Standard Aero Corporation

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[See also Standard Aero Corp. of N.Y. (II). (What's the difference?)]

Henry Bowers Mingle, an attorney in New York, was Standard Aeroplane Co.'s president. In 1916, Mingle had access to a majoriy of shares in Sloane Aeroplane Co., Plainfield, NJ, which see, and reportedly formed Standard Aero Corp., a New York corporation, to use these shares to take over and operate the assets of Sloane. Mingle, incidentally, was the long-time general counsel in the U.S. for Mitsui and Company Ltd., the largest of the Japanese banking conglomerates. While Mingle was initially reported to be the sole shareholder of Standard Aero, it later came out that the shares in Sloane held by Standard had been transferred to Standard by Mitsui and that Mitsui was the financial backer of Standard. Charles Healy Day, chief engineer and designer at Sloane stayed on in this position with Standard. D. A. Meenan, who had been with Sloane as secretary-treasurer, was elected director and treasurer. C. Y. Bradford, who had been in charge of manufacturing for American Tobacco, became general manager. Aeronautical engineer T. H. Huff became experimental dept. head.

By July 1916 Standard Aero had received an order from the U.S. Army for 12 aeroplanes, apparently H2 reconnaissance biplanes and H3 trainers that Day had designed for Sloane. In October 1916 an order was received for 18 copies of Day's new Type J, a primary training, twin-engined hydro-airplane. and in April 1917, 100 more were ordered. By August 1917, Day appears to have designed others in his J series as well as a Speed Scout and the company had grown from some 50 employees to over 16,000, primarily to build trainers, which may have been built in the thousands.

Some contemporaneous publications called Standard Aero Corp. the "Standard Aeroplane Co." Early in 1917, Mingle helped organize the Aircraft Manufacturer's Association, the predecessor of the Manufacturers Aircraft Association, and was its president until May 1917. Around August, 1917, Standard purchased the J. G. Brill Car Works in Elizabeth, NJ, and in November 1917 formed the subsidiary Standard Aircraft. Corp. to occupy the former Brill Car Works and to handle Standard's cost-plus contracts. Standard Aero, on the other hand, was to handle Standard's fixed-price orders. Mitsui and Company held all the preferred stock and a majority of the common stock in each Standard company. While 1917 is out of the date range in this worksheet for new companies, having separate entries from November 1917 for Standard Aero Corp. and for its subsidiary, Standard Aircraft Corp., appears to us to be the most efficient way of at least distinguishing the key individuals for these entities.

Locations: Executive offices in New York, NY. Two plants on North Ave., Plainfield, NJ, one of them being that of the former Sloane Aeroplane Co.

Sources

  • Gunston, 1993, p240-241, 290-291
  • Gunston, 2005, p441
  • SD95, 215, 264-265, 271
  • 1916AAW529
  • NYTimes 1 Oct 1916, 1 May 1917
  • 1917AAE182
  • 1917ASJ274
  • 1918AAW569
  • 1919YB188-217
  • AID127


Names Standard Aero Corp. of N.Y.
Country US
City NYC; Plainfield, NJ
Affiliations MAA
Keywords
Started aero 1916
Ended aero 1919
Key people Henry Bowers Mingle, Charles Healy Day, D. A. Meenan, C. Y. Bradford, T. H. Huff
Wikidata id