HISTORY
The
Aeronca Aircraft Corporation
was founded November 11, 1928 in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Backed by the
financial and political support of
the prominent Taft family and future
Ohio senator Robert A. Taft who was
one of the firm's directors, Aeronca
became the first company to build a
commercially successful general
aviation aircraft. When
production ended in 1951, Aeronca
had sold 17,408 aircraft in 55
models.
Production began with the Jean A.
Roche-designed Aeronca C-2
monoplane, often called the "Flying
Bathtub", in 1929. The next major
model was the Scout of 1937, a
two-seater, which was developed into
the Chief and Super Chief the next
year.
In 1937
there was a major flood at the
Lunken Airport, resulting in the
entire airport area being washed
away. Aeronca's factory was
destroyed, along with the tooling
and almost all of the very early
blueprints and drawings. At this
time a decision was made to move the
operation to a more stable area.
Middletown, Ohio was chosen, and the
company has remained there ever
since. All of the airplanes produced
from the start of production in 1929
to 1937 are known as the "Lunken"
Aeroncas. The first Aeronca built in
Middletown was produced on June 5,
1940, and after this time all
Aeroncas were built here.
Aeronca ceased light aircraft
production in 1951, and in 1954 sold
the Champion design to the new
Champion Aircraft
Corporation of Osceola,
Wisconsin, which continued building
variants of the Champion as well as
the derivative design, the Citabria.
The venerable aircraft design was
acquired again by the
Bellanca Aircraft Company
in 1970 and again to
American Champion in 1988,
where it remains in production.
In 1978
Aeronca planned to start aircraft
production again with production of
a prototype Foxjet ST600. The
project was eventually cancelled due
to lack of WR-44 engine
availability. Aeronca now
builds components for aerospace
companies including Boeing, Northrop
Grumman, Lockheed and Airbus.
Source:
Wikipedia
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