Airbatic, backwards

Every American Champion aeroplane carries a family tree that goes back to the late 1920s. The welded-tube fuselage with its triangular cross-section is the same idea Aeronca used on the C-2 Flying Bathtub, and the tandem two-seat layout comes straight from the 1944 Aeronca Champ. Champion Aircraft bought that design in 1954, and in 1964 turned it into the Citabria, a strengthened version cleared for aerobatics. Its name is airbatic spelled backwards, and it became a fixture of tailwheel training in America.

Rescuing an orphaned family

Then the line was orphaned. Bellanca bought Champion in 1970 and added the 8KCAB Decathlon, which can handle +6g and -5g, and the 8GCBC Scout bush plane, but Bellanca’s production ended in 1980 and its assets were liquidated. Through the 1980s the designs drifted between owners and almost nothing was built. American Champion Aircraft Corporation acquired the Champ, Citabria, Decathlon and Scout type certificates at the end of the decade, supported the existing fleet with parts, and put new aircraft back into production from 1990, starting with the Super Decathlon.

Fabric, tube and aluminium spars

American Champion has kept the old recipe but modernised the details. Its wings use aluminium spars instead of the original wood, and it sells those wings as retrofits for older aircraft, along with factory parts and an FAA Part 145 repair station. The current range runs from the 118 hp Citabria Aurora to the 210 hp Xtreme Decathlon and Denali Scout. All remain FAA-certified two-seat tandem taildraggers, and the company describes them as among the most affordable in their class.

Fabrieken

• Burlington factory · Burlington, Wisconsin — Address given on the company website, 2025