 | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Alexander Film Company |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Defunct | August 1932 |
| Successor | Aircraft Mechanics, Inc |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people |
|
| Parent | Alexander Industries |
The Alexander Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer founded in Colorado in 1925. [1] It was briefly the world's largest aircraft manufacturer but fell victim to the Great Depression and became bankrupt in 1932.
The company began life as an offshoot of the Alexander Film Company [lower-alpha 1] that specialized in film advertising, and the younger J. Don Alexander decided that they could sell more advertising if they had airplanes. He wrote to aircraft manufacturers asking for a quote on 50 airplanes, but the builders ignored his letter as the work of a crackpot. Alexander decided to build his own. He moved his operation to Englewood, Colorado and set up the aircraft company. He sent Justin McInaney to Marshall, Missouri to buy an airplane and learn to fly. Justin's instructor was the great Ben O. Howard, who later became famous as a racer and test pilot. Justin bought a Swallow airplane for $2,300 and flew it back to Denver, a trip with many forced landings. Justin then taught others to fly, including Jack Frye (later president of TWA) and airplane designer Al Mooney. Sales of the aircraft reached eight aircraft a day, just before the depression hit.
By 1928, the company was having trouble meeting demand from its jury-rigged factory in Englewood. Operating from a small town enabled the company to evade fire and building codes, but there were rumours that Englewood would be annexed by nearby Denver and regulations would be enforced. [2] The company directors began to prepare for a move to other cities while using the threat of leaving to extort concessions out of the town.
Just before noon on 20 April 1928, a fire started in the shed where aircraft wings were coated with highly flammable cellulose nitrate 'dope.' A back room was crowded with seamstresses sewing fabric. All of the windows were high and barred, the walls and floors were soaked in the flammable chemical, as were the uniforms of the workers, with the only exits from the building in the doping room which opened inwards. The doping shed was engulfed in fire and explosions, the exits became crowded with fleeing workers, and eleven workers were burned alive. [2] Many others were horribly burned.
Both Alexander brothers and three other company officials were charged with voluntary manslaughter. They pleaded guilty to failure to provide sufficient means of escape, failure to have doors opening outward, failure to provide proper ventilation, and failure to provide proper sanitation in exchange for the manslaughter charge being dropped. [2] They were fined $1,000 and given suspended 90-day jail sentences.
With its Englewood factory closed by the Arapahoe County Sheriff, they moved overnight to new facilities they were building in Colorado Springs. [3]
By 1931 the company had an established manufacturing plant between Pikeview and Roswell in El Paso County, west of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and U.S. Route 85. [4] [5] The company went bankrupt in August 1932 and was acquired by Aircraft Mechanics Inc., founded by W. F. Theis and Proctor W. Nichols, in April 1937. [6] It produced components for the Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, US Air Force ejection seats, and Space Shuttle crew seats. [7]
For a brief period from 1928 to 1929, Alexander was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, and more aircraft were built in Colorado than anywhere else in the world. In the early 1930s, the firm built a revolutionary new plane—the forerunner of modern aircraft, with a low wing and retractable gear—called the "Bullet". Several of them crashed in the testing process because the government insisted that the unspinnable plane be tail-spun. The plane later was certificated, though, and became famous in racing and civil aviation. The depression and losses suffered in the Bullet program forced the aircraft firm to fold in the mid-1930s. Alexander would also be known for starting the career of Al Mooney, the founder of Mooney Aircraft, a general aircraft manufacturer that continues in operation in Kerrville, Texas. [8]
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Eaglerock | 1925 | 893 | Two seat biplane |
| Alexander Bullet | 1929 | 12 | Four seat low-wing monoplane |
| Alexander Flyabout D-1 | 1931 | 3 | Two seat monoplane |
| Alexander Flyabout D-2 | 1931 | 15 | Two seat monoplane |
The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued its production after the war. The final model, the Mooney M-10, first flew in 1968 and the last model year was 1970. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing aircraft that aerospace engineering could provide at the time, and the type continues to enjoy a faithful following.
Centennial Airport is a public use airport owned by the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area, 15 nautical miles southeast of downtown Denver, Colorado, United States. Located in Dove Valley, a census designated place in Arapahoe County, the airport's runways extend into Douglas County.
The Alexander Eaglerock was a biplane produced in the United States in the 1920s by Alexander Aircraft Company of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Key Lime Air is a United States airline with corporate headquarters at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, within the Denver metropolitan area. Established in 1997, Key Lime Air operates scheduled air service, various types of public and private charter, and United Parcel Service cargo feeder operations.
Aircraft dope is a plasticised lacquer that is applied to fabric-covered aircraft. It tightens and stiffens fabric stretched over airframes, which renders them airtight and weatherproof, increasing their durability and lifespan. The technique has been commonly applied to both full-size and flying models of aircraft.
Albert W. Mooney was a self-taught American aircraft designer and early aviation entrepreneur. He and brother Arthur Mooney founded the Mooney Aircraft Company in 1929. His first production design was the Mooney M-18 Mite. The M-18 developed into the Mooney M20 in 1955, which was produced through several iterations on-and-off from 1955 through 2019, with over 11,000 examples built.
The Mooney International Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Kerrville, Texas, United States. It manufactures single-engined piston-powered general aviation aircraft.
The Colorado Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) is located at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum Old Lowry AFB Campus, Denver, CO and was founded in 1966. The Society acquires, restores, preserves and provides for public display, aircraft and other objects, documents, items and things of present or historical interest or value in connection with the development and history of aviation in the State of Colorado. CAHS hosts many aviation events and participates in many of Colorado's air shows and fly-ins. The Society has regular membership meetings and publishes a quarterly history journal. The Society owns an Alexander Eaglerock Model 24 Long Wings airplane which is on display at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. The Society also owns a Steen Skybolt aerobatic biplane which is on display at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum Pueblo Airport, Pueblo, CO.
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.
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.
The Bullet Monoplane or Alexander Eaglerock Bullet was a low wing cabin monoplane that was a departure from traditional biplane aircraft of the era.
The Columbia Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, which was active between 1927 and 1947.
The Alexander Film Company produced films to be shown during intermission in movie theaters.
The Swallow Airplane Swallow is an American-built general purpose biplane of the mid- to late 1920s.
Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced the Ford Trimotor. At the height of the Great Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production division in 1936, temporarily re-entering the aviation market with the production of the B-24, at the Willow Run aircraft factory during World War II.
The Alexander Airplane Company D-1 Flyabout was an early entry into the light aircraft market by the popular biplane aircraft manufacturer. The aircraft was later manufactured by Aircraft Mechanics, Inc.
Nichols Field, also known as Alexander Airport, was an airfield 3 mi (4.8 km) north of the Colorado Springs, Colorado city between the Pikeview RR station, and the Papeton and Roswell neighborhoods.
Frank August Van Dersarl was a self-taught pilot and aircraft builder of early aviation the Colorado. Van Dersarl owned an aviation company, and taught flying; also owned the Denver Union Airport.
The Comet 7-cylinder radials were a family of air-cooled radial engines, designed and built by the Comet Engine Corporation at Madison, Wisconsin from around 1927.
Aircraft operations into bankruptcy. 1934: Reorganized as Aircraft Mechanics Inc (fdr: Proctor W Nichols, W F Theis), 3200 N Nevada St, Colorado Springs.
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