The Makelan Corporation is an American aircraft manufacturer based in

New Braunfels, Texas New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a population of 90,403 as of the 2020 Census. A suburb just nor ...

. The company provides

kits Kits may refer to: *Kitsilano, a neighbourhood of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada *Kits, an American taffy candy made by Gilliam Candy Company * KITS, a San Francisco, California radio station * Kottayam Institute of Technology & Sc ...

for the

Hatz Classic The Hatz Classic is an American homebuilt biplane, designed by Billy Dawson and produced by the Makelan Corporation of New Braunfels, Texas. The aircraft is supplied as a kit or, alternatively, in the form of plans for amateur construction.Pu ...

biplane design.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 205. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 61. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 J. W. (Jeff) Shoemake is the company owner, while Sylvia Shoemake is manager. The company's sole product is a development of the

Hatz CB-1 The Hatz CB-1 is a 1960s United States, American light biplane designed by John Hatz for Homebuilt aircraft, amateur construction. The Hatz Classic variant is supplied in kit form by Makelan Corp of New Braunfels, Texas,Vandermeullen, Richard: ...

, that was designed by John Hatz in the 1960s. The Hatz Classic is an improved model with additional cockpit room, designed by Billy Dawson of

Seguin, Texas Seguin ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Guadalupe County, Texas, United States; as of the 2020 census, its population was 29,433. Its economy is primarily supported by a regional hospital, as well as the Schertz-Seguin Local Government C ...

in the 1990s. Dawson's prototype first flew in 1996 and won several awards, including ''Reserve Grand Champion - Plans Built'' at

Airventure EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

1996, ''Grand Champion Experimental'' and ''Reserve Grand Champion Open Cockpit - Biplane'' at the 1997 Biplane Expo and ''Grand Champion - Plans Built'' at AirVenture 1997. By 1998 the company reported that five Hatz Classic kits had been sold and three aircraft were completed and flying. In September 2014 twelve examples were registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

Aircraft

References

External links

Official website archive
{{Makelan aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in New Braunfels, Texas Homebuilt aircraft