HISTORY
The
designer, Clarence Gilbert
Taylor, a self-taught
aeronautical engineer from
Nottingham, England, can be
called the father of private
aviation in America, as he
designed the original Taylor
Cub in 1931 at Bradford,
Pennsylvania. Taylor, along
with his brother Gordon,
formed Taylor Brothers
Aircraft Corporation -
slogan; "Buy Your Airplane
Taylor Made" - in Rochester,
New York in 1926, offering a
two-seat high-winged
monoplane called the
"Chummy", priced at $4,000.
The Chummy failed to sell,
and after Gordon died flying
another Taylor design in
1928, Clarence moved to
Bradford, Pennsylvania,
where the townsfolk had
offered him a new factory at
the local airfield plus
$50,000 to invest in the
company. One of the
investors was William Thomas
Piper, who had made his
money from oil wells. Taylor
shared with Piper a dream of
making airplanes as common
as cars for Americans. After
continuing with the Chummy
for a time, Taylor abandoned
the design and began work on
a new inexpensive aircraft
to compete with the heavier
craft common at the time. A
battle between engineer and
businessman caused a rift
between the two. Piper took
advantage of Taylor's
absence during an illness,
and instructed Taylor's
junior engineer Walter
Jamouneau to modify the Cub
to be more attractive and
marketable. Taylor
returned from his illness
and left the company.
Taylor vowed to build a
personal aircraft superior
to the Cub. Taylor formed
his own company in 1935 as
Taylor Aircraft Company,
renamed Taylorcraft Aviation
Corporation in 1939.
Meanwhile, a disastrous
factory fire brought
production of the Cub J-2 to
a halt, and Piper bought the
company out. It was placed
back in production as the
Piper J-3 Cub, becoming the
iconic aircraft of general
aviation in the 1930s and
1940s. Taylor operated out
of a new facility in nearby
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.
In
1936 Taylor rented
facilities at
Pittsburgh-Butler Airport
and first manufactured the
"Taylorcraft" plane.
During WWII, light aircraft
were used for training,
liaison, and observation
purposes. Taylorcraft's
DCO-65 model was called the
L-2 by the United States
Army Air Forces and served
alongside the military
version of the Piper Cub in
WW2. Taylorcraft Aeroplanes
Ltd., a subsidiary based in
Thurmaston, Leicestershire,
England, developed the
Taylorcraft Model 'D' and
the Auster Mk. I through Mk.
V, which became the backbone
aircraft of the British AOP
(Air Observation Post) and
the three Canadian AOP
squadrons, No. 664 Squadron
RCAF, No. 665 Squadron RCAF,
and No. 666 Squadron RCAF.
Taylorcraft Inc
In the
fall of 1946 production was halted
following a fire in the Taylorcraft
factory at Alliance, Ohio and the
company went into bankruptcy.
In 1949 C.G. Taylor bought the
assets from the former company, and
started a new company
Taylorcraft, Inc.
at Conway, Pennsylvania. The
company restarted production of the
BC-12D Traveller and the BC-12-85D
Sportsman. The company
produced few aircraft and the type
certificates were sold to Univair
and production was halted.
Taylorcraft Aviation Corporation
In 1971 the
Taylorcraft Aviation Corporation,
owned by Charles Feris put the Model
19 back into production as the F-19
Sportsman and added the F-21 model.
Feris died in 1976 and the
production continued at a low rate
until 1985. Charles Ruckle
bought the company in 1985 and he
moved the operation to Lock Haven,
Pennsylvania, where the company
produced 16 aircraft before it went
bankrupt in 1986 and the company was
offered for sale.
Polychron & O'Rielly ownership
John
Polychron, former CEO of Del Monte
Foods purchased Taylorcraft and
operated it for approximately one
year until he sold it to
Philadelphia Attorney Phillip
O'Rielly. O'Rielly never reopened
and the company became deeply in
debt resulting in a Sheriff's sale
in 1996.
Booth ownership
Taylorcraft
was saved from extinction by Lee
Booth, a former Marine and an
engineer from Seaford Delaware.
Booth renamed the Company
Booth-Taylorcraft Aerospace, Inc.
Booth-Taylorcraft Aerospace paid all
creditors in full and relocated the
entire company in 88 53 ft long
truck trailers to Greensboro, North
Carolina.
Booth, as
Chairman and President, directed the
Corporation through an extensive
recertification of all type
certificates, engineering, FAA
audits up to the Aircraft
Certification Office level,
production procedures, complete
re-tooling and certification of
tooling and work processes. Booth
enlisted the assistance of Darrell
C. Romick, former Chief Engineer of
Taylorcraft Airplane Company and BF
Goodrich. Romick was a close
associate of Werner von Braun and
worked for Goodyear Aircraft in the
1950s.
Booth-Taylorcraft Aerospace, Inc
became a contractor to numerous
governments for military aircraft,
weapons systems and firearms. Booth
was the first Taylorcraft owner in
the company's history to keep the
company debt free the entire time he
operated it. In March 2000, Booth
formed a strategic partnership by
selling half of the Civil Aircraft
Division to Harvey Patrick of Pats,
Inc. Booth retained all military
items, UAVs, several type
certificates, designs and patents.
The Small Aircraft Division was
moved to Georgetown, Delaware at the
Sussex County Airport. Booth and
Patrick then formed Taylorcraft
2000, LLC and served as Co-chairmen.
Booth eventually sold his half to
Harvey Patrick and Taylorcraft 2000,
LLC was owned by the Harvey and Vera
Patrick Foundation. In 2003 The
Harvey and Vera Patrick Foundation
sold the company to Harry Ingram,
with 100% financing.
The current
owner, Harry Ingram, moved the plant
to La Grange, Texas in 2003 and on
April 25, 2005 it was announced that
the factory was moving again to
Brownsville, Texas and outsourcing
the labor.
2008 Repossession
On February
21, 2008 the company was repossessed
by its former owner, Taylorcraft
2000 LLC. The previous owners had
taken orders for new struts for
existing aircraft to alleviate a
repetitive inspection Airworthiness
Directive and is delivering struts
to customers. The design's type
certificates, drawings, jigs,
templates and parts have been put up
for sale.
Source:
Wikipedia
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