The Standard Aircraft 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 industry. ...

, founded in Plainfield,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, in

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

Standard Aircraft anticipated

American entry into World War I The United States entered into World War I on 6 April 1917, more than two and a half years after the war began in Europe. Apart from an Anglophile element urging early support for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British and an a ...

, despite an expressed policy of

isolationism Isolationism is a term used to refer to a political philosophy advocating a foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality an ...

. The same year it was founded, Standard Aircraft became a very early supplier of aircraft to the U.S. Army

Signal Corps A signal corps is a military branch, responsible for military communications (''signals''). Many countries maintain a signal corps, which is typically subordinate to a country's army. Military communication usually consists of radio, telephone, ...

(perhaps fifth or sixth ever). The corporation supplied the Sloane ''H'' as the

Standard H-2 The Standard H-2 was an early American Army reconnaissance aircraft, ordered in 1916. The H-2 was built by the Standard Aircraft Corporation, and previously known as the Sloane H-2. It was an open-cockpit three-place tractor biplane, powered ...

and H-3 to the Army, and the float-equipped H-4H to the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, after the Sloane company was reorganised as the Standard Aircraft Co. A more significant type was the '' Standard J series'' trainer, similar to the

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" is a series of biplanes built by the Glenn Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft ...

, which began with the SJ prototype, followed by the production J-1 (or SJ-1), of which some 800 were built.Donald, p.854, "Standard aircraft". They were badly hampered by the choice of engine, and attempts to cure the problems with subsequent designs were not successful. Only handfuls of JRs and JR-1Bs were built; some were also purchased by the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. Standard's last type was the E-1. Intended as a fighter, 100 served as advanced trainers, about half with a provision for fitting machineguns, as the M-Defense. In 1918 the corporation had a large factory and airfield at Bayway, near the Elizabeth and Linden boundary. It was here that they assembled and tested 107

Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...

O/400 bombers during 1918, mostly for shipment to Britain. They were powered by

Liberty L-12 The Liberty L-12 is an American Water_cooling#Internal_combustion_engines, water-cooled 45° V12 engine, V-12 engine, displacing and making , designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It was designed principally as ...

engines. A plan to fly them across the Atlantic was abandoned, and a further contract for 1,000 more O/400s was cancelled with the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Designer Charles Healy Day later teamed with barnstormer/showman Ivan Gates to design and build aircraft specifically for the civilian and military markets. They formed the Gates-Day Aircraft Company (later renamed the New Standard Aircraft Company) in 1927, and built a number of different aircraft—including the Gates-Day D-24 and the New Standard D-25.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Donald, David, ed. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', p. 854, "Standard aircraft". Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997.

External links

A 1918 Standard Aircraft Corporation Standard E-1 advanced trainer at Virginia Aviation Museum

New Standard D-25
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Union County, New Jersey Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1916 Plainfield, New Jersey {{aero-company-stub