The Weaver Aircraft Company (Waco Aircraft) produced many exceptional airplanes in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. There are a number of books and articles about their work and history available as well as resources for research and information. I’ll list my favorites here with some brief notes.
Raymond H. Brandly has written more about Waco and Wacos than anyone. His definitive and fascinating history of the company and its aircraft is “Waco Airplanes: Ask Any Pilot” which, like all his books, is now out of print but usually available used on Amazon.
Brandly’s “Waco Airplanes: Manufactured by Advanced Aircraft co., Troy, Ohio” contains a list of every model made, their key specifications and photos as well as dimensional drawings. Very useful for the restorer it also includes factory color charts, striping schemes and options available by year and model.
Brandly’s “Waco Aircraft Production 1923-1942” contains specifications, performance data, photos and pricing for all models.
His “Waco Taperwings” is an interesting history of the Taperwing models.
Brandley’s “The Famous F Series” is a history of all the F models beginning in 1930 along with performance data, drawings, photos, original pricing and production data.
His “The Versatile Cabin Series” does the same thing for the bewildering array of enclosed cabin models that the F Series book does.
The National Waco Club is a great source of information about the company, its planes and even individual aircraft. There is an extensive cache of historical photos available to anyone on the Club’s website at www.nationalwacoclub.com. Club members also have access to production build records for every individual aircraft ever produced by Waco. Members have access to an online forum which is chockfull of information. At only $25 dollars per year for dues, like the American Waco Club, membership is a bargain. The American Waco Club’s website at www.americanwacoclub.com is not as full of information as the NWC’s but worth a visit.
The Waco Aircraft Museum located on Waco Field in Troy, Ohio has tremendous resources of information on the company and its planes as well as a nice collection of aircraft and memorabilia. https://www.wacoairmuseum.org/
There is a great resource article “Waco Talk Explained” in the May/Jun 2024 issue of the Vintage Aircraft Association’s “Vintage Magazine” here: https://cdn.coverstand.com/59873/819984/a2c823a6775506ece73c36f4ed39036b6ce6bb74.pdf
The nomenclature can also be found, along with lots of information on Waco models and individual aircraft history at www.aerofiles.com.
All the drawings Waco used in the construction of their aircraft were given to the Smithsonian when the company went out of business. However, Steve Curry of Radial Engines Limited has a DVD available for $25 with all drawings on it. www. https://www.radialengines.com/.
Written By
Tony Caldwell
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