North American Aviation
North American Aviation, Inc. was an
aircraft manufacturer from the
1930s to 1967, when it merged with
Rockwell-Standard Corporation to become
North American Rockwell Corporation. The company was responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the
T-6 Texan trainer, the
P-51 Mustang fighter, the
B-25 Mitchell bomber, the
F-86 Sabre jet fighter, and the
X-15 rocket plane, as well as
Apollo Command and Service Module and the second stage of the
Saturn V rocket. Rockwell International (including the North American Aviation and Rocketdyne divisions) were sold to
Boeing in 1996.
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The North American XB-70. |
Clement Keys founded North American on
December 6,
1928, as a
holding company that bought and sold interests in various
airlines and aviation-relation companies. However, the
Air Mail Act of 1934 forced the breakup of such holding companies. The upshot was that North American became a manufacturing company run by
James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger (who had been recruited from
Douglas Aircraft Company), although it retained
Eastern Air Lines until 1938.
Kindelberger moved the company's operations to southern
California, which allowed flying year-round, and decided to focus on training aircraft, on the theory that it would be easier than trying to compete with established companies. Its first planes were the
GA-15 observation plane and the
GA-16 trainer, followed by the
O-47 and
BT-9. The
BC-1 of 1937 was North American's first combat aircraft.
Like other manufacturers, North American started gearing up for war in 1940, opening factories in
Columbus, Ohio,
Dallas, Texas, and
Kansas City, Kansas.
North American's follow-on to the BT-9 was the
T-6 Texan trainer, of which 17,000 were built, making it the most widely used trainer ever. The twin-engine
B-25 Mitchell bomber achieved fame in the
Doolittle Raid and was used in all theaters. The
A-36 Apache was developed as a ground attack aircraft and dive bomber. Originally powered by an Allison engine, a suggestion by the
RAF that North American switch to the
Rolls-Royce Merlin engine may have been one of the most significant events in WWII aviation, as it produced the
P-51 Mustang, considered by many to be the best American fighter of the war.
Post-war, North American's employment dropped from a high of 91,000 to 5,000 in 1946. Nevertheless, it continued with new designs, including the
T-28 Trojan trainer and attack aircraft, the odd-looking
P-82 Twin Mustang,
B-45 Tornado jet bomber, the
FJ Fury fighter,
AJ Savage, the revolutionairy
XB-70 Valkyrie Mach-3 strategic bomber, Shrike Commander, and
T-39 Sabreliner business jet.
The
Columbus, Ohio division of North American Aviation was instrumental in the exclusive development and production of North American's
A-5 Vigilante, an advanced high speed bomber that would see significant use as a Naval
reconnaissance aircraft during the
Vietnam War, the
OV-10 Bronco, the first aircraft specifically designed for forward air control (FAC), and counter-insurgency (COIN) duties, and the
T-2 Buckeye Naval trainer, which would serve from the late 1950's until 2005 and be flown in training by virtually every Naval pilot for four decades. The Buckeye's name would be an acknoledgement to the state tree of Ohio, as well as the mascot of the
Ohio State University.
The
F-86 Sabre started out as a redesigned Fury and achieved fame shooting down
MiGs in the
Korean War. Over 9,000 F-86s were produced. Its successor, the
F-100 Super Sabre, was also popular.
The rocket engine division spun off into a separate company,
Rocketdyne, in 1955, but North American designed and built the
X-15.
The cancellation of the
F-107 and
F-108 programs in the late
1950s, as well as the cancellation of the
Navaho ballistic missile program, was a blow to North American from which it never fully recovered. In 1960, the new CEO
Lee Atwood decided to focus on the
space program, and the company was the chief contractor for the
Apollo Command/Service Module and the second stage of the
Saturn V. However, the
Apollo 1 fire in January 1967 was partly blamed on the company, and in March they merged with Rockwell. For a comprehensive history refer to the Aerospace Legacy Foundation based in
Downey, California.
Boeing merger
In December 1996, the defense and space divisions of Rockwell International (including the North American Aviation and Rocketdyne divisions) were sold to
Boeing, which integrated the product lines into their
Integrated Defense Systems division. Rocketdyne was eventually sold to
UTC Pratt & Whitney, in 2005.
*
P-51 Mustang*
P-82 Twin Mustang*
B-25 Mitchell*
F-86 Sabre*
F-100 Super Sabre*
YF-107*
T-6 Texan*
L-17 Navion*
T-28 Trojan*
T-2 Buckeye*
XB-21*
O-47*
BT-9*
A-36 "Apache"*
XB-28 Dragon*
AJ Savage*
P-64*
T-39 Sabreliner*
B-45 Tornado*
FJ Fury*
YF-93A*
North American X-10*
A-5 Vigilante*
XF-108 Rapier*
OV-10 Bronco*
X-15*
XB-70 Valkyrie*
North American Aviation history*
Centennial of Flight page on North American*
Aerospace Legacy Foundation
