In only five years a Tennessee farm boy transformed Wichita’s Travel Air Manufacturing Company from humble beginnings into one of America’s leading builders of private, business and commercial airplanes.
Late October 1926 the Travel Air Manufacturing Company lost its chief engineer, Lloyd Carlton Stearman, who had resigned to start his own company in California. Worse yet, in January 1927 Travel Air’s president and pioneer aviator, Clyde Vernon Cessna, resigned after selling his shares of stock to three business owners in town. He planned to pursue his dream of designing and building a cabin monoplane with a full-cantilever wing, similar to that used on the famous Fokker monoplanes of the late 1920s.
That year Cessna had built, on his own time and with his own money (about $6,000), a proof-of-concept cabin ship powered by a 110-horsepower Anzani air-cooled, static, radial engine. Always a proponent of the monoplane, Clyde’s interest centered chiefly in manufacturing airplanes bearing his name. He had built eight different monoplanes since 1911 when he taught himself how to fly in his first ship that he named “Silverwings.”
During the hot Kansas summer Walter Beech had made a number of flights in Clyde’s cabin monoplane and liked its performance and handling characteristics. Cessna’s five-place ship was capable of carrying 1,000 pounds and could land at only 45 mph, but it was fitted with a 300-pound, semi-cantilever wing.
Clyde’s creation served as the inspiration for Travel Air’s first monoplane – the Type 5000. Construction of a prototype ship was underway by October, and by the middle of December the cabin monoplane was ready for its maiden flight. A few days later Beech flew the airplane to Kansas City where it was evaluated by Egbert P. Lott, chief pilot for National Air Transport (NAT). In January 1927 NAT awarded Travel Air a contract for eight Type 5000 transports, to be delivered in 120 days at a cost of $128,676.
In the wake of Cessna’s sudden departure that month, Walter was temporarily placed in charge of the company’s day-to-day operations until elections could be held in February, when Beech was appointed president. One of his first acts was to wire the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) in Washington, D.C., and ask that an inspector be sent to Wichita for the dual purpose of licensing Travel Air’s pilots and certifying that the company’s airplanes were deemed airworthy.
Walter was well aware that enactment of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 would mandate that the federal government become responsible for establishing standards and regulations governing both licensing of pilots and airplanes. As private and commercial aviation began to grow after the end of World War I, it was inevitable that the “good ‘ol days” of unregulated flying and manufacturing would soon disappear. During 1920-1925, dozens of airplane companies had gradually sprung up from coast-to-coast, and an increasing number of aircraft were being built and sold to an ever increasing number of “aviators,” many of whom had little or no formal flight training.
Walter’s request was answered when the DOC’s Director, Clarence M. Young, dispatched Inspector Hosch to Wichita. He certified Beech, Travel Air chief pilot Clarence Clark and two other airmen. In addition, Hosch inspected the company’s manufacturing facility, paying particular attention to materials and processes used to build the Model “A” biplane and the new Model “BW” with its expensive Wright Whirlwind radial engine.
It is interesting to note that Travel Air, after only two years in the infant airplane business, had achieved sales of $54,936 (19 airplanes) in 1925 with a net income of $11,056 after taxes. In 1926 sales (46 airplanes) increased to $185,169 and profits stood at more than $25,000. By June 1927 the company had delivered 80 ships since 1925 and the factory’s expanding workforce was building almost one airplane per day.
Although Walter Beech was president and an increasing amount of his time was focused on leading the company, he remained an active pilot. In 1926 he was victorious in the Ford Reliability Tour and had competed in a number of local and regional air racing events, winning some and taking second place in others.
In 1927 he reluctantly declined a request from Charles A. Lindbergh for Travel Air to build a monoplane for the airmail pilot’s solo flight attempt from New York to Paris, but Beech expressed enough confidence in Lindbergh’s flight that he was among the first to send a cablegram of congratulations to Paris hours before the “Spirit of St. Louis” landed at Le Bourget Airport. That same year Walter was chiefly responsible for the decision to build not one but two Type 5000 monoplanes to compete in the Dole Race from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. The $25,000 first prize was captured by pilot Arthur Goebel and his navigator, U.S. Navy Lieutenant William Davis, flying the Woolaroc. The second ship, dubbed the Oklahoma, did not compete in the race.
Another of Walter’s important responsibilities was finding real estate for a new factory. The cramped space of the West Douglas site was woefully inadequate for building the large NAT monoplanes. It was imperative that Travel Air build a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture its current product line, as well as and providing for future expansion. During 1926 Beech, in concert with Clyde Cessna, had worked tirelessly to find the necessary financial backing. The two aviators wanted the factory to be built east of the city where the terrain was gentle with little change in elevation and the thick prairie grass was soft and smooth.
Fortunately, a trio of Wichita’s business owners and aviation enthusiasts, Walter P. Innes, Sr., Jack Turner and C.L. Henderson, managed to convince the Booster Building Association to sell Travel Air 6 acres of that sought-after land on East Central Avenue for $30,000. With an eye to the sky and looking to the potential future of aeronautics in Wichita, in 1925 the Association had bought 160 acres at the site, which already served as the city’s unofficial airfield.
