Specifications

*Aircraft listed "On Loan" are privately owned by individuals or corporations and are proudly displayed at the Estrella Warbird Museum. The Estrella WarBirds Museum does not own, restore, operate nor maintain flyable aircraft. We are grateful that the owners display their aircraft at the museum for the public to view. Any courtesy rides given by aircraft owners is an agreement solely between the person that owns the aircraft and passenger.

In Flight

History

Donald A. Luscombe founded the Luscombe aircraft company in 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri. Luscombe had already made his reputation as an aircraft designer with the Monocoupe series of light aircraft, but he felt that the tube-and-fabric method of construction was too expensive and inefficient. He planned to create a light aircraft that was all-metal monocoque construction.

The Luscombe Aircraft Company moved to New Jersey and made a name for itself building two-seat, all-metal sport aircraft before World War II. The most famous was the Model 8, many of which were used in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (1938-1944) to train pilots in preparation for the war. 

After the war, Luscombe responded to a 1947 Air Force requirement for a new liaison aircraft to replace the L-4H Grasshopper by redesigning the Model 8 to feature tandem seating and large bubble windows for the observer. Designated XT8E, the aircraft did well in Air Force trials, but lost out to the Aeronca L-16 on the basis of price.

Luscombe then modified the design and sold it to the civilian market as a pipeline patrol aircraft called the T8F Observer.

The firm was bankrupt in 1948 and its assets were purchased the following year by Temco, who continued production on the Luscombe 8F series, but relocated to Dallas.