Vintage Wings - Bates Monoplane - 1912

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Bates Monoplane - 1912

Carl Sterling Bates constructed his first airplane in 1908, patterned after the early Curtiss biplanes. He also built aircraft motors and gained a reputation for their lightness and reliability.
In 1911 he is credited with a monoplane of original design powered with a Bates 30 Hp. engine, that was also used on the Steinhous tandem biplane and the Hibbard monoplane of the same period.
The aircraft was built using a steel tube structure for the rear section and landing gear, fitted to a wooden fuselage. Wings and tailplanes were built in the traditional fabric covered style.
The steel tube structure was painted in yellow and the fuselage, wings and tailplanes in black, giving the aircraft an unusual and distinctive look.
Bates tested and flew his design at Cicero Field before the airport officially opened. His monoplane demonstrated, and crashed on the same day when the field opened on 4 July, 1911.
The aircraft was then rebuilt fitting a 3-cylinder Poyer engine by Edward Bayard Heath, who eventually purchased Bates company.
An example of a 1912 Bates monoplane is in the EAA Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It was purchased in 1918 and stored in a barn until it's restoration in 1957.

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