Luscombe Factory To Be Auctioned Off

What do you get? There’s a sizable list of shop equipment from professional-grade aircraft-building tools to a Toyota forklift, plus a long list of hand tools. But the prizes here might be the complete set of factory jigs to build a Luscombe 8A and the FAA Type Certificate that would get you started on building them legally. Starman also lists “a large selection” of already completed Luscombe parts for 8A through 8F models as well as at least one partial fuselage and wing sections.

You don’t have to be an aircraft historial to appreciate the Luscombe 8 series. Don Luscombe penned the Model 8 in 1937, his third and by far most successful design. Like so many in GA during this prewar period, the Luscombe 8 gained power and features over time, eventually becoming part of the Civilian Pilot Training Program in 1941. Some 1,000 8Ds were aimed at training U.S. pilots in case the country were pulled into war.

Luscombe, like so many others in post WWII America, hoped returning military would take up flying and stepped up production as soon as they could. Unfortunately, Luscombe’s move to a new factory in Texas meant it wasn’t ready for the expected onslaught, which, in fact, was a boom that soon went bust. By 1947, GA sales had collapsed, putting many previously prosperous companies out of business.

Nearly 6,000 Luscombe 8s were built before the company went bankrupt in 1948, to be sold to Temco, which also would come to own the Globe Swift. 

The FAA says some 875 Model 8As are still registered, though it’s hard to know how many are still flyable. About 370 of the later Model 8E and 127 8Fs are on the FAA registry at the moment.

Seriously considering it? Visit the Starman site or call 480-396-0380 for more information.