Luscombe Aircraft is a former United States aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1933 to 1950. Founded by Donald A. Luscombe in Kansas City, Missouri, the company specialized in aircraft design with the aim of creating all-metal monocoque construction, which was less expensive and more efficient than the then-popular tube-and-fabric method. Their first aircraft, the Luscombe Model 1 or Luscombe Phantom, was a high-wing, two-place monoplane that was challenging to land and ultimately not successful in the market.
After relocating to Trenton, New Jersey in 1934/35 and being incorporated as the Luscombe Aircraft Development Corporation, the company designed a simplified version of the Phantom known as the Luscombe 90 or Model 4, which was first flown in 1936. In 1937, the Luscombe Aircraft Corporation was formed in New Jersey to design the Luscombe 50 or Model 8, which became the company’s most famous product with 5,867 units built. Luscombe also introduced a four-place model, the Model 11, in 1946, designed to meet specifications produced by the Flying Farmers of America.
Despite their initial success, the firm was bankrupt in 1948, and its assets were acquired by Temco the following year. The tooling, parts, and other assets were purchased by Otis Massey, a former Luscombe dealer since the 1930s, when TEMCO of Dallas, Texas decided to discontinue production. Massey’s new venture, Silvaire Uranium and Aircraft Company, utilized the Luscombe assets and produced 80 aircraft from 1956 to 1961, with the make and model for all of them being Silvaire 8-F.