The Standard Aero Corporation began life in May, 1912. Later it occupied several buildings at Plainfield, N. J. The company was reorganized under the name of the Standard Aircraft Corporation in 1917, and acquired the thirty-four buildings of a manufacturing company in Elizabeth, N. J. The total floor space was 614,190 square feet. The company built several thousand Standard J training-machines, which were bought by the government, but later discarded. The company also constructed the first Handley Page machines in this country, and also the first American constructed Caproni triplanes. Mr. Harry B. Mingle was the president and Mr. Charles H. Day the engineer.
The Standard model J. H. was a hydroaeroplane, and a number of H. S.-1-1 and H. S.-2-1, and D. H. 4’s. Flying-boats were made by this company. Model J. R.-1-B. was used by the Post-Office Department for aero mail service between New York-Philadelphia-Washington, making a most excellent record.
The St. Louis Aircraft Corporation was organized in the fall of 1917. The Huttig Sash and Door Company of St. Louis and the St. Louis Car Company facilities were used for making J. N. 4-D training-planes, which were being turned out in quantity in May, 1918. Nine hundred people were employed, and machines at the rate of 30 per week were being produced.
The Springfield Aircraft Corporation came into being on September 27, 1917, and began to manufacture J. N. 4-D and VE-7 type machines. The company leased the Mason Company’s plants, with 200,000 square feet capacity, at Springfield, Mass.
The plant reached a capacity of from 5 to 8 machines per day when the war ended. Over 1,000 were employed.
The Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation was organized in September, 1916, to take over the General Aeronautic Company of America, the Simples Automobile Company, and the Wright Company. The General Aeronautic Company had received an order for 450 Hispano-Suiza engines in 1916, but less than 100 motors had been delivered by July, 1917. In May, 1918, the General Vehicle Company’s plant at Long Island City was bought by the United States Government and given over to the use of the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation. Fifteen thousand men were employed by the company, and the first production engine was tested in November, 1918. The company also set up a gauge plant at Newark, N. J. The company had orders for delivery of 2,000 motors a month in 1919, totalling $50,000,000. The company reached a production of 30 engines a day in October, 1918. This engine holds the altitude record of 29,500 feet, made by Captain Schroeder in December, 1918. The company produced no aeroplanes during the United States’ participation in the war.
In 1915 the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company was organized by Mr. Noble Foss and Mr. Benjamin Foss. The original plant at Jamaica, Mass., had 24,000 square feet. The company built 25 machines before the United States entered the war. Experiments were made with an all-steel fuselage. The B. F. Sturtevant Company had built many aeroplane engines, and it had been organized by the same two brothers. At the end of the war the company had erected a new three-story building of 35,000 square feet. They had over 1,000 employees at the two plants. The Aeroplane Company was engaged primarily in manufacturing spare parts for the J. N. 4-D and D. H. 4, etc.
The Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company was organized in 1912 at Bath, N. Y., and built many types of machines, both seaplanes and land-machines, before the war. The Thomas Aeromotor firm came to life in August, 1915. In January, 1917, the two companies were combined into the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation at Ithaca, N. Y., and a factory of three large buildings was constructed. The plant has a floor space of 190,000 square feet. The S-4-E, the S-5 scouts, the M-B-1 and the M-B-2 fighters, B-3 flying-boat, and D-2 hydro are well known as the Thomas-Morse machines.
Other Machines Made
A number of other manufacturers were given orders to construct aircraft. The Packard Motor Company established a department and Captain Le Pere, the French military aircraft engineer, designed a number of machines which were built for the government. Among them was the G. H.-11, an armored plane, the U.S. Le Pere Triplane, and the Le Pere combat machine, which flew from Detroit to New York to attend the aero show at Madison Square Garden, March 1, 1919. None of these machines were put into quantity production.