Welch Aircraft Company

Welch Aircraft Company
Formerly
  • Orin Welch Aircraft Company
  • Welch Aircraft Industries
IndustryAerospace
FounderOrin Welch
Defunct1944 (1944)
FateBankrupt
Headquarters
Anderson, Indiana
,
United States

History

The Orin Welch Aircraft Company was originally located in Charleston, West Virginia.[1] It purchased the holdings of the Muncie Aerial Company in 1928.[2] In 1929, it inaugurated a new airfield southwest of Anderson, Indiana.[3] Later that year, it would be purchased by the city.[4] Unfortunately, fire destroyed the plant in 1930.[5] As a result, it eventually moved to Bendix Municipal Airport in South Bend, Indiana in 1936.[6] By 1939, it had been renamed Welch Aircraft Industries.[7] It was then acquired by the Aircraft Corporation of La Porte, Indiana in 1940.[8] It was then moved to the Wyoming Valley Airport near Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.[9] By 1941, it was planned for a new factory to be located in Exeter, Pennsylvania.[10] Then, in 1943, a proposal was made to relocate to Scranton, Pennsylvania.[11] However, in 1944 the company went bankrupt.[12]

Aircraft
Model name First flight Number built Type
Welch OW-1 1927 4 Single engine biplane utility airplane
Welch OW-2 1928 2 Single engine biplane utility airplane
Welch OW-3 1928 3 Single engine biplane utility airplane
Welch OW-4 1929 1 Single engine monoplane utility airplane
Welch OW-5 1931 38 Single engine monoplane utility airplane
Welch OW-6 6[13] Single engine monoplane utility airplane
Welch OW-7 8 Single engine monoplane utility airplane
Welch OW-8 2 Single engine monoplane utility airplane

References

Notes
  1. "Indiana News in Brief". Indianapolis News. 18 July 1927. p. 19. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. Greene, Richard A. (21 September 1928). "Muncie is Ideal Airport City". Muncie Evening Press. p. 22. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  3. Mahoney, Claude A. (1 June 1929). "Anderson Aerial Festival Draws Birdmen". Indianapolis Star. pp. 1, 2, 12. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  4. "City Will Own Airport". Indianapolis News. 13 November 1929. p. 21. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  5. "7 Anderson Planes Destroyed by Fire". Seymour Daily Tribune. 10 November 1930. p. 3. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  6. "Aircraft Factory Moves to City: Welch Firm Locates at Bendix Port". South Bend Tribune. 22 May 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  7. "Welch Aircraft Opens School". South Bend Tribune. 11 June 1939. p. 1. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  8. "Welch Aircraft Assets Bought". Wilkes-Barre Record. 16 October 1940. p. 15. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  9. "New Airplane Factory to Locate in Valley". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. 15 March 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  10. "Plan Authority to Get Industries for Area". Wilkes-Barre Times Leader. 28 March 1941. p. 14. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  11. "Welch Aircraft Firm Will Locate in City". Scranton Tribune. 10 July 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  12. "Welch Aircraft Assets Sold". Wilkes-Barre Record. 7 September 1944. p. 11. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  13. Eckland, K. O. (2 May 2009). "American Airplanes: Wa - We". Aerofiles. Retrieved 8 November 2021.

Bibliography
  • Abel, Drina Welch (1983). The Welch Airplane Story: Airplanes Designed and Manufactured by Orin Moore Welch. Terre Haute, Indiana: Sunshine House.
  • Jackson, Stephen T. (6 July 2013). "An Airfield Named Welch". Herald Bulletin. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  • Miley, Scott L. (8 May 2016). "Pioneering Flight in Anderson". Herald Bulletin. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
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