North American Aviation

North American Aviation was established in December 1928 as a holding company. Its founder, Clement Keys, intended for it to invest in a range of aviation businesses rather than become another aircraft manufacturer. Its first years were spent buying and selling interests in a number of aviation and airline companies through a series of complicated transactions. The Air Mail Act of 1934, however, forced aviation holding companies to break up (although North American was able to retain Eastern Air Lines until 1938). One of the new companies retained the name North American Aviation. James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger was recruited from Douglas Aircraft as the new company president.

The new North American focused on manufacturing aircraft, and Kindelberger moved the company to southern California, where the weather allowed flying year-round. His strategy was to produce small military training aircraft as he felt that competing with the larger, more-established companies would be difficult. Its first planes, the GA-15 observation aircraft and the GA-16 trainer led to the O-47 and the NA-16 (also called the BT-9), a low-wing monoplane that won the 1934 Army Air Corps trainer competition. The NA-16 was the first in a long line of trainers that would continue for some 25 years. North American's first combat airplane, the BC-1, built in 1937, was based on the NA-16.

With war approaching, North American stepped up aircraft production. In 1940, it opened factories in Dallas and Kansas City, Kansas. From 1938 through 1945, the company produced 43,208 aircraft, more than any other U.S. manufacturer.

Several of its planes were notable. The T-6 Texan (called the SNJ by the Navy and the Harvard by the Royal Air Force) was the most famous Allied trainer of the war and, with 17,000 built, very likely the most widely used trainer ever. The B-25 Mitchell twin-engine bomber was the first bomber used in all World War II combat theaters and the first to sink Axis submarines. It is perhaps best known for the raid its pilots made on Tokyo on April 18, 1942, led by Col. Jimmy Doolittle. North American's P-51 Mustang was initially designed for the British as a medium-altitude fighter. But once the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, built by Packard in the United States, replaced its Allison engine, it became arguably the outstanding American fighter of the war.

After the war, North American faced the same hard times that all U.S. aircraft manufacturers faced. Its number of employees fell from a wartime peak of 91,000 to 5,000 in 1946. On V-J Day, North American had orders for 8,000 planes. A few months later, that had dropped to 24.

Still, North American came out of its post-war doldrums more quickly than some of the other manufacturers. In mid-1948, the piston-powered AJ Savage bomber, which carried an auxiliary jet engine in its tail, flew for the first time. It was the largest airplane at the time flying off aircraft carriers. It served primarily as an in-flight refueling tanker.

North American had also developed the twin-fuselage XP-82 Twin Mustang from its P-51 late in the war. First flown in June 1945, it served as a radar-equipped night fighter in the Korean War. The four-engine B-45 Tornado became the first operational jet bomber in early 1947. But with the old "straight-wing" configuration rather than the new swept wings, its performance was weak, and only 143 were sold.

In 1946, North American produced its first FJ-1 Fury jet fighter. The next year, it was redesigned into the XP-86, first flown on October 1, 1947. Its test pilot, George "Wheaties" Welch, became the first pilot to fly the plane at Mach 1 in routine flight. The XP-86 was redesignated in 1948 as the F-86 Sabre. It became the standard fighter and proceeded to fly thousands of missions and win fame in Korea. It also set several world speed records. Some 6,656 F-86s were produced in the United States, the most postwar military aircraft in the West, as well as another 2,500 elsewhere. To accommodate its Sabre production, North American opened facilities in a former Curtiss-Wright plant in Columbus, Ohio.

It also moved into a former Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft plant at Downey, California, and in 1948, built a new plant at Downey. In the 1960s, Downey would become the home of the Apollo spacecraft. By the end of 1952, North American sales topped $315 million and employment at the Columbus plant alone had grown from 1,600 in 1950 to 18,000.

In June 1948, Kindelberger became chairman and chief executive officer, and Lee Atwood became president. The team would continue to lead North American into the 1980s.

North America launched the F-100 Super Sabre in the early 1950s. Using titanium extensively, the swept-wing plane quickly broke the sound barrier. The F-100 set numerous speed, endurance, and distance records, and the Air Force chose the plane for its Thunderbird precision flying team.

In 1955, North American spun off its Rocketdyne division, which would become the premier American producer of liquid-fueled rockets. Its new Missile Development division, became the Space and Information Systems Division in 1960. Another division, Autonetics, focused on guidance systems.

North American in the late 1950s experienced several setbacks, partly because of its dependence on government business. The F-107 and the F-108 Rapier interceptor programs were both cancelled, as was the Navajo intercontinental ballistic missile program. Efforts to diversify resulted in shrinking aircraft production until, with the delivery of the last F-100 in 1959, the manufacture of major combat airplanes stopped.

