Glencoe Models Curtis Condor

GL6101

Please note that this has an unusual scale of 1:81

The Curtiss T-32 Condor II, also known as the Curtiss-Wright CW-4, biplane airliner was even more of an anachronism than its namesake, the Condor 18 of four years earlier. Its only concession was the landing gear, its main units retracting into the engine nacelles. A two-bay biplane of mixed construction, with a wire braced single fin and rudder assembly, the T-32 prototype made its maiden flight on January 30, 1933. Layout for most of the production batch of 21 aircraft that followed was as a luxury 12-passenger night sleeper airliner, and a number of T-32s flew with Eastern Air Transport and American Airways during the following three years of regular night service.

Two modified T-32s were commission by the US Army as transports and operated until 1938 under the designation YC-30. One Condor was finished with extra fuel tanks as a long-range version for use by the 1933 Byrd Antarctic Expedition. It was equipped with twin-floats, skis, or a fixed landing gear.

Ten T-32 were ultimately converted to AT-32 standards and these were designated T-32C. Four T-32s operated under British civil registrations. At the outbreak of World War II these were impressed into the RAF and flown as light transports. Swissair also operated one AT-32. It was the first airliner in Europe to have a Stewardess, but sadly met a tragic end shortly after beginning service in March of 1934, when it crashed killing all on board.

€24.00

Out of stock