Culver
Dart GC
Photo: Robert Deering 7/21/2018
Frontiers of Flight Museum
Love Field (DAL)

Dallas, Texas
The Culver Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s.
PHOTOS        
General Aviation Aircraft Military AIrcraft      

Dart GC

PQ-14B
     

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 to The Culver Aircraft Company in 1939. In December 1939, Culver produced the Culver Model L, later renaming it to the Culver 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 (founder of Beechcraft) 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 long after the end of World War II, Culver Aircraft entered bankruptcy, the Mooney brothers departed 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.

Source: Wikipedia

AIRCRAFT    
General Aviation Aircraft    
Dart G 1938  
Dart GC 1939  
Dart GK 1938  
Dart GW 1939  
Dart GW Special 1939  
Cadet LCA 1939  
Cadet LFA 1939  
Cadet LFA-90 1941  
Culver Model V 1946  
     
Military Aircraft    
LAR (Army A-8) 1941 Redesignated as PQ-8
LAR-90 (Army PQ-8) 1941  
PQ-8A 1941  
PQ-14A/TD2C Turkey 1942  
PQ-14B    
Q-8A   Redesignated PQ-8s
Q-14   Redesignated PQ-14s
TDC-1 1941  
TDC-2 1941  
XPQ-14 1942 Converted PQ-8
XPQ-14C   Converted PQ-14B