Union Aircraft Company

Union Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer specializing in race aircraft.[1]

Union Aircraft Company
Aircraft Manufacturer
Founded1937
HeadquartersSanta Monica, California, Glendale, California
Key people
Keith Rider, CS Story, WK Gawley
ParentStory-Gawley Propeller Company

California based aircraft designer Keith Rider had developed aircraft since 1916, and specialty aircraft for the National Air Races in the early 1930s.[2] Starting his career as a draftsman for the Glen L. Martin Company. His five early racing designs built in a casket factory were state of the art monoplanes of the era. Despite large payoffs in the height of the depression, Rider fell into debt with the Story-Gawley Propeller company. He founded the Union Aircraft Company as a subsidiary of Story-Gawley to produce an aircraft that would provide enough winnings to pay off the debts, and seek future profits.[3] The company produced the Rider R-6 "Eight-Ball".

The profits did not come about, leading to the end of aircraft production. In 1941 the parent company Story-Gawley was absorbed by Industrial Forming.[4] Rider went on to become Vice President of Doak Aircraft, and project engineer for the Timm Aircraft Company.[5]

Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by Union Aircraft Company
Model name First flight Number built Type
Rider R-6 1938 1 Racing aircraft
gollark: What I don't regret is developing PotatOS, the potatos otiose terrible advanced technology or something.
gollark: You might as well just use those M-disc blu ray things.
gollark: Please upload your SSDs somewhere so I can download more SSD.
gollark: I only have something like 400GB of storage actually connected to computers and another 1.5TB lying around unused.
gollark: I think it's thät.

References
  1. "EIGHT PLANES SET FOR THOMPSON RACE". New York Times. 2 September 1938.
  2. John Underwood. Grand Central Air Terminal. p. 74.
  3. Mike Kusenda (Spring 1981). "The Keith Rider R-6 - Behind the Eightball". Journal of the American Aviation Historical Society.
  4. American Aviation vol 5: 49. 1941. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Illinois. Who's who in aviation. p. 357.

Bibliography
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