Taylorcraft 15

The Taylorcraft 15, which entered production as the 15A Tourist, was a four-seat, high-wing, strut-braced monoplane developed from the two-seat Taylorcraft BC with a more powerful engine. It had an enclosed cabin with 2+2 seating and dual controls, a welded steel tube fuselage covered in fabric, wings of mixed wood and metal construction with flaps and fixed leading-edge slots, and a tailwheel undercarriage. Designed in 1943 and 1944, the prototype NX36320 first flew on 1 November 1944; its 125 horsepower Lycoming proved too weak and was replaced by a 150 horsepower Franklin. A 1946 fire at the Alliance factory and the company bankruptcy delayed production, which began under Ben Mauro at Conway, Pennsylvania, and ended with fewer than 30 built.