Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation was a small

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

aircraft manufacturer in production from April 1937 to 1945, based in

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 16,731 as of th ...

History

Originally known as Interstate Engineering, the company became the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation around July 1937. A new aircraft plant was built adjacent to

Los Angeles Municipal Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...

and operations began there the same month. In August 1938, Don P. Smith became president and by mid-1939 the company had 100 employees. In a 1940 court case, the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

decided against the company, ordering it to stop discriminating against employees who joined the United Automobile Workers union. A few months later, the company developed the

Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

, a 2-seat monoplane, with production beginning in July. The Model S-1B was developed into the XO-63, later redesignated to the XL-6. A total of 259 of the XO-63/L-6/L-8 series were built for the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Plans called for an annual production of 900 aircraft. This expected increase was enabled in part by the company's "Fabri-Clip" invention, which allowed the fabric skin of an airplane to be attached in much less time than traditional methods. The company also manufactured a trainer for the US Navy which was developed in only nine months, from the first blueprints to first flight of the prototype. The company also manufactured bomb shackles, machine gun and cannon chargers, hydraulic actuators, and other aircraft components. There were also plans for a larger version of the Cadet with side-by-side seating and a four seat twin engine airplane that was claimed to be the "world's smallest". By November 1941, the company was employing 22 deaf and mute workers. In 1945, after manufacturing over 700 light aircraft, Interstate sold its line of aircraft to the

Harlow Aircraft Company Harlow Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer at Alhambra Airport, Alhambra, California. History The company was founded in 1936 by professor Max B. Harlow to build the Harlow PJC-2 a production version of the PJC-1. The aircraf ...

, as the company had decided to focus on the production of appliances. The following year, the company changed its name to Interstate Engineering to reflect the change in business strategy. However, within a few years, Interstate also began producing helicopter fuselages for United Helicopters, Inc. of Palo Alto, California, and had contracts with

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

, the US Navy and US Air Force. Interstate Engineering moved to

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

in the mid-1950s, was acquired by Figgie International in 1967, and sold to Engles Urso Capital Corporation in 1996. Harlow Aircraft sold the manufacturing rights for the Cadet aircraft to

Call Aircraft Company The Call Aircraft Company (CAC or CallAir) was established by Reuel Call in 1939 at Afton, Wyoming to build a touring aircraft of his own design. History The Call Aircraft Company hoped to advance the development of its CallAir Model A to the poin ...

of Afton, Wyoming, in 1945. In the 1960s, newly formed

Arctic Aircraft __NOTOC__ The Arctic Aircraft Company was founded in Anchorage, Alaska by Bill Diehl in 1975 to produce an updated version of the Interstate Cadet light aircraft as the Arctic Tern. In 1985 The year 1985 was designated as the Internatio ...

purchased the rights, and currently produces an upgraded version of the aircraft as the

Arctic Tern The Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far south a ...

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Andrade, John. ''US Military Aircraft Designations and Serials Since 1909''. Midland Counties Publications, 1979. . * Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1946-47. * Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II''. Cypress, California: Dana T. Parker Books, 2013. .

External links