The Culver Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of light aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s.

History

The Dart Manufacturing Corporation was founded in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, by Monocoupe dealer Knight K. Culver and Al Mooney to purchase the rights to the Mooney-designed Monosport G from the defunct

Lambert Aircraft Corporation Monocoupe Aircraft was a manufacturer of light airplanes originally produced in the late 1920s and 30s.Richard Harris"Monocoupe: Speed for the Common Man" ''AAHS Journal,'' Vol. 56, No. 4 (Winter 2011), American Aviation Historical Society They in ...

. The company was renamed the Culver Aircraft Company in 1939. In December 1939, Culver produced the Culver Model L, later renaming it

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 ...

. Production was supervised by Al's brother, Art Mooney. Having moved from Columbus to

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, after producing 50 aircraft, two retractable-gear models, the LFA and LCA, were introduced, and in 1941 the company was taken over by Walter Beech (founder of

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general avi ...

) and Charles Yankey. The company switched to subcontract work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Culver produced a radio-controlled pilotless aircraft based on the LFA for use as target drones. Over 3000 PQ-8/TDC and PQ-14/TD2C gunnery

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operational ...

s were produced for the

USAAF 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 ...

and USN.Parsch, Andreas.
Culver PQ-8/TDC Cadet
. ''designation-systems.net''. Accessed 2010-11-14.Parsch, Andreas.

. ''designation-systems.net''. Accessed 2010-11-14. T. Bowring Woodbury was promoted to president in 1945. That same year, Culver developed the Model V. The V, also known as the M-17, featured a patented flight control system, known as Simpli-Fly Control, which automated a number of flight functions; the system was looked down upon by pilots, and the Model V was not considered a success. The Model V was developed into the XPQ-15 drone, but did not win production orders; not very long after the end of World War II, Culver Aircraft entered bankruptcy, the Mooney brothers departing to form the Mooney Aircraft Company and the manufacturing plant was purchased by the Coleman Company. In 1956, the Superior Aircraft Company was established, purchasing the assets of the Culver Aircraft Company,Mondey, David. ''The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Aircraft''. New York: A&W Publications, 1978. and put the Model V back into production as the

Superior Satellite The Culver Model V was a two-seat cabin monoplane designed and built by the Culver Aircraft Company. Design and development Based on the pre-World War II Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to re ...

.Plane & Pilot Magazine. ''The'' Plane & Pilot ''International Aircraft Directory''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995. .

Aircraft

References

External links

"Culver Model V", August 1946, Popular Science
— ''with large "pull out" color photo''. {{Culver aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1939 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1939 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1946 1939 establishments in Ohio 1946 disestablishments in Kansas Defunct manufacturing companies based in Kansas Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio