Interstate Aircraft

Originally known as Interstate Engineering, the company became the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation around July 1937.{{cite news |title=Chemical Firm May Sell Stock Issue This Week |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/370452631/ |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=11 July 1937 |page=9}} A new aircraft plant was built adjacent to Los Angeles Municipal Airport and operations began there the same month.{{cite news |title=New Aero Parts Plant Opened |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380783002 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=20 July 1937 |page=14}} In August 1938, Don P. Smith became president and by mid-1939 the company had 100 employees.{{cite news |title=Smith Interstate Aircraft Head |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380823297 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=27 August 1938 |page=11}}{{cite news |title=Interstate Aircraft Backlog Gaining |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385381005 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=9 May 1939 |page=18}} In a 1940 court case, the National Labor Relations Board decided against the company, ordering it to stop discriminating against employees who joined the United Automobile Workers union.{{cite news |title=Interstate Aircraft Faces Court Test |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385468879 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=11 February 1940 |page=6}}

A few months later, the company developed the Cadet, a 2-seat monoplane, with production beginning in July.{{cite news |title=West Builds Small Plane |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385548163 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=29 April 1940 |page=5}}{{cite news |title=Interstate Aero Starts 20 Planes |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385555243 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 June 1940 |page=7}} 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. Plans called for an annual production of 900 aircraft.{{cite news |title=Interstate Announces Program of 900 Light Planes Annually |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385370806 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=19 July 1940 |page=13}} 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.{{cite news |title=March of Finance |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380778664 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=20 April 1941 |page=23}}

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.{{cite magazine |date=31 May 1943 |title=[Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corp. advertisement] |magazine=Life |page=83}} 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".{{cite news |title=First Flivver Plane Ready |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385543926 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=22 December 1940 |page=12}} By November 1941, the company was employing 22 deaf and mute workers.{{cite news |title=Deaf Mutes Make Good in Plane Factory |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/147823984 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=10 November 1941 |page=7}}

In 1945, after manufacturing over 700 light aircraft, Interstate sold its line of aircraft to the Harlow Aircraft Company, as the company had decided to focus on the production of appliances.{{cite news |title=Harlow Buys Interstate Plane |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380783049 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=25 July 1945 |page=8}} The following year, the company changed its name to Interstate Engineering to reflect the change in business strategy.{{cite news |title=Interstate Air in Stock Plan |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380833715 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=24 January 1946 |page=9}} 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 US Navy and US Air Force.{{cite news |title=Interstate Gets New Contracts |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/381135450 |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1 July 1949 |page=23}}Andrade 1979Current, Col. John D. American Warplanes of World War II, p. 465-68.

Interstate Engineering moved to Anaheim, California in the mid-1950s, was acquired by Figgie International in 1967, and sold to Engles Urso Capital Corporation in 1996.{{cite news |title=Interstate Engineering Sold in Management-Led Buyout |url=http://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-04-fi-42977-story.html |access-date=5 January 2020 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=4 March 1996}}

Harlow Aircraft sold the manufacturing rights for the Cadet aircraft to Call Aircraft Company of Afton, Wyoming, in 1945. In the 1960s, newly formed Arctic Aircraft purchased the rights, and currently produces an upgraded version of the aircraft as the Arctic Tern.

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• California during World War II

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• Andrade, John. US Military Aircraft Designations and Serials Since 1909. Midland Counties Publications, 1979. {{ISBN|0-904597-22-9}}.
• 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. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.

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{{commons category|Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation}}

• [http://www.interstateaircraft.com/History.html Current company's site]

{{Interstate aircraft}}

Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States