Very old Radial engine cowl, but for what airplane?

A friends father passed away about a year ago and cleaning out his storage shed, they came across this cowl. It obviously came off of a 7 cylinder radial engine powered plane, and is very old, Maybe a WW 1 plane? The diameter is 37 inches and it's 18 inches from center hole to the back edge. The paint appears to be a very faded OD and it has some yellow/orange underneath it where it has been worn off.

Any help would be apprecited. The owner will sell to a serious buyer.

Dash


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It's an original cowling for a D-145 Monocoupe circa 1934

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Originally Posted by BTBFlyboy

It's an original cowling for a D-145 Monocoupe circa 1934

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I did some searching on Google and could not find much on that plane. Would you happen to have a good photo of one shoiwing this cowl?

Thanks,

Dash

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.....or a Luscombe Phantom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34076827@N00/4540981129/

The D-145 and the Phantom were the only production aircraft to use the Watters Tunnel cowl and both were powered with a 145hp Warner Super Scarab engine. Ironically, Don Luscombe had a hand in the design of both airplanes. Some consider the Phantom a metalized D-145. Also, the Bureau of Air Commerce bought 15 D-145's for their inspectors to fly, however, they preceded to tear the airplanes up at a rather alarming rate. So much so that the BAC deemed the airplane unreliable and since the BAC pilots could not handle the D-145, the airplane was "too hot" for the general public and they destroyed the airplanes rather than sell them.

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Originally Posted by wacoc8

.....or a Luscombe Phantom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34076827@N00/4540981129/

The D-145 and the Phantom were the only production aircraft to use the Watters Tunnel cowl and both were powered with a 145hp Warner Super Scarab engine. Ironically, Don Luscombe had a hand in the design of both airplanes. Some consider the Phantom a metalized D-145. Also, the Bureau of Air Commerce bought 15 D-145's for their inspectors to fly, however, they preceded to tear the airplanes up at a rather alarming rate. So much so that the BAC deemed the airplane unreliable and since the BAC pilots could not handle the D-145, the airplane was "too hot" for the general public and they destroyed the airplanes rather than sell them.

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While similar, the Phantom cowl is much deeper in chord than the Monocoupe cowl. The pictured cowl is most certainly off a D-145 . Also I'd be interested to learn more about the supposed destruction (by the government ??) of the BAC's D-145's as I had not heard that story before. I have heard that several of the BAC D-145's were destroyed in a hangar fire at Kansas City Municipal Airport in the 30's.

Thanks fellows for the photos and comments. That seems pretty conclusive as to what this cowl came off of. Would any of you know if any of these planes are still flying? As I said earlier, the owner would like to see if it has any value to someone.

Dash

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Originally Posted by Dash7ATP

Thanks fellows for the photos and comments. That seems pretty conclusive as to what this cowl came off of. Would any of you know if any of these planes are still flying? As I said earlier, the owner would like to see if it has any value to someone.

Dash

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Put it on Barnstormers and see what happens, you never know who has a project.

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Originally Posted by BTBFlyboy

While similar, the Phantom cowl is much deeper in chord than the Monocoupe cowl. The pictured cowl is most certainly off a D-145 . Also I'd be interested to learn more about the supposed destruction (by the government ??) of the BAC's D-145's as I had not heard that story before. I have heard that several of the BAC D-145's were destroyed in a hangar fire at Kansas City Municipal Airport in the 30's.

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I will agree that the Phantom cowl skirt looks to be longer than the D-145. The story about the BAC D-145's I either read or was discussed among the many Monocoupe owner/pilots that I have talked to over the years at fly-ins (such as Woody Edmondson, Pop Hatcher, Dick Austin, John McCollough, etc). Jack Cox did a wonderful article in Sport Aviation back in the early 80's on the "Carolina Coupe" D-145 that is currently in Nebraska.
As for selling the cowling, there are 6 D-145's left in existance that I know of and one of those is Lindburg's that is hanging in the terminal at STL (I guess it's still there). There are 7 Phantoms registered with the FAA but only 6 of those are real. I agree with Tom Downey. Run an ad on Barnstormers. You never know.