By Barry Collman
First published in Flight Levels Online, Winter 2014 issue
The Model 560E was the fifth one to be placed into production, the first 46 by the Aero Design & Engineering Company at Tulakes Airport (later re-named Wiley Post) in Bethany, Oklahoma City, and the last 47 by the Aero Design & Engineering Company as a subsidiary of the Rockwell-Standard Corporation.
The 93 examples were built between March 1957 and May 1960, with serial numbers in the range 434 through 884, although serial number 434 had been converted from a 560A(HC).
Of the 93 560Es built, 34 initially were certified in 1957; 14 in 1958; 34 in 1959; and 11 in 1960. Six of the 93 were later converted to Model 680Es.
A factory document describes the 560E, under Wing Drawing 5170023 with a 32-inch wingtip extension introduced, as “certified on February 21, 1957 under the following certification basis: CAR 3, November 1, 1945, Amendment 12, May 18, 1954, and 3-431, May 15, 1956. This aircraft is the same as the Model 560A except for the 32-inch wingtip extension added to the tips and the increase in gross from 6000 pounds to 6500 pounds. The engines were later changed from Lycoming GO-480-C1B6 to Lycoming GO-480-G1B6.”
The Model 560E was indeed certified on February 21, 1957, and was added to Type Certificate 6A1, which says “Same as Model 560A except for engine installation, structural changes to the wing, wheel and brake installation, revised fuel system, and new landing gear location.”
The first 34 560Es had the 295-hp Lycoming GO-480-C1B6 engines, the remaining 59 leaving the factory with the G1B6 variant, which has piston cooling jets. The first 55 examples had the 86-inch-diameter Hartzell HC-83X20-2C/8833-2 propellers while the remaining 38 examples used the HC-83X20-2C1-variant hub.
Gross weight of the 560E is 6,500 pounds.
N2015, s/n 434, was the first example built of the Model 560E. It was built initially as a Model 560A(HC) and certificated as such on November 20, 1956 as N2758B. On February 27, 1957, the factory authorized the change to a 560E and it was certificated on March 11, 1957. Named “Boomtown I,” it established a World Distance Record in Class C-1d (Landplanes, takeoff weight 1,750 to 3,000 kg) on May 25, 1957, flown by Jerrie Cobb. It was subsequently purchased by the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, DC and re-registered as N2 on September 30, 1958. The next owner, East Coast Flying Service of Jacksonville, Florida, re-registered it as N2015 on November 4, 1966. In April 1977 it was registered to the Federal Land Corp. in Miramar, Florida. The registration was revoked on October 30, 1981, and then formally cancelled July 10, 2009. Its fate remains unknown.
