title: Thaden T-4
text: # Thaden T-4
  
  The Thaden T-4 Argonaut was a 1930s American four-seat all-metal cabin monoplane built by the Thaden Metal Aircraft Company of San Francisco, California.
  
  ## Design and development
  
  The T-4 was the third and last design of the Thaden Metal Aircraft Company which had been formed by Herbert von Thaden, a former United States Army Signal Corps pilot and engineer, to work on developing the first American all-metal aircraft. The T-4 was a high-wing monoplane powered by a 300 hp (224 kW) Wright Whirlwind radial engine. It had a fixed conventional landing gear with a tailwheel. Two aircraft were built.
  
  ## Specifications
  
  Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1931, Aerofiles
  
  General characteristics
  
  * Crew: 1
  * Capacity: 3 pax
  * Length: 32 ft 10 in (10.01 m)
  * Wingspan: 45 ft (14 m)
  * Height: 9 ft (2.7 m)
  * Wing area: 277.4 sq ft (25.77 $m^2)$
  * Empty weight: 2,366 lb (1,073 kg)
  * Gross weight: 3,800 lb (1,724 kg)
  * Fuel capacity: 96 US gal (80 imp gal; 360 L) fuel tank capacity; 636 lb (288 kg) fuel and oil
  * Powerplant: 1 × Wright Whirlwind 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 300 hp (220 kW)
  * Propellers: 2-bladed Hamilton Standard fixed-pitch metal propeller
  
  Performance
  
  * Maximum speed: 135 mph (217 km/h, 117 kn)
  * Cruise speed: 110 mph (180 km/h, 96 kn) *Landing speed: 59 mph (51 kn; 95 km/h)
  * Range: 600 mi (970 km, 520 nmi)
  * Rate of climb: 920 ft/min (4.7 m/s)
  * Wing loading: 13.88 lb/sq ft (67.8 $kg/m^2)$
  * Power/mass: 12.67 lb/hp (7.71 kg/kW)
  