Standard Aircraft Corporation

The Standard Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, founded in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1916

Standard Aircraft Corporation
IndustryAerospace
SuccessorNew Standard Aircraft Company (Gates-Day Aircraft Company)
Founded1916
Headquarters
Plainfield, New Jersey
,
United States

Standard Aircraft anticipated American entry into World War I, despite an expressed policy of isolationism. The same year it was founded, Standard Aircraft became a very early supplier of aircraft to the U.S. Army Signal Corps (perhaps fifth or sixth ever).[1]

The corporation supplied the Sloan H as the Standard H-2 and H-3 to the Army, and the float-equipped H-4H to the Navy, after the Sloan company was reorganised as the Standard Aircraft co..

A more significant type was the Standard J series trainer, similar to the Curtiss JN-4, which began with the SJ prototype, followed by the production J-1 (or SJ-1), of which some 800 were built.[2] They were badly hampered by the choice of engine, and attempts to cure the problems with subsequent designs were not successful. Only handfuls of JRs and JR-1Bs were built; some were also purchased by the Post Office.[2]

Standard's last type was the E-1. Intended as a fighter, 100 served as advanced trainers,[2] about half with a provision for fitting machineguns, as the M-Defense.[2]

In 1918 the corporation had a large factory and airfield at Bayway,[3] near the Elizabeth and Linden boundary.[4] It was here that they assembled and tested 107 Handley Page O/400 bombers during 1918, mostly for shipment to Britain. They were powered by Liberty L-12 engines. A plan to fly them across the Atlantic was abandoned, and a further contract for 1,000 more O/400s was cancelled with the end of World War 1.[5]

Designer Charles Healy Day later teamed with barnstormer/showman Ivan Gates to design and build aircraft specifically for the civilian and military markets. They formed the Gates-Day Aircraft Company (later renamed the New Standard Aircraft Company) in 1927, and built a number of different aircraft—including the Gates-Day D-24 and the New Standard D-25.

Notes
  1. Donald, David, ed. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero, 1997), p.854, "Standard aircraft".
  2. Donald, p.854, "Standard aircraft".
  3. "Northeastern New Jersey". Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  4. "Home Guards rushed to airplane works". New York Times. 1918-02-02. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  5. Barnes, CH (1995). Handley Page Aircraft since 1907 (2nd ed.). London, UK: Putnam. pp. 112–115. ISBN 0 85177 803 8.

Sources
  • Donald, David, ed. Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, p. 854, "Standard aircraft". Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997.


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