Company type | Private |
---|---|
Founded | Detroit, U.S. (1928 ) |
Founder | Walter Briggs, Sr. Alfred V. Verville |
Defunct | December 1931 |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Headquarters | , |
Key people |
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The Verville Aircraft Company was a Detroit, Michigan based manufacturer of small airplanes and flying boats, which became bankrupt during the Great Depression. Alfred V. Verville started the corporation after working for multiple aviation companies. An innovative corporation, it could not survive the difficult financial crisis of the early 1930s. [1] The Verville Aircraft Company was located at 4815 Cabot Street, Detroit, Michigan, [2] occupying the former Rickenbacker plant. Verville Aircraft was organized by Walter Briggs, Sr., president and chairman of Briggs Manufacturing Company. [3] Barney Everett (Everitt) served as the president of the company. [4] The treasurer was S. E. Poole.
The first dedicated passenger plane that Verville Aircraft produced was the Verville Air Coach.
After being acquired by Briggs, the manufacturer produced a light plane followed by the construction of two others. [3]
The following designers worked for Verville Aircraft: [5]
A judge in the chancery court in Wilmington, Delaware appointed a receiver for the firm in December 1931. [1]
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was the most successful and most decorated United States flying ace of the war. He was also a racing driver, an automotive designer, and a long-time head of Eastern Air Lines.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
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Alfred Victor Verville was an American aviation pioneer and aircraft designer who contributed to civilian and military aviation. During his forty-seven years in the aviation industry, he was responsible for the design and development of nearly twenty commercial and military airplanes. Verville is known for designing flying boats, military racing airplanes, and a series of commercial cabin airplanes. His planes were awarded with the Pulitzer Speed Classic Trophy in 1920 and 1924.
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The Verville Air Coach was a four-passenger, high-wing monoplane designed in 1927 by Alfred V. Verville and produced by his company, Verville Aircraft Company. It was a comfortable, good-looking cabin monoplane which sold for $10,500. The plane made its debut at the Detroit Air Show in 1929.
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