Swallow Airplane Company

Last updated
Swallow Airplane Company
FormerlyE.M. Laird Aviation Company
Industry Aerospace
PredecessorWichita Airplane Company
Founded1920 (1920)
Founders
Defunct1956 (1956)
Headquarters,
United States
Parent General Aero Corporation of America
(1928-1933)

The Swallow Airplane Company was an early manufacturer of airplanes.

Contents

History

In January 1920, the E.M. Laird Aviation Company Ltd. was started with the purchase of the six-month-old Wichita Aircraft Company, its aircraft and the factory of the Watkins Manufacturing Company. [1] Oilman Jacob Mollendick and Buick-Franklin salesman William A. Burke each contributed $15,000. [2] The first Swallow designed by Buck Weaver and was test flown in April 1920. Later, in 1921, the company moved into a new factory building on North Hillside Street. [3] Laird hired several aviators that became prominent in the business later, Buck Weaver who would co-found Waco Aircraft, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman who would develop the Swallow New Swallow. Following the departure of Emil Matthew Laird in 1923 and his formation of the E. M. Laird Airplane Company, on 22 January 1924 the company was renamed as the Swallow Airplane Manufacturing Company. [4]

Swallow was notable for producing the Swallow TP in quite large numbers, for its day. A large proportion of pilots trained in the late 1920s and early '30s did so on the TP. In late 1927, owner Mollendick bet most of the company fortune on a record setting aircraft flown by noted aviator William Portwood Erwin, the Dallas Spirit, which was lost on a record attempt to Asia concurrent with the Dole Air Race. [5] In December of the following year the company was purchased by the General Aero Corporation of America – a holding company that also counted the Cessna Aircraft Company among its assets. [6] [7] Swallow was sold again in 1933 to E. B. Christopher – who would be killed in the crash of one of the company's airplanes in 1937. [8] [9] Sam Bloomfield, the company's chief engineer, eventually took over as company president. [10] [11] No longer manufacturing complete aircraft, it existed as an aircraft mechanic school and subcontractor for the B-29 and B-47 until 1956. [12]

Aircraft

Swallow OX-5 Swallow OX5.jpg
Swallow OX-5
Swallow Super Swallow photo from Aero Digest July 1926 Swallow Super Swallow Aero Digest July 1926.jpg
Swallow Super Swallow photo from Aero Digest July 1926
Model nameFirst flightNumber builtType
Swallow HA 1Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow Racer Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow New Swallow ~50Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow J4 Swallow Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow Mailplane Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow Super Swallow ~50Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow OX-5 Swallow ~250Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow Monoplane 1Single engine cabin monoplane [12]
Swallow Hisso Swallow ~6Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow J5 Swallow Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow G-29 2Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow T-29 1Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow H 1Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow HC Sport 1Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow TP ~200Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow C-165 1Single engine cabin monoplane [12]
Swallow F-28-AX 5Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow HW Sport 1Single engine open cockpit biplane [12]
Swallow C Coupe 3Single engine cabin monoplane [12]
Swallow LT65 1Single engine cabin monoplane [12]

Related Research Articles

Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general aviation, commercial, and military aircraft, ranging from light single-engined aircraft to twin-engined turboprop transports, business jets, and military trainers. Beech later became a division of Raytheon and then Hawker Beechcraft before a bankruptcy sale turned its assets over to Textron. It remains a brand of Textron Aviation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travel Air</span> Defunct American manufacturer of light aircraft based in Wichita, KS

The Travel Air Manufacturing Company was an aircraft manufacturer established in Wichita, Kansas, United States in January 1925 by Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clyde Cessna</span> American aircraft designer (1879–1954)

Clyde Vernon Cessna was an American aircraft designer, aviator, and early aviation entrepreneur. He is best known as the principal founder of the Cessna Aircraft Corporation, which he started in 1927 in Wichita, Kansas.

