The Brown Aircraft Co was an American aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s and 1940s.

History

During 1926 Lawrence W. Brown established a small aircraft modification and design operation at Clover Field

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. His initial project was to modify a

Thomas-Morse S-4 The Thomas-Morse S-4 Scout is an American biplane advanced training aircraft, trainer, operated by the United States Army and the United States Navy. Dubbed the "Tommy" by pilots who flew it, the aircraft became the favorite single-seat training ...

as a parasol monoplane with a 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5 engine. In 1929 he built a similar two-seat aircraft powered by a 260 h.p. Menasco-Salmson engine. Brown B-1 Racer NR83Y Tamiami FL 26

In 1931, Brown moved to

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian language, Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles, California, East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an indepen ...

and established the Brown Aircraft Co.. From 1933 he built a series of small low-wing racing monoplanes and these competed in the major air racing meetings held in the United States. Postwar he built the L-20 Brownie, a high-wing monoplane intended for operation by private pilots, but on Brown's death on 25 December 1945, the firm's activities ceased. The sole surviving original aircraft built by the firm is the

Brown B-1 Racer The Brown B-1 Racer was an American-built small monoplane racing aircraft of the 1930s. Design and development The B-1 Racer was built in 1933 by the Brown Aircraft Co. of Montebello, California, which had been founded by Lawrence W. Brown, previ ...

which is preserved in the ''Wings over Miami'' aircraft museum at

Tamiami Airport Miami Executive Airport, formerly known until 2014 as Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, is a public airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, southwest of Downtown Miami.Operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, the airport ...

near Miami.

Aircraft

; B-1 Racer :1 built 1933, crashed but rebuilt in 1947 and preserved. ; B-2 Racer "Miss Los Angeles" :1 built 1934, Menasco B6 engine, raced by Roy Minor and Marion McKeen. Crashed 1939, restored with wider-span wings but destroyed in 1938, pilot Lee Williams killed. This airplane was named the Miss Los Angeles. A replica built by Ed Marquart and Bill Turner, renowned replicator of Golden Age racers, is currently part of the collection at

Fantasy of Flight Fantasy of Flight is an aviation museum in Polk City, Florida. It opened in November 1995, to house Kermit Weeks' collection of aircraft that, until Hurricane Andrew damaged many in 1992, were housed at the Weeks Air Museum in Kendall-Tamiami E ...

in Polk City, Florida. ; B-3 :1 built 1936, improved B-2 with closed cockpit and Menasco D-6, maximum speed 225 mph. ; B-3 Super Sport :1 built 1935 with two seats and supercharged Menasco engine, maximum speed 200 mph. ; L-20 Brownie :1 built 1945. Single-seat open-cockpit high parasol-wing aircraft with Haines M-2 pusher engine. Intended for use by private pilots. Development ceased after Brown's death.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{Brown Aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Montebello, California