"Newps" wrote in message
...

Yes, a friend of mine has one hangared here. He almost bought the only
nosegear Spartan Exec but wanted a real Exec instead.


I don't think there were any nosegear Executives. Spartan built 34 Model
7Ws before the war. They named this airplane "Executive", all were built
with conventional gear. Late in WWII they were working on two new aircraft.
The Model 12 was clearly based on the Executive but it was a new airplane.
The project was cancelled before the prototype flew. While it is frequently
called an "Executive" today I don't believe Spartan ever called it that, it
appears they just called it the Model 12.

The other airplane they were working on was to be a 6/8 seat twin for
business and feeder airline use. It was cancelled before it got as far as
the Model 12, probably when Spartan realized they'd be competing with many
military surplus aircraft.