American General Aircraft Corporation, also known as AGAC, was an

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology indust ...

based in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. H ...

, between the late 1980s and 1993. The company was established in about 1988 to place the Gulfstream American AA-5B Tiger back in production. The Tiger had originally been produced by

Grumman American Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...

and then later by

Gulfstream American Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...

with production ending in 1979. The Tiger remained a popular aircraft amongst pilots and owners and American General sought to capitalize on that popularity with the production of new aircraft. American General actually carried out a redesign of the Tiger, introducing many improvements over the older AA-5B, including a new split nose bowl that could be removed without removing the propeller, a new instrument panel, improved exterior lighting, a new fuel indication system, a 28 volt electrical system replacing the previous 12 volt system, a new style throttle quadrant and improvements to the heat and ventilation systems. These were enough changes that the FAA required an amended type certificate. This added to the time required to get the aircraft into production and the cost of doing so. The redesigned aircraft was known as the American General AG-5B Tiger. The newly redesigned aircraft was well received by the civil aviation community. Many aircraft reviewers at that time wrote that the AG-5B was an evolutionary improvement over the previous production AA-5B Tigers and a worthy successor. The company commenced production with the 1990 model year, building 13 production aircraft that year. 87 aircraft were produced in 1991 and 54 in 1992. The final year of production was 1992 when 24 were produced before the company closed its doors. Total AG-5B production at American General was 181, including prototypes. Production of the AG-5B design was taken up again in 2001 by a new company,

Tiger Aircraft Tiger Aircraft LLC was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1999 to 2006 based in Martinsburg, West Virginia, United States. History The company was established in 1999 with the aim of returning the AG-5B Tiger to production. Tiger Aircraft fo ...

Aircraft by date

* American General AG-5B Tiger (1990)

Related aircraft

Bede BD-1 The Bede BD-1 was a two-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane, the first design of American aeronautical engineer Jim Bede. The BD-1 was designed in 1960 as a kit-built aircraft intended for home assembly by amateur builders. Design goals includ ...

* AA-1 * AA-2 * AA-5 * GA-7

External links

Tiger Aircraft Corporate website
{{Authority control Defunct companies based in Mississippi Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1988 Manufacturing companies established in 1988 American companies disestablished in 1993 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1993 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Mississippi