Lloyd Carlton Stearman was an American aviator, aircraft designer, and early aviation entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barkley-Grow Aircraft</span>

The Barkley-Grow Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer established by Archiebald St Clair Barkley and Captain Harold Barkley Grow in Detroit in 1936 to produce a small civil transport which incorporated Barkley's patented wing design, the Barkley-Grow T8P-1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monocoupe Aircraft</span>

Monocoupe Aircraft was a manufacturer of light airplanes originally produced in the late 1920s and 30s. They introduced relatively inexpensive, compact, and sporty aircraft in an era of large, maintenance intensive, open-cockpit biplanes, and the Monocoupe series was one of the first economical, closed-cabin, two-seat, light aircraft in the United States. As a result, the Monocoupe soon became a successful brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travel Air 2000</span> American civilian biplane

The Travel Air 2000 is an open-cockpit biplane aircraft produced in the United States in the late 1920s by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. During the period from 1924–1929, Travel Air produced more aircraft than any other American manufacturer, including over 1,000 biplanes. While an exact number is almost impossible to ascertain due to the number of conversions and rebuilds, some estimates for Travel Air as a whole range from 1,200 to nearly 2,000 aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Aircraft</span>

International Aircraft Corporation was an American 1920s aircraft manufacturer located in Ancor near Newtown, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International F-18 Air-Coach</span> Type of aircraft

The International F-18 Air Coach was a 1920s American biplane transport that was designed and manufactured by the International Aircraft Corporation in Long Beach, California. The company stopped manufacturing F-18's by 1928 and sold its rights to the aircraft in 1931.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Eagle Aircraft Corporation</span> American aircraft manufacturer

The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft design and manufacturing company which existed briefly in Kansas, but which was a victim of the Great Depression, after building some 500 light airplanes, many of which were the Model A-129, a design attributed to noted aviation pioneer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Standard D-29</span> Type of aircraft

The New Standard D-29 was a trainer aircraft produced in the US from 1929 to 1930. It was a conventional biplane design with a fuselage constructed from duralumin members riveted and bolted together, and the wings were made with spruce spars and bass-wood and plywood built-up ribs. Deliberately built to be rugged and simple the D-29 was moderately successful, but had to compete with the Swallow TP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edo Aircraft Corporation</span>

EDO Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturing company known primarily for manufacturing pontoons for floatplanes.

The Columbia Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947.

The Swallow New Swallow, also known as the Swallow Commercial Three-Seater is an American-built general purpose biplane of the mid- to late 1920s. The New Swallow name was to distinguish it from the aircraft from which it was derived, the Laird Swallow.

Metal Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer of transport aircraft. The company was a pioneer in all-metal construction at a time when the technology was in its infancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Matthew Laird</span> American pioneer aircraft designer, pilot, and businessman (1895-1982)

Emil Matthew Laird was a pioneering American aircraft designer, builder, pilot, and businessman. He put the first commercial aircraft into production at his E. M. Laird Aviation Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. M. Laird Airplane Company</span>

E. M. Laird Airplane Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of commercial aircraft and custom race planes.

Knoll Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Wichita, Kansas.

The history of Wichita details the history of Wichita, Kansas from its initial settlement in the 1860s to the present day.

References

Notes

  1. Wichita Beacon. 31 January 1920. p. 1.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Donald M. Pattillo. A history in the making: 80 turbulent years in the American general aviation.
  3. "From Airplane Plant to Dance Club to Church". Historic Preservation Alliance of Wichita and Sedgwick County. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  4. "Notice of Change of Name of Corporation". The Plaindealer. 8 February 1924. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  5. Stanley, W. E. (19 October 1943). "The Jayhawk Finds Its Wings". Kansas Historical Quarterly. Kansas State Historical Society. p. 70. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  6. "300,000 Shares of the General Aero Corporation of America". Every Evening. 8 May 1929. p. 20. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  7. Crofoot, A. B. (19 January 1929). ""Big Business" Takes a Hand in Aeronautic Development" (PDF). Automotive Industries. Vol. 60, no. 3. p. 86. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  8. "Plane Firm Purchased by Swede Christopher". Springfield Leader and Press. 16 November 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  9. "Wichitan Dies in Plane". Weekly Kansas City Star. 14 April 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  10. "Ozarks Flier Fatally Hurt in California". Springfield Leader and Press. 9 April 1937. p. 1. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  11. "Valuable Violin Given to School". El Paso Times. 3 December 1950. p. 43. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Eckland, K. O. (30 November 2007). "Swallow, New Swallow". Aerofiles. Retrieved 15 December 2020.

Bibliography

  • Gunston, Bill (1993). World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 298–99.
  • Juptner, Joseph P. (1964). U.S. Civil Aircraft Vol.2. Los Angeles: Aero Publishers. pp. 20 to 21, 72 to 74 and 248 to 249.
  • Eckland, K. O. (30 November 2007). "Swallow, New Swallow". Aerofiles. Retrieved 15 December 2020.