Executive express?

If you were a wealthy industrialist or film star looking for an executive aircraft in the mid-1930’s your choices were somewhat limited.

J Paul Getty acquired the Spartan Aircraft Company in 1935 and soon contracted James B Ford, a renowned aircraft designer of the period, to design a new ‘Standard Seven’ – a low wing all-metal monoplane capable of flying four or five in comfort at 200mph. It first flew in March 1936 powered by a Jacobs L-5 engine of 285hp. It was fitted with a novel long fin and although futuristic for its day, it proved underpowered and the long fin unsatisfactory.

A redesigned Spartan Executive with a conventional upright tail, a new 450hp Pratt and Whitney R985 coupled with a Hamilton-Standard constant speed propeller first flew in September 1936 and this provided the required 200mph cruise speed. However, with a 10,000 man-hour build time each aircraft cost around $23,000 to build (approximately $360,000 at today’s values). Consequently, only 34 were built of which 19 are airworthy, the two in these photographs being the only remaining examples in Europe.