Aeronca, contracted from Aeronautical Corporation of America, located in Middletown,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, is a US

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

components and airframe structures for

commercial aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...

and the defense industry, and a former aircraft manufacturer. From 1928 to 1951, the company was a major producer of

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

, and also produced the engines for some of their early designs.Harris, Richard,
Aeronca: Birth of the Personal Plane
," ''AAHS Journal,'' Summer 2007, vol.52, #2, American Aviation Historical SocietyHarris, Richard,
Aeronca/Champion History: Beyond the Bathtub -- Chiefs, Champs & Citabrias
" from articles by Richard Harris first appearing in ''In Flight USA,'' 2003-2004, condensed on author's website. Aeronca is now (2011) a division of Magellan Aerospace, producing aircraft, missile, and space vehicle components at the same location adjacent to Middletown's Hook Field Municipal Airport.

History

Origins

Originally formed as the Cincinnati Aeronautical Corporation, the Aeronautical Corporation of America was founded November 11, 1928, in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. The name was generally abbreviated to Aeronca. 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 American company to build a commercially successful

. The corporation changed its name to Aeronca Aircraft Corporation in 1941. When production ended in 1951, Aeronca had sold 17,408 aircraft in 55 models. AeroncaC-2CF-AOR

Production began with the Jean A. Roche-designed Aeronca C-2

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, often called the "Flying Bathtub", in 1929, the C designation standing for Cincinnati. The next major model was the

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

of 1937, a two-seater, which was developed into the Chief and Super Chief the next year. The Ohio River flood of 1937 at the Lunken Airport resulted 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. As a result, two years later the decision was made to move out of the floodplain to Hook Field Municipal Airport in

Middletown, Ohio Middletown is a city in Butler County, Ohio, Butler and Warren County, Ohio, Warren counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 50,987 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in sou ...

. By October 1940 the plant had to expand by to keep up with production demands.

World War II

The Defender, a tandem trainer version of the Chief with a higher rear seat, was used in training many of the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s who flew in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Several observation and liaison aircraft designs were also produced during and after the war, seeing extensive front line use, including the L-3/ O-58. A glider-trainer version of the Defender, the Aeronca TG-5, replaced the engine with a third seat, facilitating the training of combat glider pilots destined to fly larger craft, such as the Waco CG-4A. Aeronca's World War II designs—the Defender, TG-5 and L-3 variants—differed significantly from nearly all previous and subsequent Aeroncas by replacing Aeronca's traditional three- longeron, triangular-cross-section fuselage with a ''four''- longeron, rectangular-cross-section fuselage for additional strength.

Postwar

In 1945, following the end of World War II, Aeronca returned to civilian production with two new models, the 7AC Champion and the 11AC Chief. While the Champ shared its tandem seating arrangement with the prewar tandem trainer—and the Chief shared its name and seating arrangement with the prewar Chief designs—both were new fresh paper designs and designed for production economy, sharing over 80% of the components. One of the very few aircraft manufacturers that used an assembly line production layout.Karant, Max,
Flying Check Pilot: The Aeronca Chief
," ''Flying Magazine'', Dec., 1946.Sargent, Sparky Barnes,
A Honey of a Champion!: The Baker family's award-winning Aeronca
" ''Vintage Airplane,'' Dec., 2007, vol.35, #12, Experimental Aircraft Assn. Keyhoe, Donald E., Major, USAF (noted USAF test pilot),
Plane of the Month: The Aeronca Chief
" ''TRUE: The Men's Magazine,'' Sep., 1946. A benefit of the concurrent development was that the new designs had about 80% of their parts in common. Nevertheless, the tandem-seat Champ—resembling the extremely popular

Piper J-3 Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is Pi ...

—was favored by the market, evidenced by its outselling its sibling, the Chief, at a rate of 4 to 1. Between 1945 and 1951, nearly 8,000 Champions were manufactured; while over the same period, approximately 2,000 Chiefs were produced.

New ownership

Aeronca ceased light aircraft production in 1951, and in 1954 sold the Champion design to the new Champion Aircraft Corporation of

Osceola, Wisconsin Osceola ( ) is a village in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,765 at the 2020 census. Located mostly within the Town of Osceola, the village sits on the border with Minnesota, separated by the St. Croix River. It is ...

, 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. Aeronca purchased the Longren Aircraft Corporation in 1959. However, by 1965 it was nearly bankrupt and a new president, Alfred A. Handschumacher, was hired to return the company to profitability. In the early 1970s, Aeronca was contracted by Bede Aircraft to assemble its first Bede BD-5J Microjet—the world's smallest jet airplane—but, after its experiences with the prototype, Aeronca declined to be further involved with the program. In 1978 Aeronca planned to start aircraft production again with production of a prototype very light business jet, the Foxjet ST600. The project was eventually cancelled due to lack of WR-44 engine availability. Fleet Aerospace launched a successful hostile takeover of the company in 1986. Aeronca now builds components for aerospace companies including

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

, Lockheed and

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

. In its 23-year history as a general aviation and military aviation manufacturer, Aeronca produced 17,408 aircraft spanning 55 different models.

Products

Aircraft

Missiles

* GT-1 (missile)

Engines

* Aeronca E-107 * Aeronca E-113

References

Notes

Bibliography

"Aeronautical Corporation of America (Aeronca)"
by Roger Guillemette, ''US Centennial of Flight Commission'', retrieved 20 January 2006.

External links

Aeronca Aviators Club
started by Joe Dickey. Has Quarterly Newsletter
National Aeronca Association
associated with the original Aeronca factory.
Aeronca Aircraft History Museum
Director Todd Trainor, supporting various models of the aircraft.
Aeronca Club of GermanyAeronca Club of Great BritainFearless Aeronca Aviators
a very popular Aeronca email list. {{American Champion Aviation in Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1928 Companies based in Ohio Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Aircraft engine manufacturers of the United States Middletown, Ohio 1928 establishments in Ohio