Verville Aircraft Company

Last updated
Verville Aircraft Company
Type Private
Founded Detroit, U.S. (1928 (1928))
Founder Walter Briggs, Sr.
Alfred V. Verville
DefunctDecember 1931 (1931-12)
FateBankruptcy
Headquarters,
Key people
  • Barney Everett (Everitt)
    (President)
  • Louis G. Meister
  • Edgar A. Goff, Jr.
  • Charles S. Knight
    (Test Pilot)

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.

Contents

History

First Airplane

The first dedicated passenger plane that Verville Aircraft produced was the Verville Air Coach.

Verville Air Coach Verville-air-coach.PNG
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]

Insolvency

A judge in the chancery court in Wilmington, Delaware appointed a receiver for the firm in December 1931. [1]

Aircraft

Related Research Articles

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1916 by Glenn Hammond Curtiss. After significant commercial success in the 'teens and 20s, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical in 1929 to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Albert Kahn (architect) American architect

Albert Kahn was the foremost American industrial architect of his day. He is sometimes called the "architect of Detroit", designing such major industrial works as the Ford River Rouge Complex, the largest in the world when built; as well as skyscrapers and office buildings in the city, and mansions in the suburbs. He built a practice with hundreds of architects; in 1937 his firm designed 19 percent of all architect-designed factories in the U.S.

Stinson Aircraft Company Defunct American aircraft manufacturer

The Stinson Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturing company in the United States between the 1920s and the 1950s.

William Bushnell Stout

William Bushnell Stout was a pioneering American inventor, engineer, developer and designer whose works in the automotive and aviation fields were groundbreaking. Known by the nickname "Bill", Stout designed an aircraft that eventually became the Ford Trimotor and was an executive at the Ford Motor Company.

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan with 94,000 sq ft (8,700 m2) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall originally housed U-M's Alumni office along with the university's growing art collection. Its first director was Jean Paul Slusser, who served from 1946 to his retirement in 1957.

Buhl Aircraft Company

The Buhl Aircraft Company was a US aircraft manufacturer founded in Detroit in 1925 which remained in operation until 1933. Buhl designed and manufactured the Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, the first aircraft to receive a US civil aviation type Certificate in March 1927. Several utility and sport aircraft models were developed from 1925 to 1931, both fixed wings and rotary wing aircraft. Their greatest successes were with the Airsedan and Bull Pup, with approximately 185 aircraft of all types built from 1925 to 1932.

Berliner-Joyce

Berliner-Joyce Aircraft was an American aircraft manufacturer.

Packard DR-980

The Packard DR-980 is an American nine-cylinder air-cooled aircraft Diesel engine first certificated in 1930. The engine was unpopular despite its economy and reliability due to the unpleasant nature of its diesel exhaust fumes and considerable vibration when running; approximately 100 were built.

Alfred V. Verville American aviation pioneer and aircraft designer

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.

Verville Sport Trainer AT

The Verville Sport Trainer AT was a two-seat tandem biplane designed by Alfred V. Verville as a civilian version of the YPT-10 primary trainer, intended to appeal to the wealthy private owner.

Verville Air Coach

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.

General Aeroplane Company

The General Aeroplane Company was Detroit's first commercial airplane builder. GAC built three types of aircraft during the First World War and operated a flying school. The aircraft were the Verville Flying Boat, the Gamma S biplane with floats (floatplane), and the Gamma L biplane with wheels. All had engine installations driving pusher propellers.

Michael Barr (Treasury official)

Michael S. Barr is an American attorney who served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions under President Barack Obama. Since leaving government, Barr has served as Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy and the Frank Murphy Collegiate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He is also the Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and faculty director of the University of Michigan's Center on Finance, Law, and Policy.

Towle Marine Aircraft Engineering Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light amphibious aircraft.

Inglis M. Uppercu

Inglis Moore Uppercu (1877–1944) was an American business man involved in both the automotive and aviation industry. He was the founder and president of Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company

Verville-Packard R-1 Racer American racing aircraft

The Verville-Packard R-1 Racer was a military racing aircraft that was modified from Alfred V. Verville's previous Verville VCP-1 design. The R-1 is sometimes known also as the Verville-Packard VCP-R or the Verville-Packard 600. The R-1 was the first racing aircraft built for the United States Army Air Corps.

Étienne Dormoy

Étienne Dormoy was an aeronautical engineer and a designer of aircraft.

Briggs Manufacturing was an American, Detroit-based manufacturer of automobile bodies for Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and other U.S. and European automobile manufacturers.

References

  1. 1 2 Verville Aircraft to Receiver, Wall Street Journal, January 1, 1932, pg. 4.
  2. Reeves, Earl, "Aviation's place in tomorrow's business", Commercial Aeronautics, c1930, United States Link 2
  3. 1 2 Verville Aircraft Company, Wall Street Journal, August 7, 1928, pg. 15.
  4. "Rickenbacker Motor Company, Detroit City History". Renf@umich.edu or Judym@umich.edu. October 2007. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  5. Lesley Forden (2003). "Chapter 8 - The Last Pathfinder" (PDF). Aviation Foundation of America. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  6. Ralph S. Cooper, D.V.M. "Capt. Lionel Woolson, Designer of the Packard-Diesel Engine" . Retrieved 2009-08-29.. Home.earthlink.net (1930-04-26). Retrieved on 2009-08-29. Copy of Packard Inner Circle, Detroit Mich., April 26, 1930