With financing in place, Walter and Clyde contracted with the architect Glenn A. Thomas to draw up plans in accordance with their vision for the factory. In December 1926 the site was officially surveyed and construction approved. Plans called for a building 275 feet in length and 75 feet in width made of steel and stressed concrete. Working with others, Walter was busy identifying the location of fireproof workshops for handling dope and fabric, engine installation, final assembly, welding and woodworking as well as flight testing.
Meanwhile, construction of the eight Type 5000 transports for NAT was progressing well, and in March 1927 the first ship was completed. Walter, accompanied by NAT’s Egbert P. Lott, flew the ship south to Ponca City, Oklahoma, to attend a celebration of inaugural air service by NAT. Always the progressive thinker, Walter was well aware that the day of the open cockpit biplane was slowly drawing to a close, and he had no doubt that demand for the Type 5000 proved that monoplanes were the future.
Between attending meetings, answering correspondence from customers and overseeing progress of the new factory, Beech also kept a tight rein on daily activities at the current factory. By May the payroll had grown to 50 men working day, night and weekend shifts to complete the NAT contract on time and deliver biplanes already on order. It would be another 40 days before the transition to the new factory could begin.
Early in June Beech was informed that the factory on East Central Avenue would be ready for occupancy by the middle of the month. President Beech had already supervised installation of special woodworking machines as soon as floor space became available, but more equipment would be added to fully equip the shop. The new building featured large windows to admit sunlight throughout the facility except for certain areas such as the dope room where special fireproof doors were installed. If a fire broke out, the doors were designed to contain flames within the shop and prevent the fire from spreading to other areas. Travel Air’s modern factory had a total floor space of 21,650 square feet and cost the company $32,000 to construct to original specifications laid down in 1926 by Beech and Cessna. Five offices were included at the west end of the building for Walter, secretary and office manager Olive Ann Mellor and her assistants.
By mid-summer all production had been transferred with only minor interruptions. At that time 11 Type 5000 aircraft were under construction for NAT and other customers. Three had been delivered to NAT and five more scheduled to be completed within the next few months to finish the order. In the wake of Charles A. Lindbergh’s solo flight from New York to Paris one month earlier in May, Travel Air was soon inundated with orders for the Type “B” and Type “BW” biplanes as well as the Type 5000 monoplane.
As autumn approached it became obvious to Beech and factory manager William “Bill” Snook that a second factory unit was essential to meet production requirements. A flood of orders for new ships had created a five-month backlog and Beech had to find a solution, and fast! Fortunately, the Henrion Company was able to begin construction of a second building in late September. Although possessing the same dimensions as the first (but without office space), the new unit would be dedicated largely to dope and fabric work. To minimize the danger of a fire spreading to other shops, the large workspace would feature the same fireproof doors as the first unit, now known as Factory “A.” In addition, a large concrete ramp area would be poured between “A” and the new unit, separating the structures by 100 feet.
Pilot Arthur Goebel, victor of the Dole Race from California to the Territory of Hawaii in August, flew the Woolaroc to Travel Air Field. In a brief ceremony October 5, Beech made a speech commemorating the event, Goebel laid the cornerstone for Factory “B” before being rushed off to the west side of town to dedicate Clyde Cessna’s factory, followed by officiating at the opening of Lloyd Stearman’s facility north of the city (Stearman had recently returned to Wichita after a year’s absence in California).
To relieve pressure on the production line while the new building was under construction, Walter and the board of directors notified Travel Air dealers and distributors that no new orders would be accepted during September and October. Meanwhile, the Henrion Company worked feverishly and met Walter’s deadline of late December for completion.
As 1927 drew to a close, Beech was quietly engaged in discussions with chief engineer Horace Weihmiller about design and construction of a new monoplane tentatively designated as the Type 6000. Walter was convinced that the success of the Type 5000 on NAT’s airline passenger routes between Chicago, Dallas and other cities in the Midwest justified producing a cabin monoplane aimed directly at companies and corporations. The business owner who flew was an emerging and potentially lucrative market for airframe manufacturers such as Travel Air. Design work on the monoplane commenced late in 1927 but a prototype would not be ready to fly until April 1928.
With 1927 at its end, Beech could look back on what had been a banner year for a small company that had been in business for less than three years. The value of stock had skyrocketed to $150 per share from only $50 in 1925. Capitalization, too, had increased significant to about $200,000 from the original $50,000. Best of all, Ms. Mellor reported to President Beech that the company had an order for every day of 1928!
As of Dec. 31, 1927, Travel Air had built and delivered 200 airplanes since its founding in 1925. These included 162 Type “B” (Curtiss OX-5 or OXX-6), 16 Type BW (200 horsepower Wright J-4), five Type BH (Wright/Hispano-Suiza V-8) and 18 Type 5000 monoplanes (200-225-horsepower Wright J-5 radial). In his first year as president, Walter had demonstrated his ability to manage a profitable company that was expanding rapidly into one of America’s highly respected aircraft companies. The next year would prove to be more successful than the farm boy from Tennessee could ever have imagined.