North American Aviation, Inc. 1950

Beautifully engraved certificate from the North American Aviation, Inc. issued no later than 1950. This historic document was printed by the E.A. Wright Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of Mercury Flying in the Clouds with an airplane. This item has the printed signatures of the Company’s President, James Howard "Dutch" Kindelberger and is over 57 years old.






Certificate Vignette



During the prosperous, whirling 1920s, aviation was in its childhood. Companies dedicated to airplane manufacturing, engines, propellers, passenger flight and support industries sprouted across the country. On Dec. 6, 1928, North American Aviation was incorporated in Delaware to become a holding company for many of these new ventures. In March 1930, it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

North American Aviation, Inc., had interests in a number of leading airlines and aircraft manufacturing companies including the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, located at the Curtis-Caproni plant at Dundalk, Md.

As part of the "New Deal" legislation during the Depression, the Air Mail Act of 1934 prevented an organization or its members engaged in any part of the aircraft industry from holding an airmail contract after Dec. 31, 1934. Therefore, North American’s airline interests were separated from its airplane-building concerns, and 39-year-old James Howard "Dutch" Kindelberger became President and General Manager of General Aviation, leaving a career as vice president of engineering at Douglas Aircraft.

When Kindelberger went east, he took with him two key aircraft designers from Douglas Aircraft: Lee Atwood and J.S. "Stan" Smithson. In 1960, Atwood would take over from Kindelberger as leader of North American Aviation.

However, in 1934 they were starting from scratch.

At the time, North American had never sold a single airplane. It had done some modification work on the obsolete Berliner-Joyce P-16, and the only plane on the factory floor was an unmarketable low-wing, single-engine 10-passenger commercial transport, the GA-43 Pilgrim. The company’s first government contract was not for airplanes at all -- but for 161 sets of pontoons for observation planes in service with the U.S. Navy. It was time for NAA designers to hit the drawing boards and come up with the company’s first trainer, the NA-16, and the XO-47 three-place observation plane.

Because Southern California had excellent year-round flying weather, Kindelberger promptly moved the company, including machinery and 75 people, to a 159,000 square-foot facility on 20 acres near the edge of the Los Angeles Municipal Airport. Rent was $600 a year.

Work began in temporary manufacturing quarters while the original Inglewood factory building at that location was expanded and remodeled. The new premises were occupied January 1936, with 250 people on the payroll.

Kindelberger knew that North American Aviation would have the best chance of success if it concentrated on small, single-engined airplanes, rather than competing with manufacturers of large, multi-engined aircraft. He also knew the Army Air Corps needed a new basic trainer. However, military funding for airplanes was declining so the company also pursued overseas export contracts with other countries, including France, England, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. As a result, the trainers would become the "bread-and-butter" product for the fledgling company.

The NA-16, a fixed-gear, two-place, low-wing monoplane, won the trainer competition in 1934 and, on April 1, 1935, became the first North American model-numbered airplane to be flown. It evolved into the BT-9 (basic trainer) and predecessor of a series of trainers that continued in uninterrupted production for 25 years. The BT-9 led to design of the Buckeye and, 50 years later, the Sabreliner, and it established NAA as a viable airplane builder. In 1936, the company was contracted to build 238 later versions of the original GA-15 observation airplane as the O-47.

North American’s first contract for a basic combat-type airplane came in 1937 with completion of the BC-1, a derivative of the NA-16. In February of the same year, North American built its one and only powerful NA-21 twin-engine "Dragon" bomber.

Under the gathering impetus of impending World War II, North American forged ahead to new production records, building 41,000 airplanes during World War II. In fact, between 1935 and 1967, North American Aviation built more military aircraft than any other airplane maker in U.S. history.

North American Aviation was a major contributor during WWII and afterwards. They were primary contractors on the P 51 Mustang, the B 25 Mitchell, the F 86 Sabre, and the SNJ/T 6 Texan to name a few.

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James Howard "Dutch" Kindelberger was born in Wheeling, W.Va., on May 8, 1895, the son of steelworker Charles Frederick Kindelberger. Kindelberger started working in the steel industry with his father but, in 1916, when he was 21 years old, went to study at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

The United States entered World War I in 1917, and Dutch Kindelberger joined the Army to serve in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. He was a pilot instructor based at Park Field in Memphis, Tenn.

After the war, Kindelberger looked for work in aviation. In 1919, he married Thelma Knarr and, in 1920, became chief draftsman and assistant chief engineer with the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company in Cleveland, Ohio. Five years later, he joined Douglas Aircraft in California as chief engineer. Kindelberger remained with Douglas for nine years, leading development of the DC-1 and the DC-2.

In 1934, Kindelberger became president and general manager of General Aviation, later renamed North American Aviation Inc., and served as general manager until 1948, when he became chairman and chief executive officer. Under his guidance, North American Aviation broke technological barriers; produced propeller- and jet-powered fighters and bombers, military trainers, rocket engines, and rocket-powered aircraft; and began its role as the prime contractor for the country's space program.

Kindelberger retired in 1960 as chief executive officer at the age of 65 and was succeeded by Lee Atwood. Kindelberger remained chairman of the board until his death two years later.

History from Wikipedia