Harlow Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer at Alhambra Airport,

Alhambra, California Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately eight miles from the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11 ...

History

The company was founded in 1936 by professor

Max B. Harlow Max B. Harlow (1903 –1967) was an American aircraft engineer, educator, and producer. Early life Harlow was born in South Dakota in 1903. Harlow attended Stanford University, becoming an early aircraft engineering graduate. His first pos ...

to build the

Harlow PJC-2 The Harlow PJC-2 was a 1930s American four-seat cabin monoplane, designed by Max Harlow. Development Max Harlow was an aeronautical engineer and instructor at the Pasadena Junior College. Under his tutelage, the aircraft designated PJC-1 was d ...

a production version of the PJC-1. The aircraft had been designed and built as a class project at Pasadena Junior College. Harlow had worked with

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

on the

Hughes H-1 The Hughes H-1 Racer is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. It set a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States. The H-1 Racer was the last aircraft built by a private individual to set the ...

racer. Hughes in turn later backed Harlow's enterprise. Flight operations were conducted at Alhambra Airport in the former

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...

hangar. The PJC-2 was followed by a military training version the

Harlow PC-5 The Harlow PC-5 was a 1930s American military trainer version of the PJC-2, and was designed and built by the Harlow Aircraft Company. Development The Harlow Aircraft Company in Alhambra, California, designed a version of the PJC-2 as a tande ...

. The PC-5 rights were purchased by Cub Aircraft Limited for wartime production. Harlow in turn bought one-third interest in Porterfield Aircraft Corporation. A majority interest in the company was bought by Intercontinent Corporation in 1941 who then sold the company to

Vultee Aircraft The Vultee Aircraft Corporation became an independent company in 1939 in Los Angeles County, California. It had limited success before merging with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1943, to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporatio ...

. The company and facilities were subsequently used to build aircraft assemblies and components throughout the war. In 1945 the company bought the manufacturing rights to the

Interstate Cadet The Interstate Cadet was an American two-seat tandem, high wing, single-engine monoplane light aircraft. Around 320 of these aircraft were produced between the years 1941 and 1942 by the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation based in El ...

from

Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation was a small American aircraft manufacturer in production from April 1937 to 1945, based in El Segundo, California. History Originally known as Interstate Engineering, the company became the Int ...

, which had decided to focus on the production of appliances. Harlow also bought Alhambra Airport for $350,000 that year ($ million in ), with the intention of building the Cadet there, but resold the aircraft rights to Call Aircraft Company in 1946 for $5,000 ($ in ), and the airport to real-estate developers. The company halted operations later that year, although it continued to exist until at least 1954.

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 2099
Google Bookes extract from U.S.Civil Aircraft Series, Vol 8
* {{Harlow aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Alhambra, California Manufacturing companies established in 1936

History

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography