Keystone Aircraft
The Keystone Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Bristol (Pennsylvania) .
history
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The company was founded in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland in Ogdensburg (New York) as the Ogdensburg Aeroway Corporation . The name was quickly changed to Huff-Daland Manufacturing Company and finally to Huff-Daland Aero Company in 1924 . The company initially built training aircraft and from 1923 also bombers for the United States Army Air Service . From 1924 onwards, James Smith McDonnell , who later became the founder of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation , worked briefly as chief engineer for the aircraft manufacturer. In the same year, the subsidiary Huff Daland Dusters , based in Macon (Georgia) , for which the manufacturer developed the world's first agricultural aircraft , was founded. The subsidiary used the 18 built sprayers for pest control on behalf of cotton farmers . In 1925, agricultural operations were relocated to Monroe, Louisiana .
The aircraft manufacturer Huff-Daland Aero Company moved its headquarters and production to Bristol (Pennsylvania) in 1925 . In 1926, Thomas Huff left the company, which was bought by the investment company Hayden, Stone & Co shortly thereafter . The new owners made a capital increase to US $ 1 million and renamed the company on March 8, 1927 Keystone Aircraft Corporation . The agricultural aviation company Huff Daland Dusters , based in Monroe (Louisiana), was also taken over and continued to operate under the old name. The subsidiary Huff Daland Dusters opened a branch in Peru in 1927 , from which the Peruvian Airways was formed on September 4, 1928 . Shortly after it was founded, Hayden, Stone & Co sold it to Pan-Am founder Juan Trippe , who transformed it into Pan American-Grace Airways in 1929 . At the same time, Hayden, Stone & Co also offered the company Huff Daland Dusters in Monroe (Louisiana) for sale, which was acquired by Collett E. Woolman in November 1928. The airline Delta Air Service emerged from this.
In October 1928, the Keystone Aircraft Corporation took over the aircraft manufacturer Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation , which remained as a company division and relocated its production from New York to Bristol (Pennsylvania). The Keystone-Loening company was bought up shortly afterwards by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation , which merged with the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company to form the Curtiss-Wright Group on June 26, 1929 . The Keystone plant in Bristol initially remained as a Curtiss-Wright production site . Due to a lack of orders, it was closed in 1932.
Aircraft types
- Huff-Daland Duster Petrel 31
- Keystone XB-1Bs
- Keystone B-3A
- Keystone K-47
- Keystone LB-6
- Keystone PK-1
- Keystone Loening K-84
- Keystone Loening K-85
