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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
The early patterns of finance in a twentieth-century transportation industry are examined by Professor Rae. His analysis is especially illustrative of the problems of companies manufacturing a product to highly exacting technical standards and for sale to a limited number of customers.
1 Aircraft Industries Association, Aviation Facts and Figures, 1955 (Washington, D.C.), p. 19.Google Scholar
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3 Kelly, Fred C., The Wright Brothers (New York, 1943), pp. 157, 271.Google Scholar
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7 The Martin Company (Baltimore, 1960), p. 36. They were William Loftus, Whittier oil man; W. A. Zimmerman, Santa Ana banker; and W. A. Collins, Los Angeles realtor.
8 Of Men and Stars, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, chap. 2 (April, 1957), pp. 8–10.
9 Kelly, Wright Brothers, p. 213.
10 Freudenthal, E. E., The Aviation Business: From Kitty Hawk to Wall Street (New York, 1940), p. 17.Google Scholar Germany led with expenditures of $28,000,000 for the same period.
11 Cunningham, W. G., The Aircraft Industry: A Study in Industrial Location (Los Angeles, 1951), p. 32.Google Scholar
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13 Ibid., p. 273.
14 Hearings before the President's Aircraft Board (Morrow Board), Sen. Doc., No. 18, 69 Cong., 1 Sess. (Washington, D.C., 1925), vol. 4, p. 1459.Google Scholar
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22 Maynard, Crosby (ed.), Flight Plan for Tomorrow: The Douglas Story. A Condensed History (Santa Monica, 1962), chap. 2.Google Scholar
23 Niven, John, Canby, Courtlandt, and Welsh, Vernon (eds.), Dynamic America (New York, 1960), p. 191.Google Scholar The private plane market did develop but became almost the exclusive property of a group of small companies in Wichita, Kansas. See Neville, J. T., “The Story of Wichita,” Aviation, vol. XXIX (1930), pp. 166–70, 291–95, 353–57.Google Scholar
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26 Of Men and Stars, chap. 3 (May, 1957), p. 2.
27 The details of this incident are given in Wilson, E. E., Slipstream (New York, 1950), pp. 50passim.Google Scholar
28 Ibid., p. 75.
29 Glenn L. Martin to L. D. Gardner, July 1, 1921, Martin Papers (Library of Congress).
30 Niven, Canby, and Welsh (eds.), Dynamic America, p. 199.
31 Axe and Co., Aviation Industry, p. 97; Aircraft Year Book, 1926, pp. 310–17.
32 The other members were: Howard E. Coffin, William F. Durand, General James G. Harbord, Admiral Frank J. Fletcher, Senator Hiram Bingham, Representatives James S. Parker and Carl Vinson, and Circuit Court Judge Arthur C. Dennison.
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35 Corporate and Legal History of United Air Lines and Its Predecessors and Subsidiaries (Chicago, Ill., 1953), p. 155. I am indebted for information on the career of William E. Boeing to his stepson, Mr. Nathaniel Faschall.
36 History of United Airlines, p. 156.
37 Ibid., p. 158.
38 Wolfe, Thomas, Air Transportation, Traffic, and Management (New York, 1950), p. 19.Google Scholar
39 “Brief History of North American Aviation” (unpublished ms. compiled by Public Relations staff), p. 1. Some of this information on North American is based on an interview with the company's president, Mr. John L. Atwood.
40 Ibid., p. 13; North American Aviation, Inc., Annual Report, 1948, p. 10.
41 “Chronology of World, U. S. Aircraft Industry, and North American Aviation, Inc., Events Prior to World War II,” compiled by NAA Staff Office, Dept. 191, May 19, 1959.
42 Smith, Airways, p. 148.
43 Niven, Canby, and Welsh (eds.). Dynamic America, pp. 241, 245.
44 “Brief History of North American,” p. 9. Eastern Airlines remained a North American property until 1938.
45 “Kindelberger Biography,” ms. compiled by NAA Staff Office.
46 Aviation Facts and Figures, 2956, p. 35.
47 “Brief History,” p. 17.
48 Of Men and Stars, chap. 3 (May, 1957), p. 14.
49 Interview given to the author by Mr. Squier, July 29, 1962.
50 Of Men and Stars, chap. 3, p. 3.
51 Ibid., chap. 1, p. 11.
52 Ibid., chap. 4, p. 7.
53 “Brief History of North American,” p. 17.
54 Glenn L. Martin to C. R. Crane, Dec. 28, 1938, Martin Papers.
55 President's Air Policy Commission, Survival in the Air Age: A Report (Washington, D.C., 1948), p. 50.Google Scholar
56 Mr. Frank R. Collbohm, at that time an engineer with Douglas and later president of the RAND Corporation, believes that this system made for better engineering, because it cost money to make mistakes. Interview with author, June 6, 1961.
57 “Brief History of North American,” p. 19.
58 Craven, W. F. and Cate, J. L., The Army Air Forces in World War II, vol. VI, Men and Planes (Chicago, 1955), p. 187.Google Scholar
59 Axe and Co., Aviation Industry, p. 101.
60 This account is taken from a recorded interview by E. E. Wilson, “Engineering the Humanities,” given to the author through the courtesy of Mr. Wilson and Dr. Vernon D. Tate, Librarian of the United States Naval Academy.
61 Of Men and Stars, chap. 5 (July, 1957), p. 6.
62 Craven and Cate, Army Air Forces, vol. VI, p. 191.
63 Ibid., p. 301.
