Culver Aircraft Company


The Culver Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s.

History

The Dart Manufacturing Corporation was founded in Columbus, Ohio, by Monocoupe dealer Knight K. Culver and Al Mooney to purchase the rights to the Mooney-designed Monosport G from the defunct Lambert Aircraft Corporation. The company was renamed The Culver Aircraft Company in 1939. In December 1939, Culver produced the Culver Model L, later renaming it Cadet. Production was supervised by Al's brother, Art Mooney.
Having moved from Columbus to Wichita, Kansas, after producing 50 aircraft, two retractable-gear models, the LFA and LCA, were introduced, and in 1941 the company was taken over by Walter Beech and Charles Yankey. The company switched to subcontract work during World War II. Culver produced a radio-controlled pilotless aircraft based on the LFA for use as target drones. Over 3000 PQ-8/TDC and PQ-14/TD2C gunnery target drones were produced for the USAAF and USN.
In 1945, Culver developed the Model V. The V, also known as the M-17, featured a patented flight control system, known as Simpli-Fly Control, which automated a number of flight functions; the system was looked down upon by pilots, and the Model V was not considered a success. The Model V was developed into the XPQ-15 drone, but did not win production orders; not very long after the end of World War II, Culver Aircraft entered bankruptcy, the Mooney brothers departing to form the Mooney Aircraft Company and the manufacturing plant was purchased by the Coleman Company. In 1956, the Superior Aircraft Company was established, purchasing the assets of the Culver Aircraft Company, and put the Model V back into production as the Superior Satellite.

Aircraft

Model nameFirst flightNumber builtNotes
Dart G50
Dart GC10
Dart GK25
Dart GW8
Dart GW Special2
Cadet LCA
Cadet LFA
Cadet LFA-90
LAR Redesignated as PQ-8
LAR-90 200
PQ-8A 200
Q-8ARedesignated PQ-8s.
PQ-101940s0
TDC-11
TDC-2201
XPQ-14 1Converted PQ-8
PQ-14A/TD2C Turkey 1400
PQ-14B 1100
XPQ-14C 1Converted PQ-14B
Q-14 Redesignated PQ-14s
XPQ-15
Culver Model V90