Swallow LT65

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The Swallow LT65 was a U.S. civil trainer aircraft designed by Harold Dale and built by the Swallow Airplane Company. It came from two early prototypes made by Dale Aircraft of Pomona, California. The LT65 was a conventional low-wing plane with the pilot and instructor sitting in tandem under a large glazed canopy. It had a fixed tailwheel undercarriage with large wheel spats, and the wings were braced to the fuselage with struts and wires. The nose housed a piston engine with a tractor propeller. The fuselage and tail were welded steel tube, the outer wing panels used spruce spars and ribs, and the whole aircraft was fabric-covered.

The first prototype, Dale A NX18972 (later NC18972), had a 40 hp Continental A-40 engine. When a 50 hp Menasco M-50 engine became available, a second prototype, the Dale Air-Dale M-50 (NC21736), was built. Dale partnered with George Frohlich and Roland Brownsberger to market that design, available in open-cockpit and canopied versions.

Swallow bought the second prototype and the manufacturing rights, hoping to market it as the LT65 with a 65 hp Continental engine, dual controls, and space for dual flight and engine instruments. It was advertised as easy to fly and easy to maintain.

In 1941 Swallow planned a new factory of about 40,000 square feet to begin production, but World War II redirected priorities and resources away from civil aircraft. Swallow never sold any LT65s, devoting the war years to training aircraft mechanics and making components for Boeing bombers.