Range Map

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1

Tank-dry, where fuel runs out at catalogue's stored cruise burn.

Excludes reserves: range beyond the dashed circle requires a leaner cruise than what we store. Great-circle, still air, book cruise. Estimates only: always verify against the POH.

Payload vs. Range

Occupants:

Fuel on board

Cargo

nm

Range

Cargo is additional payload after occupants and baggage.
full tanks
Available Range / nm
Mission capable. This load flies with full fuel.
Fuel reduced by . left aboard for nm range.
Over max payload by . At this load it cannot lift a single occupant.

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Mission Profile

MOSAIC Eligible
Used market Only available used
110
KTAS
Cruise Speed
360
nm
Max Range
16,000
ft
Service Ceiling
2
Occupants
429
lbs
Wet Payload
Endorsements & ratings:
  • Complex
Temco GC-1B Swift. Photo: Adam Hunt (Ahunt), public domain.
Temco GC-1B Swift. Photo: Adam Hunt (Ahunt), public domain.

Estimated Ownership Costs

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About the Globe GC-1 Swift

Type certificated 1946 Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet

Overview

The Globe GC-1B Swift is a two-seat, all-metal, low-wing sport monoplane with retractable gear and a sliding canopy, type-approved in 1946 under FAA TCDS A-766. Designed by R.S. “Pop” Johnson and built first by Globe Aircraft and then, after Globe’s 1947 bankruptcy, by Temco through 1951 (about 1,240 built). It was conceived as an affordable little fighter for the postwar civil boom, and it still flies that way: light, quick on the controls, and fun.

For a buyer it is the sporty counterpart to the utilitarian taildraggers of its era. Where the Aeronca 11 Chief and Luscombe 8 carry two people slowly and simply, the Swift folds its gear away and adds a fighter-like feel. Its clean stall around 50 knots keeps it inside the MOSAIC sport-pilot envelope, though the retractable gear and controllable prop mean a Sport Pilot needs the matching endorsements. Many airframes have been re-engined well beyond the original 125 hp, so any individual example must be checked for its actual engine and STCs.

Key Features for GA Buyers

  • Fighter-like handling: light, crisp elevator and ailerons make the Swift lively and responsive among two-seaters of its generation, with mild aerobatic capability behind the right engine.
  • All-metal durability: the stressed-skin airframe is over-built and holds up well, with corrosion rather than fatigue the main age concern.
  • Retractable economy: a retractable at low acquisition cost, burning roughly 7 gph behind the 125 hp Continental, with type support from the Swift Museum Foundation, which holds the type certificate.

Trade-offs

  • Demands taildragger currency: a comparatively narrow gear, small rudder, and small tailwheel give the Swift a ground-loop reputation; it rewards a current, attentive tailwheel pilot and punishes a careless one.
  • Modest speed when stock: the original 125 hp airframe cruises near 110 knots, well short of the optimistic 140 mph on old spec sheets, a figure that is really its structural cruising limit rather than a cruise speed; buyers wanting more pay for it with re-engine STCs.
  • Orphan-type dependence: parts and STCs run largely through the Swift Museum Foundation, a lifeline but a single point of support for a type no longer in production.

See Also

  • North American Navion – the four-seat step-up in the same postwar all-metal retractable lineage: cabin room and family hauling in place of the Swift’s two-seat sport feel. Compare
  • Ercoupe 415 – the same-era two-seat all-metal sportplane taking the opposite design path: spin-resistant and docile rather than sporty and demanding. Compare
  • Luscombe 8 – the same-era all-metal two-seater: a fixed-gear taildragger that is simpler and cheaper to own but slower and less of a sport machine. Compare

Technical Specifications

Dimensions & Weights

Wingspan 29 ft
Height
6 ft
Length
21 ft
Parking area (ft²2)
1,014 ft²
Max Takeoff Weight
Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 1,710 lbs
Max Landing Weight
1,710 lbs
Useful Load
585 lbs
Fuel Capacity
Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 26 gal

Performance

Cruise Speed
Source: third-party reference 110 KTAS
Never-Exceed (VNE)
Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 161 KIAS
Max Structural Cruise (VNO)
Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 122 KIAS
Approach Speed
57 KIAS
Stall, Clean (VS1)
Estimated/derived; not a published figure 50 KIAS
Range
Source: third-party reference 360 NM
Service Ceiling
Source: third-party reference 16,000 ft
Rate of Climb
1000 fpm

Engine

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Sources

Where the figures on this page come from. Globe GC-1 Swift specifications are traced to published references; estimated values are flagged inline next to the figure.

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