American Aviation Corporation was an American

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

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, in the 1960s, which produced light single-engine aircraft. In 1972, it became the Grumman American Aviation Corporation.

History

The company was formed in 1964 to build a production version of the Bede BD-1, a two-seat light aircraft designed and built by

Jim Bede James R. Bede (April 17, 1933 – July 9, 2015) was an American aircraft designer. He designed well over a dozen aircraft starting in the 1960s, but a string of business failures kept most of these designs out of widespread use. Bede Avia ...

and first flown on July 11, 1963.Simpson 1991, pp. 24–25. During the development of the BD-1 there was conflict between Bede and the other shareholders, and in 1965, Bede was removed from the company. Attorney and former Marine fighter pilot

Russ Meyer Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fea ...

became the new company president at age 34.Harris, Richard
"Yankees & Cats: A quick history of Grumman/American Aircraft."
''Aviation History & Industry'', May 10, 2012. Retrieved: December 20, 2014. The BD-1 was re-designed for production with a lengthened fuselage, greater wingspan and larger engine, the company also introduced metal-to-metal bonding of components, a new technique in general aviation. The new aircraft was named the AA-1 Yankee and first flew on March 2, 1967, gaining type certificate approval from the FAA in July 1968.Keck, Gary

''grumman.net''. Retrieved: December 20, 2014. The Grumman Corporation had taken an 80% share in American Aviation and in 1972 the company was renamed the Grumman American Aviation Corporation.

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Simpson, R.W. ''Airlife's General Aviation''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 1991. .

External links

Manufacturing companies based in Cleveland Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct companies based in Cleveland {{Aero-company-stub