Kansas is a small state in the US, most famous for being the home of Superman in many comics. Other than that, its largest city is known as the ‘Air Capital of the World’, but few know the origins behind this nickname, or even why it is called this!…
The nickname ‘Air Capital of the World’ was first used by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce in 1929 due to large presence of aviation and aeronautical corporations in the city. Since then, many other organizations have used the nickname to refer to Wichita.
Origins
During the 1920’s, aviation took a major turn in the US. After the Wright Brother’s first flight in 1903, more and more people wanted to get in on the action. Many people turned to large patches of land to flatten into grass runways.
Wichita was no different.
Many early aviation entrepreneurs found their way to Wichita in order to pursue their love for aviation, due to the flat nature of the land surrounding much of the city.
Wichita became home to many airfields, many of which have since been turned into over projects- mainly housing estates or have become a part of the ever-expanding Wichita. However, many others still remain in Wichita to this day.
Due to the abundance of flat land, and many pre-existing airfields, many early aviation entrepreneurs flocked to Wichita in the hopes of becoming the kings of the sky.
In 1923, for instance, the E.M. Laird Airplane Company was founded (later on, Swallow Airplane Company). Laird employed several keen aviators, salesmen and designers, including people like Lloyd Stearman and Walter Beech (more on them soon!).
Laird soon left E.M Laird Airplane Company, which was renamed Swallow Airplane Company. Laird then formed a new E.M Laird Airplane Company based out of Chicago that was later acquired by Swallow a few years later on.
In 1924, the now-famed McConnell Air Force Base was established. At the time, it had no ambitions to become a major Air Force base, merely as Wichita Municipal Airport, which was meant to serve passenger and mail flights daily.
There were other airports such as Colonel James Jabara airport, Westport Airport, Beech Factory Airport and Cessna Aircraft Field all established around a similar time too!
In 1925, the Travel Air Manufacturing Company was formed between Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman. The company produced sporting and training aircraft to be used by flight schools and aviation enthusiasts alike.
In August 1929, Travel Air and the Curtiss-Wright Corporation merged, and Curtiss-Wright continued to produce some of the Travel Air aircraft, renumbering them, whilst abandoning others. Due to this, Walter Beech left the company in September.
In 1926, Lloyd Stearman founded Stearman Aircraft Corporation, based in Venice, California. Much of the company’s early aircraft were designed and built there, including four C1 and C2 aircraft. However the company was forced to close in early 1927.
In late 1927, Stearman was able to re-incorporate Stearman Aircraft Corporation, this time in Wichita. In 1929, Stearman sold his company to William Boeing (who we talked about in our Airbus vs Boeing article), but was reformed as a separate company in 1934.
In 1927, Clyde Cessna founded Cessna-Roos Aircraft corporation alongside Victor Roos. Together, they’d hoped to make it big in Wichita by selling many sporting and training aircraft to other aviation enthusiasts. After a month, Roos sold his stake in the company back to Clyde Cessna.
After his resignation from the company, the Roos part of the name was dropped from the company’s name, becoming only Cessna Aircraft Corporation.
In 1932, Walter Beech founded Beechcraft, as a division of his Beech Aircraft Corporation, which was meant to produce light aircraft, and later, aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War, competing against his old Travel Air business partners.
Due to all of this, the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce called Wichita the ‘Air Capital of the World’ in 1929, a nickname that has stuck with the city ever since.
Throughout all of this, none of these companies- not even Boeing’s newly owned “Boeing-Wichita” (essentially just Stearman just with a different name) left Wichita, even growing to become its largest employer!
However, the end of the 1920s and almost, if not all of the 1930s saw the ‘Air Capital of the World’ in deep trouble.
During the Great Depression, many of these aircraft manufacturers had to either suspend production, close entire factories or close down all together. This was the same for the aircraft manufacturers in the ‘Air Capital of the World’.
