Funk Model B, Even the Army Had One
The Funk was a two-place, side-by-side light aircraft. Only 300 were built and are now collector’s item. The Army Air Force had a single Funk liaison aircraft.
By: Norm Goyer
Some time ago I owned a small airport in upstate New York near Albany. I had several local pilots who kept their aircraft in one of my three small hangars. Among them was a retired school principal who owned a very unusual aircraft and used it to give a very unusual passenger rides around the rolling hills of New York. We called the teacher the “Professor” and he owned a very rare aircraft. About once a month would show up, roll his blue Funk out, dust it off and proceed to take his favorite passenger for a ride. His passenger was always his Russian Blue cat, and she was a beauty. Our airport cat, a grizzled weather beaten yellow tom, thought the professor’s kitty was pretty neat. The professor had attached a small padded platform to the back of the bench seat so his kitty could have an unrestricted view. It was very beautiful in Delanson, NY with the rolling hills surrounding the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal. These two famous water ways bordered our little hill-top airport. It was a great area for sightseeing rides. I can just imagine the jokes about the poor professor being in a Blue Funk he had to endure over the years.
The Funk was first powered with a Ford tractor engine, then a 75-hp Lycoming and finally a 85-hp Continental.
The history of the Funk is almost as unusual as the professor and his pussycat. Incidentally, the airport was registered with the FAA and was on the charts as Goyer Airport, something I had always dreamed of, owning, my very own airport. Unfortunately, or fortunately, a year later a local car dealer offered me so much money for my dream airport that I sold it and moved to California. Smartest move of my rather convoluted life.
This beautifully restored 1948 Funk was owned by John Maxfield. This is one of several popular paint combinations for restored Funks.
The Funk Model B was the first powered aircraft designed by brothers Howard and Joe Funk, whose previous experience was in homebuilt gliders and sailplanes. The Funk was similar in appearance to a Piper J-4 Cub Coupe, the Model B was a strut-braced high-wing monoplane with a conventional tail unit and fixed tailwheel landing gear. The first Funk aircraft was powered by the brothers’ own Model E engine developed from a Ford tractor engine. When the test flights were successful the brothers formed the Akron Aircraft Company in 1939 to build the Funk B. After production began, the engine was changed to a 75hp Lycoming GO-145-C2 horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine and was re-designated the Model B-75-L. This was the Funk that the professor owned.
The Funk brothers first installed a Ford tractor engine, but found that it was not suitable and switched to a Lycoming 75-hp horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine.
In 1941 the company moved from Akron to Kansas and the company was renamed the Funk Aircraft Company. Production was stopped during the Second World War and one aircraft was pressed into service in 1942 with the United States Army Air Corps as the UC-92.After the war in 1946, production was resumed using a Continental C-85-12 engine and the aircraft was renamed the Funk Bee, Model B-85-C. It did not sell well, and production was halted in 1948. Over 300 aircraft of all variants had been built.
Specifications Funk B-85-C
General characteristics
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Crew: Two
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Length: 20 ft 5 in
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Wingspan: 35 ft 0 in
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Height: 6 ft 1 in
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Wing area: 169 ft²
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Empty weight: 890 lb
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Gross weight: 1350 lb
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Powerplant: Continental C-85-12F flat-four piston engine, 85 hp
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Performance
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Maximum speed: 117 mph
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Range: 365 miles
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Service ceiling: 15,500 ft
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February 3rd, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Norm:
Great story about the professor and his cat – makes aviation history interesting!
In all there were 339 Funks built, 110 in Akron, OH., and 229 in Coffeyville, KS. Their move to Kansas did not work out as well as that of another Ohio company, Culver Aircraft of Port Columbus, that moved to Wichita over Thanksgiving 1940. During the war they produced almost 2,500 drones – and was said to be the largest “black budget” item of USAAF/USN procurement.
As for the one Army owned Funk, the UC-92. Not is much known on this aircraft’s use. It came on to the inventory in August 1942, when all civil aviation in Panama ceased. One suspect’s that it may have become the leisure mount of one of the high-ups in the Canal Zone.
Again, appreciate your articles
John M. Davis
Wichita, KS
February 4th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Interesting article about the Funk. I am the proud owner of 3 Funks, currently one is flying, I finished restoreing N81143 about 2 years ago it flys good. I recently started restoreing N77726 both of these are 1946 models. I also own what is left of serial #406 a 1947 model, it crashed and burned in 1948 and layed in the pasture where it crashed for many years, a machinery dealer traded it in, the donated it to the museum in Marmarth ND. where layed in a pile for a few years I heard about it a few years ago from a Funk owner in California. Because I was the closest Funk owner, in Spearfish SD, I made a deal and purchased what was left and it is now in the rafters in my hanger.
If you want more information go to Funk Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association on the Web. or funkflyers.org it is a great organization.
Subnitted by Richard Krogstad Spearfish, SD