At the end of the 1950s, the remaining production programs at Columbus were the T-2 Buckeye jet trainer, which enjoyed a long production life, and the supersonic A-5 Vigilante. The company also produced the OV-10 Bronco attack plane for the military and for export, and the T-39 Air Force utility aircraft and crew trainer, which led to a business jet version. Although successful, they were insufficient to offset what the company had lost in larger programs.

A high point was the X-15. North American received the contract in 1955 to build this research airplane. Its first flight took place in 1959. Designed to conduct research beyond the Earth's atmosphere, it achieved higher speeds and faced greater heat levels than ever before encountered.

Lee Atwood, installed as chief executive in 1960, decided to focus on the space program. The decision paid off, at least for the duration of the Apollo program. In 1961, the company beat Martin Marietta for the Apollo Moon-landing vehicle contract. North American also developed much of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

In January 1967 a launch pad fire killed three Apollo astronauts. The subsequent investigations subjected the company to severe criticism of its technical and managerial competence and motivated it to proceed with a merger that had been discussed some years earlier. In March 1967, North American merged with Rockwell Standard Corporation, becoming North American Rockwell (NAR). With the merger, the company could take advantage of Rockwell's other areas of business and expertise.

NAR still pursued military business. In 1970, NAR won the contract for the B-1 bomber over Boeing and General Dynamics. The program was full of controversy from the start though as costs escalated and reliability and performance were criticized. In the frugal post-Vietnam environment, funding was almost cut off a number of times even though proponents touted the jobs the program created. President Jimmy Carter finally cancelled the program in 1977. The Air Force resurrected it, however, in 1979 as a cruise missile program, and President Ronald Reagan succeeded in reviving it as the B-1B, committing to 100 aircraft as part of a massive new weapons program. At peak production in 1986, 40,000 people were working on the program, which also contributed two-thirds of Rockwell's profits.

Earlier Rockwell had formed the Space Transportation Systems Division (STSD) and delivered four Shuttle orbiters. The first Shuttle flight took place on April 14, 1981. After the Challenger was lost in January 1986, Rockwell received the contract for the Endeavour replacement orbiter.

Rockwell participated in international ventures in the late 1980s and into the 1990s with its X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability demonstrator. This was the first international experimental aircraft development program administered by the U.S. government.

In 1996, Rockwell's space systems, aircraft divisions, Rocketdyne, and other units joined the Boeing Company.

James H. Kindelberger

Aeronautical Designer,

Industrialist

Born Wheeling, West Virginia

May 8,1895—July 27. 1962

During World War I, James Howard Kindelberger became a U.S. Air Service Pilot. His aeronautical career was launched when he became Chief Draftsman for the Martin Company in 1918. In 1925 he joined the Douglas Aircraft Company and developed the designs that would lead to the renowned DC-3. When offered the Presidency of General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation in 1934, he accepted the stewardship and founded the aerospace industrial giant, North American Aviation.

As the clouds of World War II loomed over Europe, he realized what must be done and this foresight was to provide a major element of the air power for victory. The North American T-6 trainers schooled the crews, the P-51 Mustang fighters assured air supremacy, and the rugged B-25 Mitchell light bombers were in the forefront of the air campaign. It is said "Dutch" Kindelberger built more planes in his 46-year career in aviation then any other man in history. In addition, the foundation he laid in North American produced the Apollo spacecraft and rocket engines that carried man to the Moon. His leadership took North American Aviation from the postwar era on to jet aircraft, nuclear energy, rocket engines, missiles, the triple-sonic Valkyrie bomber, and the X-15 research aircraft.

Leading Aerospace

Industrial Executive

Born Walton, Kentucky

October 26, 1906 – March 5, 1999*

John Leland Atwood graduated from the University of Texas in 1928 with a degree in Civil Engineering. A prominent figure in the nation's aerospace industry for more than 40 years, he has made numerous important engineering and managerial contributions to the field, from the beginnings of commercial flight to man's conquest in space. Starting out as a junior airplane engineer with the Army Air Corps in 1928, Atwood later joined the Douglas Aircraft Company, as chief of structural design, he helped develop the DC-1, DC-2 and DC-3 family of commercial planes.

Joining North American Aviation in 1934 as chief engineer and vice president, Atwood was later elected president and chief executive officer of the aircraft company. At North American he personally originated the design concept of the P-51 Mustang Fighter which has been described as "the most perfect aerodynamic aircraft of World War II." Other aircraft designed under his leadership include the T-6 Texan Trainer, used by almost every Allied nation during World War II; the B-25 Billy Mitchell Bomber, which made the historic raid on Tokyo in 1942; the F-100 Super Sabre, the world's first operational supersonic fighter, the Hypersonic X-15 which set world altitude and speed records, the XB-70, the most advanced aircraft of its size ever built, and the B-1 Strategic Bomber Headed by Atwood, North American Aviation produced over 60,000 military aircraft.

