What do you get when you take a gifted aeronautical engineering professor, a group of eager junior college students, and mix in a Howard Hughes connection? The result is a streamlined and efficient retractable gear monoplane, the Harlow PJC. The equal of anything in the air before World War II.
This story begins in the late 1930s in Southern California. The Great Depression was winding down, WWII was on the horizon, and advances in aviation were coming in leaps and bounds.
Enter Max Harlow, a talented engineer whose résumé included a stint with the Lockheed brothers, chief engineer on the Kinner series of monoplanes, structural engineering on the Douglas DC-2, and design work on the stunning Hughes H-1 Racer. In 1935, Harlow joined the faculty of Pasadena Junior College—now known as Pasadena City College—as an engineering professor and leader of its aero tech laboratory.
Junior colleges have traditionally focused on workforce education, and in Depression-era America, this was especially true. With the full support of the college, Harlow designed the first of a series of retractable-gear monoplanes, the PJC-1—with “PJC” standing for Pacific Junior College.
The next step was to gather a team of students to turn this “paper airplane” into a full-scale flying prototype. According to the college’s historical records, “senior students with previous construction experience handled most of the designing, building and assembling under the supervision of Max B. Harlow and F.A. Hoffman.”
The PJC-1 prototype first took to the air in 1937 and soon began certification testing required by the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA)—the precursor to the FAA. Sadly, during certification testing, the PJC-1 failed to recover from a spin test. The government test pilot bailed out and was uninjured, but the prototype was a write-off.
Undeterred, Harlow and his merry band of students constructed a second prototype, the PJC-2. This version was equipped with modified flight controls based on lessons learned from the initial prototype, had a larger vertical stabilizer, and several other minor improvements. The PJC-2’s first flight was in 1937, and it achieved CAA certification in May 1938. This rapid progress is quite remarkable when compared to the snail’s pace of current aircraft certification.
Before we get into the production, service, and variants of the PJC-2, let’s take a look at this remarkable airplane.
I had the opportunity to get a close-up look at the PJC-2 housed in the Experimental Aircraft Association Aviation museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The fuselage consists of semistressed monocoque construction, similar to the Formula 1 race cars of the 1960s, and the beautiful workmanship and attention to detail is evident.
The main landing gear folds neatly inboard into the forward wing root, and the wheels are fully enclosed by ingenious little half-wheel spats that fold out at a 90-degree angle when the gear is extended. The original sported a Warner Super Scarab engine putting out 145 hp enclosed in a tight cowl that expands into a very streamlined greenhouse.
The windows are quite low-profile and much smaller than you might expect. The large vertical tail completes the picture. The entire package weighs in at around 2,600 pounds, about the same weight of most modern popular piston singles.
Cruise speed with the Warner Scarab is about 150 mph, service ceiling around 15,000 feet, and a range of 700 miles. However, as most of the remaining production aircraft sported 165 and 185 hp variants of the rugged little 7-cylinder Scarab, these figures are a bit conservative. Those are remarkable performance numbers for a 1940 vintage all-metal monoplane that is as beautiful to look at as it is to fly.
Having created an efficient airplane, Harlow formed the Harlow Aircraft Company in California at the nearby Alhambra Airport. The firm was funded by a Hughes associate and staffed primarily by the Pasadena Junior College students. In all, 11 PJC-2s were constructed and sold to private owners, with several pressed into military service in 1942 under the designation UC-80, with UC designating it as a utility-cargo aircraft.
With war on the horizon, many aircraft manufacturers redesigned their existing models into military trainers—and Harlow was no exception.
The resulting PC-5A was essentially a PJC-2 with the fuselage modified to house the pilot and instructor under a large clear canopy. Five PC-5 trainers were constructed, and an additional 28 PC-5A kits were built and shipped overseas for assembly and use by the Royal Indian Air Force. Performance of the PC-5 series was much like its civilian counterpart, only a bit slower, most likely due to the large bubble canopy.
When the PC-5A trainer failed to gain any substantial military contracts, the Harlow Aircraft Company came upon hard times. However, there was one last attempt to crack the military trainer market.
Responding to a military proposal, Harlow and his faithful students created the PCC-10 trainer, (whose model name reflects its origin at Pasadena City College) which at first glance appears to be a derivative of its elders, right down to the elegant folding metal spats that enclosed the main landing gear.
Power was provided by several engines, including a unique dual Continental O-300 configuration, one engine mounted on top of the other, driving two counter rotating propellers through a gearbox. After the war, Harlow and his partner marketed this prototype, renamed the Atlas H-10, with little success.
By late 1946, both the Alhambra Airport and Harlow Aircraft Company were no more.
However, Pasadena City College remains a thriving two-year technical institution with a large and active student body. Its history pages point with pride to the students and faculty whose class project became this beautiful cabin-class monoplane—the Harlow PJC-2.
Today, there are few Harlow PJC-2s in flyable condition, a few more in museums and collections, and a couple in restoration.
Walking around the airplane at AirVenture this year, I was struck by the attention paid to streamlining, all the little details done just right, and the sturdy appearance. You can imagine a busy executive crossing the country, before the advent of interstate highways, at 150 mph in this fast, well-equipped, and comfortable machine.
Post-WWII, it took iconic designs such as the Beechcraft Bonanza to approach the speed and comfort of the Harlow PJC-2.
So next time you walk into the EAA museum, stop and take a few minutes to admire the handiwork of gifted college professor Max Harlow, his devoted band of students, and this incredible plane.