Aeronca Chief family

The Aeronca Chief family is the line of American high-winged light touring aircraft that Aeronca Aircraft built from the late 1930s, beginning with the steel tube braced Aeronca K of 1937 and growing through the Scout, Sea Scout, Chief, Super Chief, Tandem, Defender and postwar Champion variants. The aircraft share a welded steel tube fuselage covered in fabric and wooden wings braced by V-struts. Once the 50 Chief appeared, the maker named its models from the engine power and make fitted rather than by a letter. Side-by-side cabin versions served as private tourers, while tandem versions with a raised rear seat trained pilots and, in wartime, flew as observation and liaison aircraft or as glider trainers for the United States Army Air Forces. Engines came from Aeronca, Continental, Franklin, Lycoming and Menasco, and the postwar 7AC Champion and 11AC Chief carried the design lineage forward.