General Aircraft Corporation

The General Aircraft Company was an American aircraft design and manufacturing company that was formed in the late 1930s and ceased involvement with aircraft in 1976.

For the British aircraft manufacturer, see General Aircraft Limited.
General Aircraft Company
IndustryAerospace
Founder
Headquarters
Lowell, Massachusetts
,
United States
Key people
Lynn L. Bollinger
SubsidiariesHelio Aircraft Company
(1969–1976)

History

The company was established at Lowell, Massachusetts to build an aircraft designed by Doctor Otto C. Koppen, a professor of aeronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aircraft was the G1-80 Skyfarer, a two-seat cabin high-wing braced monoplane.[2][3] The company was applied for its first patent, an airplane wing, in 1939.[4]

Before the company could produce the aircraft in any numbers the Second World War intervened, and the Skyfarer programme was abandoned after either 17 or 18 examples had been built.[5][6] After establishing a factory in Astoria, New York, the company became a manufacturer of the Waco CG-4A troop glider[7] and the interests in the Wayfarer were passed to Grand Rapids Industries.

The company announced plans to produce a new regional airliner called the GAC-100 at its plant in El Segundo, California in 1968.[8]

In 1969, the company bought the Helio Aircraft Company which specialised in building STOL aircraft for use by government agencies in south east Asia.[9] The company ceased to manufacture aircraft in October 1976 when it sold the production rights and assets of its Helio Aircraft division.[10]

Aircraft
General Skyfarer
Model name First flight Number built Type
General Skyfarer Single engine cabin monoplane
General CG-4A 1,112 Assault glider
General GAC-100 N/A 0 Unbuilt four engine regional airliner

References

Notes
  1. "Fahnestock, Gen. Aircraft Founder, Dies". Chicago Tribune. 28 July 1970. p. 6. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  2. Orbis 1985, pp. 1935–1936
  3. C.B. Allen (1 June 1941). "Auto Driver Can Solo New Plane In Two Hours". The Washington Post.
  4. "Airplane Wing". United States Patent and Trademark Office. 1 April 1941. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. Cagle, Howard C. (June 1974). "General Skyfarer" (PDF). The Vintage Airplane. Vol. 2 no. 6. Hales Corners, Wisconsin: Antique Classic Aircraft. p. 20-21. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. Bissonette, Bruce (23 November 1969). "Prop Pitch". El Paso Times. p. 11-C. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  7. "This Week's Hero on the Home Front". Daily News. 26 April 1944. p. 8B. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  8. "STOL Plane Announced by General". Independent. 5 September 1968. p. C22. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  9. Visschedijk, Johan (30 June 2010). "No. 9946. Helio H-295 U-10D Super Courier (66-14348 c/n 1250) US Air Force". 1000AircraftPhotos.com. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  10. "General Aircraft Corp – '10-K' for 12/31/97". SEC Info. Fran Finnegan & Company LLC. 25 September 1998. Retrieved 25 December 2020.

Bibliography
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