from the Aviation Answer-Man website
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major commercial & military |
major general aviation |
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Boeing
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Cessna,
Learjet, Mooney, |
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Other Aircraft Manufacturers with Kansas Ties:
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END of INDEXES ALL DETAIL LISTINGS (BELOW) ARE INDEXED ABOVE |
Wichita
-- The "Air Capital of the World" -- Its Aviation History
The city which has built far more aircraft than any other city on Earth (over 250,000).
"What the National Archives is to American history, Wichita is to aviation. Powered flight may have been born on those sand dunes in Kitty Hawk but it grew up here in Wichita" ~ Nicholas A. Sabatini, FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, in the Opening Speech at the annual AIAA Technology Conference (the aerospace industry's leading technical conference), Wichita, Sept. 27, 2006 Wings Over Kansas
___________
Major Aviation Facilities in Wichita area:
AIRPORTS & AIRBASES:
EDUCATION & RESEARCH:
WICHITA'S MOST FAMOUS PLANE-MAKERS:
Swallow (started
as E. M. Laird Aviation Co., Inc.)
First successful commercial airplane-manufacturing company
in the U.S.A.
and the Air Capital's first airplane manufacturer;
included Mr. Beech (later head of Travel Air & Beech Aircraft)
and Mr. Stearman (later head of Stearman-Northrop and Lockheed)
and George "Buck" Weaver (co-founder of WACO)
Emil Matthew "Matty" Laird
(Early Birds)
(or CLICK HERE)
Laird / E.M. Laird Airplane
Company (Aerofiles.com)
Swallow / New Swallow Airplane
Company (Aerofiles.com)
Brief Swallow Company History (and E.M. Laird company history)
EAA AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, WI.
Travel Air (see also Beech / Hawker
& Raytheon Aircraft )
the largest civilian-plane maker in the USA in the late 1920's
started by Mr. Beech, Mr. Cessna and Mr.
Stearman
The Travel Air Company history, Arkansas
Air Museum
History of the Travel Air Airplane Manufacturing Co., Inc. (with PICTURES!)
,
Boeing-Wichita /
BMAC (Boeing Military Airplane Co.)
(for most of Boeing's history, its vast Wichita
plant -- one of America's largest --
has been the largest Boeing complex outside
of Washington state;
Boeing-Wichita produced the
Stearman trainer biplanes, most B-29, B-47, & B-52 bombers,
-- including the entire
currently-flying B-52 fleet -- and Air Force One 747 conversions,
plus major sections of
all Boeing airliners, including fuselages of the 727, 737 &
757)
The Boeing Company main website
Boeing-Wichita Division,
overview & history
Boeing Commercial Airplanes,
Wichita Division,
overview & history
Boeing Military Airplanes,
Wichita Division,
overview & partial history
Airliners.net
(private airliner-enthusiasts' website)
Pictures of Boeing airliners
(foreign private website)
Bombers section,
Strategic-Air-Command.com (private website about U.S. Air Force
S.A.C.)
Bombers and Bomber Weapons,
GlobalSecurity.org (private website, military analysts)
The Boeing Company
Stearman (also see: Boeing
)
Stearman was aviation legend in his own time, by Paul Soutar, Wichita Eagle, (12/13/2003)
Cessna
Cessna Aircraft Company, div. of Textron
Corp.
Cessna Owners' Organization
Cessna Pilots Association
Cessna 172-182 Club
The Twin Cessna Flyer organization
Bamboo Bomber Club
'Cessna Declares
Independence...';
Plant Sites & Parks magazine, Jan.1997
Beech
/ Hawker & Raytheon Aircraft
Raytheon Aircraft Co., div. of Raytheon Corp.
Raytheon Corp., Beechcraft product list
Raytheon Corp., Hawker product list
Raytheon Corp., Airliner product list
American Bonanza (& Baron) Society
Twin Bonanza Association
Staggerwing Club, history pages
Learjet
Div. of Bombardier, Ltd.
Bombardier Aerospace
Learjet Div. history
Learjets, Goodweather Flyer (UK)
"Learjet 24D: Blowtorch for Six -- Daydream Believer"
    pilot report by Budd Davisson, Air Progress(?) October, 1970
William P. Lear, Sr., founder, Learjet, Inc.; biographies:
Lemelson-MIT Awards Program
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Horatio Alger Assn.
Mooney / Superior
(Al Mooney's Mooney Aircraft Co. started in Wichita in 1929 and quickly collapsed;
but after quitting
Culver
, he revived it in Wichita in 1947, and moved to Kerrville, Texas
in 1953. It is one of the world's leading suppliers of
high-performance single-engine light aircraft. The Mooney M-18 Mite was the company's main Wichita product, and its first success.)
Mooney Aircraft Company
Mooney Owners Of America
Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association
Mooney Aircraft Web Ring
(coalition of websites)
Culver & Mooney Mite history
Book review & summary:
"The Al Mooney Story: They All Fly Through the Same Air,"
Mooney Mite website
"Mitey Might," Mooney Mite pilot report
by Budd Davisson, Air Progress, April, 1985
Airbus Information and
Internet Links to... Wichita
& Southern/Western Kansas:
Ace Aircraft Mfg. (Otto
Corben's Baby Ace, 1929, Wichita, was one of the very first
popular "homebuilt" designs)
Alon (The famous,
pioneering Ercoupe was reborn in McPherson, as the Alon Aircoupe)
(Airbus Industrie -- a French-based consortium of European aerospace companies organized to produce large jetliners -- opened its North American operations (engineering) office in Wichita, to take advantage of the city's vast population of experienced aviation engineers. Today, these Kansas engineers help develop the world's largest airliner -- the Airbus A380 -- and other Airbus planes.
Airbus Industrie official main corporate website
"Airbus A380 vs. Boeing Dreamliner" article
(from recent issue of InFlightUSA)
"Airbus superjumbo ready to fly; Wichita office lands new projects" article
(Wichita Business JournalJan.28,2005)
OTHER WICHITA & KANSAS PLANE MAKERS
Ace Aircraft, Inc.
Int'l Miniature Aircraft
Ass'n.
www.Aircoupe.com
Ercoupe, Alon, Aircoupe, M10 Webring
Ercoupe Owners Club
Ercoupers Online Community
"Those Wonderful 'Coupes," by Howard Fried , AvWeb.com
Ercoupe 415C page,
amateur history & overview of Ercoupe/Aircoupe family
'Flying an Aircoupe...' essay,
by David W. Vernon, owner/operator of various Aircoupes, including Alon A-2A.
Essco Aircraft, Manuals & Supplies (for Alon Aircraft, & others), AvWeb.com
Bede
(Jim Bede's famous/infamous BD-5 kits were manufactured in Newton)
Bedecorp, LLC (Jim Bede's current company)
BD-17 & BD-18 designs
Bede's other designs
The BD-5 Network & the BD-5 Bulletin
BD-Micro Technologies, Inc