 | |
 A Monocoupe 90A | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1927 |
Key people | Clare W. Bunch[1] |
| Products | Aircraft |
Monocoupe Aircraft was a manufacturer of light airplanes originally produced in the late 1920s and 30s.[2] They introduced relatively inexpensive, compact, and sporty aircraft in an era of large, maintenance intensive, open-cockpit biplanes, and the Monocoupe series was one of the first economical, closed-cabin, two-seat, light aircraft in the United States. As a result, the Monocoupe soon became a successful brand.[2]
Central States Airplane Company was established in 1927 to buildDon Luscombe's Monocoupe, that was designed and built by Clayton Folkerts.[3] In January 1928, the company became theMono Aircraft Division ofVelie Motor Corporation. FollowingWillard Velie's death in March 1929, the Velie interests were sold toAllied Aviation Industries, a holding company. By May, these interests were divided into two separate companies: the Lambert Aircraft Engine Corporation and theMono Aircraft Company ofMoline, Illinois. Both companies passed into receivership in 1931, reemerging in 1932 as theLambert Engine and Machine Company and theMonocoupe Corporation. In July 1934, the two companies joined under the newly formedLambert Aircraft Corporation withMonocoupe continuing to operate under its own name.
The company was dissolved in 1940 and its assets passed to theMonocoupe Aeroplane and Engine Corporation of Orlando, Florida.[4] Later, in September 1941,Monocoupe acquired theBristol Aircraft Corporation ofBristol, Virginia and its Canadian subsidiaryBristol Aircraft Products Ltd. The operations of these three companies were combined under theUniversal Molded Products Corporation withMonocoupe forming a separate division of the company. Aircraft production halted during World War II, resuming briefly in 1948-1950 under the nameMonocoupe Airplane and Engine Corporation. In 1955, the corporate assets were acquired by aWest Virginia aviation group, which reorganized the company asMonocoupe Aircraft of Florida, Inc. and transferred operations toMelbourne, Florida.[4]
The company name re-emerged asMono Aircraft, Inc. briefly in 1992, in Cheney, Kansas, with the Monocoupe type certificate acquired by Saturn Aircraft & Engineering, Oxnard, California.Aviat Aircraft developed a modernized variation of the Monocoupe 110 as the 200-horsepower 110 Special, and sold a few with modern 200-horsepower engines.[2][5] TheMonocoupe Aeroplane Corporation was again re-established inGrantville, Pennsylvania, in late 2016, to build reproduction Monocoupe 110 Specials withWarner 185 engines and modern technology.