In 1967, North American Aviation merged with the Rockwell Standard Corporation, naming Atwood president and chief executive officer of the newly formed North American Rockwell Corporation, now known as Rockwell International.

Again under Atwood's direction, his company produced significant contributions to the aerospace industry including: the Apollo command and service modules, which carried men to the moon nine times; the S-II second stage of the Saturn V lunar launch vehicle; the F-1 and J-2 rocket engines of Saturn V and the guidance and flight control systems for the Minuteman intercontinental missiles. In addition, Atwood has been instrumental in the development of the Space Shuttle.

Atwood retired from his position as president of Rockwell International in 1970, remaining on the board until 1977. He maintained his interest in the aerospace industry, and he continued to be a valued consultant to the aircraft corporation until his death.

Atwood, Kindelberger, Smithson

During the prosperous, whirling 1920s, aviation was in its childhood. Companies dedicated to airplane manufacturing, engines, propellers, passenger flight and support industries sprouted across the country. On Dec. 6, 1928, North American Aviation was incorporated in Delaware to become a holding company for many of these new ventures. In March 1930, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. North American Aviation, Inc., had interests in a number of leading airlines and aircraft manufacturing companies including the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, located at the Curtis-Caproni plant at Dundalk, Md. As part of the "New Deal" legislation during the Depression, the Air Mail Act of 1934 prevented an organization or its members engaged in any part of the aircraft industry from holding an airmail contract after Dec. 31, 1934. Therefore, North American's airline interests were separated from its airplane-building concerns, and 39-year-old James Howard "Dutch" Kindelberger became President and General Manager of General Aviation, leaving a career as vice president of engineering at Douglas Aircraft.

When Kindelberger went east, he took with him two key aircraft designers from Douglas Aircraft: Lee Atwood and J.S. "Stan" Smithson. In 1960, Atwood would take over from Kindelberger as leader of North American Aviation. However, in 1934 they were starting from scratch. At the time, North American had never sold a single airplane. It had done some modification work on the obsolete Berliner-Joyce P-16, and the only plane on the factory floor was an unmarketable low-wing, single-engine 10-passenger commercial transport, the GA-43 Pilgrim. The company's first government contract was not for airplanes at all -- but for 161 sets of pontoons for observation planes in service with the U.S. Navy. It was time for NAA designers to hit the drawing boards and come up with the company's first trainer, the NA-16, and the XO-47 three-place observation plane. Because Southern California had excellent year-round flying weather, Kindelberger promptly moved the company, including machinery and 75 people, to a 159,000 square-foot facility on 20 acres near the edge of the Los Angeles Municipal Airport. Rent was $600 a year. Work began in temporary manufacturing quarters while the original Inglewood factory building at that location was expanded and remodeled. The new premises were occupied January 1936, with 250 people on the payroll. Kindelberger knew that North American Aviation would have the best chance of success if it concentrated on small, single-engined airplanes, rather than competing with manufacturers of large, multi-engined aircraft. He also knew the Army Air Corps needed a new basic trainer. However, military funding for airplanes was declining so the company also pursued overseas export contracts with other countries, including France, England, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. As a result, the trainers would become the "bread-and-butter" product for the fledgling company. The NA-16, a fixed-gear, two-place, low-wing monoplane, won the trainer competition in 1934 and, on April 1, 1935, became the first North American model-numbered airplane to be flown. It evolved into the BT-9 (basic trainer) and predecessor of a series of trainers that continued in uninterrupted production for 25 years. The BT-9 led to design of the Buckeye and, 50 years later, the Sabreliner, and it established NAA as a viable airplane builder. In 1936, the company was contracted to build 238 later versions of the original GA-15 observation airplane as the O-47. North American's first contract for a basic combat-type airplane came in 1937 with completion of the BC-1, a derivative of the NA-16. In February of the same year, North American built its one and only powerful NA-21 twin-engine "Dragon" bomber. The experimental NA-21 Dragon, which made its first flight on New Year's Day 1937, was North American's first venture into multi-engine design. It was a high-altitude bomber, with power gun turrets and capable of carrying a large bomb load. The Air Force bought the NA-21 in 1939 and it was redesignated the XB-21. Under the gathering impetus of impending World War II, North American forged ahead to new production records, building 41,000 airplanes during World War II. In fact, between 1935 and 1967, North American Aviation built more military aircraft than any other airplane maker in U.S. history.