The General Aeroplane Company was Detroit's first commercial airplane builder. GAC built three types of aircraft during the First World War and operated a flying school. The aircraft were the Verville Flying Boat, the Gamma S biplane with floats (

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

), and the

Gamma L Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

biplane with wheels. All had engine installations driving pusher propellers.

Founding

The key player in the company was 18-year-old Corwin Van Husen, who was supported by his guardian W. Howie Muir and other key players of Detroit and Grosse Pointe society. Other major investors included Fred and Russell Alger (who were also investors in the

Wright Company The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on ...

and had demonstrated the Wright craft at the Grosse Pointe Country Club four years earlier), Herbert B. and Frank P. Book, Wm. Hendrie, and Jerome H. Remick. In November 1915, the GAC hired 24-year-old

Alfred V. Verville Alfred Victor Verville (November 16, 1890 – March 10, 1970) was an American list of aviation pioneers, aviation pioneer and aircraft designer who contributed to Civil aviation, civilian and military aviation. During his forty-seven years i ...

, an experienced airplane designer who would be a part of Detroit's aviation activities for years to come. Design of the company's first airplane, a two-passenger

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

flying boat, was completed in December and construction of the hull was begun by the Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works. The flying boat was flight tested during early 1916 and was advertised nationally for sale beginning in September. The U.S. Navy purchased the plane as a trainer, the first built-in-Detroit airplane sold for profit. With U.S. involvement in World War One imminent, Verville began designing a military airplane, the Gamma. By November 1916, the prototype, a "pusher" type plane with the engine and propeller behind the crew, was fitted with seaplane floats and test flown from its base on the Detroit River. In the meantime, the leading industry magazine Aviation gave the GAC plane a boost by running a two-page story about the as yet unproved craft.Company History
2009 Mayea Boat & Aeroplane Works - Division of D&L Marine Consulting

/ref> For the winter the Gamma was fitted with wheels to replace the floats. On its maiden flight from frozen Lake St. Clair, a wind blew the Gamma into a snow bank, and it crashed. The pilot, William Bonney was unhurt, but the Gamma was destroyed.

Dissolution

On August 28, 1918, GAC ceased operations.Bluth, John A.
Detroit's first commercial airplane builder
May 1, 2001, Special to The Detroit News Online, Michigan History Section, Detroit News

Aircraft

*Verville

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

(aka Beta), 1916 **2 passenger, open cockpit, biplane flying boat **in the style of a

Curtiss Model F The Curtiss Models F made up a family of early flying boats developed in the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Widely produced, Model Fs saw service with the United States Navy under the designations C-2 through C-5, later r ...

**100 hp

Curtiss OX-5 The Curtiss OX-5 was an early V-8 American liquid-cooled aircraft engine built by Curtiss. It was the first American-designed aircraft engine to enter mass production, although it was considered obsolete when it did so in 1917.Smith, 1981, pa ...

or Maximotor pusher **span: 38 ft length: 27 ft 8 in, load: 600 lb **Mahogany hull and wing floats constructed by Mayea Boat Co (Detroit), three-bladed prop, engine mounted under top wing **the Navy purchased the plane for use as a trainer. Two more similar military pushers and two twin-engine seaplanes were ordered in March 1917 *Gamma S **biplane with floats (

) **a two-seater, open cockpit, flying boat, biplane with an 80 hp

Le Rhône Le Rhône was the name given to a series of Rotary engine, rotary aircraft engines built between 1910 and 1920. Le Rhône series engines were originally sold by the Gnome et Rhône#Le Rhône, Société des Moteurs Le Rhône and, following a 1914 ...

pusher engine *Gamma L **similar but with wheels **Twin floats were replaced with wheels for winter operations off the ice of

Lake St. Clair Lake St. Clair () is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day they first saw the lake. ...

Gallery

References

External links