American Eagle Aircraft Corporation

The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft design and manufacturing company which existed briefly in Kansas, but which was a victim of the Great Depression, after building some 500 light airplanes, many of which were the Model A-129, a design attributed to noted aviation pioneer Giuseppe Mario Bellanca.

This article is about the aircraft design and manufacturing company. For other uses, see American Eagle (disambiguation).
American Eagle Aircraft Corporation
IndustryAerospace
SuccessorAmerican Eagle-Lincoln Aircraft Corporation
Founded1925 (1925)
FounderEdward E. Porterfield
Defunct1931 (1931)
Headquarters
Kansas City, Missouri
,
United States
American Eagle A-101 on display in the Yanks Air Museum at Chino, California in January 2008
American Eagle A-129 with Kinner K-5 engine at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, NY, in June 2005
Eaglet B-31 of 1931 at Santa Fe airfield, New Mexico, in June 1995

History

The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was started in 1925 in Kansas City, Kansas by Edward E. Porterfield. It was incorporated in Delaware in September 1928.[1][2]

Porterfield was running a flying school at the Fairfax Airport outside Kansas City. He had been operating Jennies and Lincoln Standard biplane trainers, and felt the need for a more suitable and better-performing trainer aircraft. He consulted with several aeronautical engineers of the period, including Bellanca, and soon launched the production of several light single-engine two-seat high-wing and biplane aircraft. In July 1929, it purchased the Wallace Aircraft Company.[3] By June of 1930, J. Carroll Cone – along with his assistant Joseph A. Young – had joined the company as vice president of sales.[4]

Late in 1929, the worldwide stock market crash severely depressed the sale of non-essential items such as sport airplanes, although American Eagle continued producing airplanes until 1931. Early in that year, Porterfield's company declared bankruptcy and halted production.[5] On 14 May 1931, the company's assets were purchased by the Lincoln Aircraft Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, which became the American Eagle-Lincoln Aircraft Corporation.[6] To satisfy concerns about potential competition if he were to found his own aircraft manufacturer, Porterfield signed a contract with the new company to stay on as aircraft sales representative for two months.[7]

Following the expiration of his contract, Porterfield left the company in July 1931.[7] He would later go on to form the Porterfield Aircraft Corporation, and died of a heart attack in 1948. Victor Roos, already president of the Lincoln Aircraft Company, continued as president of the American Eagle-Lincoln Aircraft Corporation. Most of the new company's effort went into producing the Eaglet, but the depth of the Depression soon killed this effort.[6] However, it did not stop the company from considering investing in a new factory in Florida.[8]

During the six years of its existence, the American Eagle company (including its merged existence with Lincoln) produced over 700 airplanes. At the time of the Depression it was the world's third-largest aircraft production company.

Aircraft
Model name First flight Number built Type
American Eagle A-101 1926 Single engine open cockpit biplane
American Eagle A-101 Single engine open cockpit biplane
American Eagle A-129 1929 400+ Single engine open cockpit biplane
American Eagle A-139 24 Single engine open cockpit biplane[9]
American Eagle A-201 44 Single engine open cockpit biplane[9]
American Eagle A-229 Single engine open cockpit biplane[9]
American Eagle A-251 Phaeton Single engine open cockpit biplane
American Eagle A-329 Single engine cabin monoplane[9]
American Eagle A-330 Single engine cabin monoplane[9]
American Eagle A-429 2 Single engine open cockpit biplane[9]
American Eagle A-430 2 Single engine cabin monoplane[9]
American Eagle A-529 0 Twin engine airplane[9]
American Eagle A-629 1 Twin engine monoplane[9]
American Eagle A-230 Eaglet 1930 Single engine open cockpit monoplane
American Eagle A-231 Eaglet Single engine open cockpit monoplane
American Eagle A-31 Eaglet Single engine open cockpit monoplane
American Eagle B-31 Eaglet Single engine open cockpit monoplane
American Eagle B-32 Eaglet Single engine open cockpit monoplane
American Eagle D-430 1 or 2 Single engine cabin monoplane[9]
American Eagle E-430 5 Single engine cabin monoplane[9]

References
  1. "The Day's New Investments". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 23 October 1928. p. 23. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. "15,000 Shares of American Eagle Aircraft Corporation of Delaware Capital Stock". Kansas City Star. 30 October 1928. p. 22. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  3. "American Eagle Aircraft Takes Expansion Step". Los Angeles Times. 21 July 1929. p. 8. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. Hinton, Gene (18 June 1930). "Air Views". Atlanta Constitution. p. 3. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. "Asks a New Receiver". Kansas City Star. 18 March 1931. p. 2. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  6. "Aircraft Jobs for 70". Kansas City Times. 14 May 1931. p. 6. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  7. "E. E. Porterfield, Jr., Quits". Kansas City Star. 16 July 1931. p. 5. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  8. "Plane Builder May Establish Factory Here". Tampa Morning Tribune. 9 December 1931. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  9. Eckland, K. O. (15 November 2006). "American Eagle, Roos American Eagle". Aerofiles. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
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