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At the Dawn of Commercial Aviation: Inglis M. Uppercu and Aeromarine Airways

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

William M. Leary Jr.
William M. Leary Jr.
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia
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Abstract

Only a few years before Juan Trippe of Pan American Airways successfully established an international commercial air carrier based upon the flying boat, Inglis M. Uppercu, with apparently ample financial and managerial resources, failed to do so. In telling why, Professor Leary demonstrates the overwhelming importance of timing and a knowledge of the exact nature of market opportunities in the entrepreneurial process.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 53 , Issue 2: Featured: Early Commercial Aviaton , Summer 1979 , pp. 180 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1979

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References

1 Rae, John B. surveys the early 1920s in Climb to Greatness: The American Aircraft Industry, 1920–1960 (Cambridge, Mass., 1968).Google Scholar The comparable story in Great Britain is told — superbly — by Fearon, Peter: “The Formative Years of the British Aircraft Industry, 1913–1924,” Business History Review, XLIII (1969), 476–495CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and “The Vicissitudes of a British Aircraft Company: Handley Page Ltd. Between the Wars,” Business History, XX (1978), 63–86Google Scholar. For Aeromarine Airways as America's first airline, see Davies, R. E. G., A History of the World's Airlines (London, 1964), 43–44.Google Scholar

2 “Inglis Moore Uppercu,” The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, v. 36 (New York, 1950), 284–285; “Inglis M. Uppercu: A Biographical Sketch,” U. S. Air Service, v. 7 (November 1922), 21–22; obituary, New York Times, April 8, 1944. Uppercu held the Cadillac franchise until 1931.

3 Aerial Age Weekly, v. 8 (October 21, 1918), 303. Frank Boland's career is sketched in Winans, David R., Wheels, Wings, and Waves: Highlights of 200 Years of Transportation in New Jersey (p.p., 1975), 3–4.Google Scholar

4 Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Aircraft Year Book, 1919 (New York, 1919), 59–75Google Scholar; Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company to Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, Navy Department, April 16, 1919, Bureau of Aeronautics, General Correspondence (1925–42), QM 18, Box 4361, Record Group 72, National Archives.

5 Klemin, Alexander, “Plant of the Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company,” Aviation, v. 10 (February 7, 1921), 171, 174–176.Google Scholar

6 Manufacturers Aircraft Association, Aircraft Year Book, 1920 (New York, 1920), 147–156Google Scholar; Uppercu testimony, December 11, 1919, U.S. House of Representatives, United-Air Service: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs, 66th Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, 1921), 335.

7 Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company to the Secretary of the Navy, January 30, 1920; memorandum, Secretary of the Navy to the Chief of Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, “Sale of 1 F–5–L Flying Boat to Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company,” February 28, 1920; both in BuAer GC (1917–25), 3146–aa–15, Box 175.

8 Memorandum, Moffett to the Secretary of the Navy, “Proposal for Purchase of HS–2–L Flying Boats,” November 15, 1920, BuAer GC (1925–1942), QM 18, Box 4361; memorandum agreement between Bureau of Supplies and Accounts and Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company, December 14, 1920, BuAer GC (1917–25), 3146–pp–99, Box 173; U. S. Air Service, v. 4 (January 1921), 20.

9 Zimmermann, Paul G., “Adapting an F–5L Flying Boat to Air Transport,” Aviation, v. 9 (September 1, 1920), 87–88Google Scholar; New York Times, November 7, 1920.

10 U. S. Air Service, v. 4 (November 1920), 22–23; Aerial Age Weekly, v. 12 (November 8, 1920), 249–250.

11 New York Times, October 20 and 27, 1919; Aerial Age Weekly, v. 10 (October 13–20, 1919), 155–156; Aircraft Year Book, 1920, 151–155; Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company, The Log of an Aeromarine (Keyport, 1920)Google Scholar; and undated newspaper clippings supplied to the author by Mrs. Durston G. Richardson, whose husband was employed by the Cuban company.

