NAMPA, Idaho — After a 10-year search, the Spirit of Flight Foundation Museum has added a Cassutt IIIM Formula One racing plane to its collection.
“We have had several Cassutt aircraft lined up over the years, but they just didn’t work out,” said Gordon Page, president of the Spirit of Flight Foundation. “Fortunately, a donor answered an advertisement we ran recently, and we are happy to say a Cassutt is on the way to the Spirit of Flight.”
The Cassutt was designed in 1954 by Tom Cassutt, an airline pilot from Long Island, New York. The tiny plane won the National Air Racing Championships in 1958.
Cassutt designed the plane as a single-place, cantilevered mid-wing Formula One sport racer. It was simple to build and was stressed for aerobatics to 12 Gs. It is popular as a racing plane, as it is inexpensive and offers high performance, according to museum officials.
The fuselage, engine mount, tail, and ailerons are constructed of steel tubing. The 15-foot wing is all wood with the main spar made of a simple flat piece of spruce laminations.
“The Cassutt will be hung from the ceiling of the Spirit of Flight Museum as if it were in an air race,” said Page. “We are dedicating it to our friends, Ib Hansen and Jay Jones. Air Racing trophies from Hansen and Jones are in the museum collection.”
More than 800 Cassutts have been built since Tom Cassutt began selling his plans, and they have been successful in Formula One racing ever since, museum officials added.
The Spirit of Flight Cassutt will join another famous air racer, Sky Baby aka Swea’ Pea, a 1947 plane built by Art Chester, who was recently inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
Founded in 1998, the non-profit Spirit of Flight Foundation features more than 2,500 aviation artifacts at the museum in Nampa, Idaho. Aircraft in the collection include a James Bond BD-5 jet, a 1936 Lockheed 12A, and a Radioplane target drone, built in the factory where Marilyn Monroe was discovered.
Hi, Jim! Nice to see that you remain a font of aviation historical knowledge. I am still flying the SX-300 and am currently helping a friend finish a Cassutt IIIM.
Regards,
Woody Menear
Thanks for that information. Spirit of Flight is thrilled to add the Cassutt to the collection.
The Cassutt was not designed in 1954. It first flew in 1954. The origins of the design date to the thirties, prior to the establishment of the “Goodyear Midget Class in 1946.
The origins of the wing date to the thirties. The wing is allegedly good for over 12G but the wing attach only 11G.
The picture of Tom with the Cassutt was taken at Brookhaven NY Airport where Tom did his initial testing. In that era Brookhaven was called Mastic Flight Strip.
N20N, Cassutt #1 and Bill Falck’s Rivets were the first racing airplanes I ever saw. Both in the hangar at Warwick, NY in Dec 1959. John Thompson had just purchased 20N a that time. I have a picture of Rivets and the Cassutt in formation near Warwick taken in late 1958.