Aeronca

Aeronca is a founded American aeronautical building firm in 1928 to produce light planes. This activity with ceased in 1951, the company being today subcontractor great groups like Boeing, Northrop, Lockheed or Airbus.

The flying bath-tub

Aeronautical Corporation off America ( Aeronca in summary) was created the November 11th, 1928 in Lunken Airport, Cincinnati, in the Ohio, by the Lunken family. Aeronca profited from the financial support and policy from the Taft family: Robert A.Taft, future senator of the Ohio and member of the Supreme court of the United States was one of the directors. The new company not having a plane to build, an agreement had made with Jean A. Roché, which yielded to Aeronca the rights of production of the Roché Original, a more known two-cylinder motor monoplane under its nickname: The Flying Bathtub (the flying bath-tub). Aeronca was the first American company to produce in series a light plane intended for sporting aviation, the Aeronca C-2. The two-seater Aeronca C-3 made its appearance in 1931 and in 1935 left chain the 500e plane of the company. The Aeronca L with closed cabin appeared in 1935, but the true successor of the C-2 was the Aeronca K Scout left in 1937.

De Lunken Airport in Middletown

In 1937 a flood devastated Lunken Airport, destroying the factory Aeronca , the tools and the majority of the bundles of origin. A removal was essential and the company settled with Middletown, always in the Ohio, where it is always today. One benefitted from it to change the designation of the planes. It is thus of the new factory of Middletown that left the Aeronca 50 and Aeronca 65 in 1938. Become in 1941 Aeronca Aircraft Corporation, the company went to produce under license during the Second world war of the Fairchild PT-19 and PT-23, but also of the apparatuses derived from the Model 65: 250 sailplanes Aeronca TG-5 and more than 1.400 L-3 Grasshopper.

Post-war period

The October 18th, 1945 was certified the Model 7AC Champion, which was a phenomenal success. This two-seater out of tandem used elements of the Model 65, just like the two-seater side by side Model 11AC Chief. These two models left factory at the rate of 50 specimens per days in 1950 and nearly 8.000 “Champ” and 2.000 Chief were sold. Successor of the L-3, the L-16 was very largely used during the Guerre of Korea and in 1947 appeared the Model 15 Sedan with entirely metal aerofoil. It will be the last plane built by Aeronca . Since 1949 Aeronca had been posed as subcontractor, producing subsets of Helioplane for Helio Corp. The production of light planes ceased in March 1951, 17.408 planes of 55 different models having been built. The rights on the Champion were sold in 1953 with Champion Aircraft Corporation in Osceola, Wisconsin.

Aeronca today

Aeronca was one of the first companies to be been interested in the materials Honeycomb and in the structures resistant to heat for aeronautics and space. The company thus played a crucial role in the realization of the capsule Apollo, producing its heatshield in particular.

Aeronca Inc is today a division of the group Magellan Aerospace and produced cap-engine for Boeing or Airbus, of the wings for the missiles Raytheon, of the machine elements for the air-cushion vehicles of the US Navy…

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