flying, specifically to compete with the [[Piper J-3 Cub]], and entered production in the United States in 1945, becoming one of the most popular and longest-built light airplanes in the world.<ref name="wp"/> In the U.S. there are 2,782 Champs with a valid registration, 1,983 of them the original 7AC.<ref name="faa"/>

== History ==
The Champ first flew in 1944. As a low-cost postwar rival to the Cub, it was popular with flight schools training thousands of returning World War II veterans under the G.I. Bill. The original 7AC sold by the thousands, peaking in 1946; in 1946 and 1947 Aeronca built an average of 30 light airplanes a day, at one point 50.<ref name="wp"/>

Like its rivals it has a fuselage and tail of welded metal tube, a small piston engine and a tailwheel. The 7AC used a 65 hp Continental A-65-8.<ref name="wp"/>

After Aeronca, the Champ was revived by the Champion Aircraft Company in the 1950s and 1960s, by Bellanca in the 1960s and 1970s, and by American Champion Aircraft in the early 2000s. It returned to production in 2007 for the new light-sport category and was discontinued by mid-2019.<ref name="wp"/> The aerobatic Citabria and Decathlon grew from it.<ref name="wp"/>

== Registered in the United States ==
The FAA register lists '''2,782''' of these airplanes with a valid U.S. registration. Here they are by the model name the FAA uses.<ref name="faa"/>
<div class="aw-wide">
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! FAA model name !! Registered
|-
| 7AC || 1,983
|-
| 7EC || 203
|-
| 7BCM || 192
|-
| 7FC || 166
|-
| 7DC || 128
|-
| 7CCM || 110
|}
</div>

== Specifications (7AC) ==
<div class="aw-wide">
{| class="wikitable"
! Item !! 7AC
|-
| Crew || one
|-
| Passengers / capacity || one passenger
|-
| Length || 21 ft 6 in
|-
| Wingspan || 35 ft
|-
| Empty weight || 740 lb
|-
| Maximum takeoff weight || 1,220 lb
|-
| Fuel || 13 u.s.gal
|-
| Engine || Continental A65-8, 65 hp (four cylinder, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engine)
|-
| Propeller || fixed pitch, wooden
|-
| Maximum speed || 95 mph
|-
| Cruise speed || 85 mph
|-
| Stall speed || 38 mph
|-
| Never-exceed speed || 129 mph
|-
| Range || 270 mi
|-
| Service ceiling || 12,500 ft
|-
| Rate of climb || 370 ft/min
|}
</div>
Figures as given in the Wikipedia article and its sources.<ref name="wp"/>

{{Owner notes}}

== Photos ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170">
File:AeroncaTriChamp01A.JPG|Champion Tri-Traveller at the Canadian Museum of Flight on 23 July 1988. Photo: Ahunt, Public domain
File:Aeronca 7ac champion g-bpfm 1946 arp.jpg|Aeronca Champion. Photo: Arpingstone, Public domain
File:Aeronca 7bcm champion g-timp 1946 arp.jpg|Aeronca Champion. Photo: Arpingstone, Public domain
File:AeroncaChampion7-FCTri-ChampC-FNMB.JPG|Aeronca Champion. Photo: Ahunt at English Wikipedia, Public domain
File:Aeronca7ACChampC-GDZO.JPG|Aeronca Champion. Photo: Ahunt at English Wikipedia, Public domain
File:JabiruChamp.jpg|Aeronca Champion. Photo: FlugKerl2, CC BY-SA 3.0
File:Aeronca 7DC (N42344).jpg|1945 Aeronca 7DC C/N 7AC-409. Photo: Armchair Aviator's, CC BY 2.0
File:Aeronca7FC.jpg|Aeronca 7FC. Photo: FlugKerl2, CC BY-SA 3.0
</gallery>
All photos are from [[commons:Main Page|Wikimedia Commons]]; click a photo for its full credit and license.

== Buying a Aeronca Champion ==
{{For sale soon}}

== Sources ==
<references>
<ref name="wp">Wikipedia, "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeronca_Champion Aeronca Champion]", read November 1, 2026. Airplane Wiki's text is written in its own words; facts are checked against this article and its sources.</ref>
<ref name="faa">Federal Aviation Administration, [https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/releasable_aircraft_download 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.</ref>
</references>

Aeronca Champion - Revision history

Admin: New aircraft page: history, US registrations (FAA), specifications, photos, sources