The First Federal Aircraft Type Certificate 

On March 29, 1927, the federal 

government issued its first aircraft 

type certificate when the Department 

of Commerce Aeronautics Branch 

issued Aircraft Type Certificate No. 

1 to the Buhl Airster CA-3 (also 

known as the J4 Airster after its 

Wright J4 engine), a three-place 

open biplane. The company had 

applied for the certificate on January 

31, 1927. John L. Hosch, a 1925 MIT 

engineering graduate, signed the 

certificate for the Aeronautics Branch. Hosch died the following month after an airplane accident 

while on duty. 

Designed by 

Alfred Verville, 

the plane had an 

empty weight of 

1,686 pounds 

and its engine 

had a horsepower 

rating of 200. 

The single-bay 

biplane with 

equal-span 

unstaggered 

wings accommodated the pilot and passengers in tandem open 

cockpits. The manufacturer marketed the plane for a variety of 

roles including crop-dusting, aerial photography, and freight 

carriage. The Buhl factory only built a few CA-3s. 

The Department of Commerce Aeronautics Branch, established in May 1926, had issued the first 

Air Commerce Regulations on December 31, 1926. Those regulations specified in Chapter 1, 

Sec. 21, how a manufacturer obtained a type certificate: 

(A) A manufacturer of airplanes in quantities and of an exact similarity of 

type, structure, materials, assembly, and workmanship may, at the option of 

the manufacturer, file with the Secretary of Commerce an application for 

an approved type certificate. 

 (B) The application must be accompanied, under oath, by: 
1. Three view drawings of the airplane with main dimensions, 

aerodynamical and other characteristics, accompanied by a balance 

diagram for varying conditions of load to be employed. 

2. Description of power plant and power-plant installation with 

illustrative diagrams. 

3. Description of wings, fuselage, including engine mount, landing 

gear and tail surfaces, materials employed, and drawings or 

dimensioned sketches of main structural members. 

4. Stress analysis, with signature of the responsible engineer. 

The Branch agreed to keep all information furnished by the manufacturer 

confidential. 

(C) If the Secretary of Commerce approved the submitted design and the 

aircraft met requirements, it would be inspected for exact similarity with 

the submitted design and specifications. Upon passing such inspection, the 

airplane had to undergo flight tests. If the aircraft passed the tests, the 

Secretary of Commerce issued an approved type certificate to the 

manufacturer. 

(D) Once a manufacturer received an approved type certificate, he had to 

file a quarterly affidavit with the Secretary of Commerce showing the 

number of airplanes constructed under the approved type certificate during 

the quarter, with a statement that no airplane being constructed under the 

approved type certificate deviated from the terms thereof. 

(E) Manufacturers of airplanes constructed under an approved type 

certificate could make changes with the approval of the Secretary of 

Commerce. 

Although the rules seemed fairly basic and straightforward, obtaining a type certificate 

proved somewhat difficult. In 1927, the Aeronautics Branch suffered from limited 

resources in terms of budgets and staff. To simplify and expedite approvals of type 

certificates, in October 1927, the Branch required aircraft manufacturers to meet 

minimum engineering standards set forth in detail in a new handbook. Manufacturers still 

had to send blueprints and engineering data to the Branch for examination by its 

engineering section. If the data conformed to the standards, a Branch inspector went to 

the factory to determine if the manufacturer adhered to the approved design and 

specification. If the inspector found no issues, one aircraft of the type being manufactured 

underwent flight tests – first by a company pilot and then by a federal inspector. If the 

aircraft passed the flight tests, the Department of Commerce issued a type certificate. 

If a manufacturer opted not to secure a type certificate for an aircraft type, he had to 

subject each aircraft produced to the same analysis and tests undergone by a typecertificated model before he could obtain an airworthiness certificate for each plane. 
The Aeronautics Branch issued 21 type certificates in 1927: 

1. Buhl-Verville CA-3 

2. Boeing 40-A 

3. Johnson Twin 60 

4. Douglas O-2 

5. Douglas M-2 

6. Douglas M-4 

7. Alexander Eaglerock Combo-Wing 

8. Alexander Eaglerock Long-Wing 

9. Fokker Universal 

10. Fairchild FC-2 

11. Waco 9 

12. Buhl CA-5 

13. Waco 10 

14. Douglas C-1 

15. Driggs Dart 2 

16. Stinson SM-1 

17. American Eagle A-1 

18. Pitcairn PA-5 

19. Kreider-Reisner C-2 

20. Fairchild FC-2W 

21. Swallow OX-5