Stearman had to close up for a while, as William Boeing couldn’t afford to pay all of their wages, and there simply wasn’t any demand from airlines or the US Government for Boeing, yet alone Stearman aircraft!
Cessna had to close down all together, with many of their plants sitting idle until the middle of the 1940s. However, Cessna was bought by Clyde Cessna’s nephew, Dwane Wallace in 1934 and soon began to make even more aircraft, including conceptual pre-depression Cessna aircraft!
Walter Beech used many of the workers laid off by Travel Air’s parent company, Curtiss-Wright and their factories during the Great Depression as well.
1940s/50s
During the Second World War, the city played host to two major players in the aviation world at the time- Wichita Army Airfield and Boeing Airplane Company Plant No. 1.
The Boeing Airplane Company Plant No. 1. was used by Boeing to produce its infamous B-29 Superfortress bombers, which led to many Boeing employees moving to Wichita.
In the early 1950s, construction began on a new Wichita Mid-Continental Airport, as it became evident that the Wichita Municipal Airport was likely to remain as an Air Force base.
This was further reinforced when the Air Force announced that they’d be taking over what is now called the McConnell Air Force Base from the US Army Air Corps.
This new airport would go on to be renamed after Kansan President Dwight D. Eisenhower, being renamed Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, in 2014.
The Wichita Mid-Continental Airport was designed to be the largest airport in all of Kansas (which it still is to this day!) The new airport, however, unlike the previous one, mainly focused on commercial passengers rather than air mail!
1947 also saw the introduction of the legendary Beechcraft Bonanza, which has become Beechcraft’s most well known and bestselling aircraft ever!
During this time, Cessna also tried to turn one of its factories into a helicopter manufacturing hub, which was hoped would bring in other helicopter manufacturers like Sikorsky and/or Bell helicopters.
The first Cessna helicopter- the Cessna CH-1 was tested and given FAA certification in 1955!
Cessna also introduced its most iconic aircraft during this time- the Cessna 172, a modernization of their previous aircraft. Since 1956, the Cessna 172 has become Cessna’s bestselling aircraft and the most produced aircraft in the world!
1960s/70s
In 1962, a new aircraft manufacturer arrived in Wichita, Learjet, soon to be by far the biggest player in the private jet world! They decided that they’d open up a new facility opposite the newly-built Wichita Mid-Continental Airport.
Inside that plant, most of the LearJet 23s, all of the Learjet 24s and most, if not all Learjet 25s were made.
In a few years, with help from the Wichita plant, Bill Lear went from a relatively unknown aviation entrepreneur, to one of the richest men in America, making business jets for equally as wealthy people!
In 1969, Cessna expanded its production facilities in Wichita in order for it to begin production of its Cessna Citation I. Six years later, Cessna celebrated its 100,000th successful order and delivery, with all of those aircraft being made in Wichita.
Beechcraft also introduced two other aircraft to compliment its famous Bonanza- the King Air and Super King Air. Both of which were designed and manufactured in the Beechcraft plant.
In 1977, the second Cessna-classic aircraft was released- the Cessna 152, as a basic aircraft trainer and general aircraft for aviation enthusiasts!
1980s/90s
The 1980s were favorable to those who loved the aviation industry in Wichita. The City of Wichita managed to convince the USAF to sell the original terminal of the Wichita Municipal Airport.
In the late 1980s, local volunteers entered the formal airport terminal, armed with wheelbarrows and shovels. Their task was to restore the old building, in order for it to be turned into an aviation museum focusing on the history of the ‘Air Capital of the World’!
Beechcraft also saw a dramatic turn of events. Raytheon Company bought Beechcraft from the Beech family in 1980.
Cessna too was not safe from consolidation, being bought out by General Dynamics Corporation in 1985, and later Textron in 1992.
In 1993, Raytheon bought Hawker Aircraft from British Aerospace and in 1994, merged Hawker and Beechcraft to form Raytheon Aircraft.
It was also during this time that Beechcraft produced one of its most famous aircraft- the Beechcraft Starship, produced between 1983 and 1995!
2000s/2010s
The early 2000s saw the Dot Com Bubble burst, which massively affected the ‘Air Capital of the World’ as many corporations pulled their orders for private aircraft. This caused many of the aircraft manufacturers in the ‘Air Capital of the World’ to lay off workers again.
In 2002, Airbus officially established Airbus Americas Engineering, a research facility based in Wichita, focusing on developing newer and better Airbus aircraft, utilizing the aviation heritage of the ‘Air Capital of the World’ to help them!
Also in 2002, Raytheon decided that it was time to make it clear which aircraft were not produced in Raytheon’s main facility. Therefore, the Beechcraft name was revived as a way to distinguish that these aircraft were not Raytheon-produced.
All of Beechcraft’s aircraft were produced in Beechcraft’s old Wichita factory, where all Beechcraft aircraft had been produced since the founding by Walter Beech!
In 2005, Spirit AeroSystems, which was part of the former Boeing Commercial Airplanes Wichita division (a continuation of Boeing-Wichita), was founded. Their headquarters are located on the former Stearman grounds, and employ a sizable amount of Wichita.
In 2006, Raytheon divested itself of its Raytheon Aircraft Corporation subsidiary, selling it to Goldman Sachs. There, the company was renamed Hawker Beechcraft, besides that, nothing else much happened.
In late 2007, Cessna decided to buy out the bankruptcy-ridden Columbia Aircraft company for $26.4M USD. Columbia’s two best selling aircraft- the Columbia 350 and 400 would be rebranded as the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400.
2007 also saw a major scandal for Cessna. In November of that year, they’d announced that they’d be moving much of their production from their Wichita plant to a subcontractor in Shenyang, which was owned by the Chinese government.
The backlash was so much from this move that the Cessna 162 was not very successful, despite the fact that Cessna continued to move jobs from Wichita to Shenyang in order to drive the price down. Aviators simply wouldn’t buy it.
The Great Recession hit the ‘Air Capital of the World’ especially hard once again. Again, many corporations suspended or pulled their orders for new aircraft, instead preferring to save that money instead.
This lead to many in Wichita being laid off- including more than half its workforce between January 2009 and September 2010 for Cessna! The Great Recession was also one of the final nails in the coffin for Hawker Beechcraft, who filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
In February 2013, Hawker Beechcraft’s bankruptcy was over, but the company was still left sufficiently smaller and weaker than it had been before. The Hawker Beechcraft name had been dropped from use, with the company now being called- Beechcraft.
Beechcraft was now financially stable after administrators had gotten rid of many unprofitable, yet revolutionary divisions of Beechcraft.
In December 2013, Cessna’s parent company- Textron Aviation announced that it would buy the newly formed and financially stable Beechcraft. After talks, the agreed upon amount was $1.4 billion and the sale was concluded in the first half of 2014.
Today
Today, much of the ‘Air Capital of the World’ is different to what the founders had unknowingly started. However, much is still as they left it.
All three companies, in some way or another are still based in the ‘Air Capital of the World’, whether it’s through a subsidiary, parent company or whatever!
Textron has stayed true to Cessna and Beechcraft’s rivalry, refusing to combine the two companies into one, although they did combine their ownership into a new subsidiary of Textron- Textron Aviation.
Despite the two brands being literally on the other side of town from one another, the offices of both Beechcraft and Cessna still remain- the same ones that Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech opened so many years ago!
The ‘Air Capital of the World’ continues to have aviation as its main export.
The airports and Air Force bases have no signs of slowing down. With the Air Force base especially getting more aircraft in a time when more and more air bases are closing down!
If it’s to do with aviation, it seems as though the ‘Air Capital of the World’ is the place to go at the moment!
Do you believe that Wichita will still be the ‘Air Capital of the World’ in 100 years? Why or why not? Tell me in the comments!
Photo Courtesy of Rob Schleiffert via Flickr