12 Alvin W. McKaig to the Secretary of the Navy, November 17, 1919, enclosing “Prospectus of the Florida-West Indies Airways,” BuAer GC (1917–25), 3066–17, Box 156; McKaig testimony, February 3, 1920, U. S. Senate, Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, 66th Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, 1920), 143–155.Google Scholar McKaig stated that $250,000 initially had been raised by the group, but this figure may have been intended to impress outsiders rather than reflect the company's true state of affairs.

13 U. S. House of Representatives, Hearings Before the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads … on the First Deficiency Bill, 1921 — Air Mail Service, 66th Congress, 3rd Session (Washington, 1921); U. S. Senate, Document No. 70, Air Mail Contracts, 72nd Congress, 1st Session (Washington, 1932), 8Google Scholar; Burleson to the Secretary of State, September 4, 1920, State Department Decimal File 811.71237, Record Group 59, National Archives.

14 Aviation, v. 9 (November 1, 1920), 226–227, 230; U. S. Air Service, v. 4 (November 1920), 22–23; Aerial Age Weekly, v. 12 (November 8, 1920), 249–250. On the airline's failure to make an agreement with Cuba, see testimony by C. F. Egge, an official of the U. S. Post Office, December 16, 1920, U.S. House of Representatives, Hearings Before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations … in Charge of Post Office Appropriations Bill for 1922, 66th Congress, 3rd Session (Washington, 1920), 66–68. Later attempts to secure a Cuban contract also came to naught. See Charles F. Redden to the Editor, Air Service News Letter, April 23, 1925, Army Air Forces Central Decimal Files 311.125, Box 432, Record Group 18, National Archives. Aircraft Year Book, 1921 (Boston, 1921), 13Google Scholar, incorrectly states that Florida-West Indies secured a mail contract from the Cuban government.

15 Aerial Age Weekly, v. 12 (November 8, 1920), 249–250. Five additional F–5Ls–Nina, Columbus, Balboa, Ponce de Leon, and Mendoza-would follow over the next four months.

16 Aviation, v. 11 (November 28, 1921), 622–623; Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, Aircraft Year Book, 1923 (New York, 1923), 17–22.Google Scholar The figure for mail carried, higher than the 24,002 pounds claimed by Aeromarine Airways in their first annual report, is taken from Post Office Department records. See U. S. Senate, Document No. 70, Air Mail Contracts, 8.

17 Aircraft Year Book, 1923, 17–22; Aviation, v. 12 (June 26, 1922), 752; Osborn, Earl D., “A Seaplane Base for Commercial Air Transport,” Aviation, v. 16 (February 4, 1924), 123–124.Google Scholar Osbom reports on the carrier pigeons: “Of the birds released from planes only a small percentage returned, probably due to lack of training, though some were killed by hawks.”

18 Bruno discusses his role with Aeromarine Airways in Wings Over America: The Story of American Aviation (Garden City, N.Y., 1944), 108–122.Google Scholar Smith's interesting career is outlined in Reginald Wright Arthur, Contact! Careers of U. S. Naval Aviators Assigned Numbers 1 to 2000 (Washington, 1967), 429–430. The author is indebted to Dr. Richard K. Smith for knowledge of and access to this privately printed volume.

19 Redden, , “Commercial Aviation,” Aviation, v. 12 (January 2, 1922), 11–12.Google Scholar Musick's career is sketched in Grooch, William S., From Crate to Clipper With Captain Musick (New York, 1939).Google Scholar

20 Bruno, Wings Over America, 15–17; Aviation, v. 11 (October 3, 1921), 392–394.

21 Redden, “Commercial Aviation.”

22 Aviation, v. 11 (October 10, 1921), 427, v. 12 (April 24, 1922), 485; D. G. Richardson to John C. Leslie, September 13, 1971. The author is indebted to Mr. Leslie, retired executive vice president of Pan American Airways, for a copy of this letter. Mr. Richardson, who went on to a distinguished career with Pan American, American Overseas Airlines, Guest Airlines, and the Agency for International Development, died in 1974.

23 Aviation, v. 12 (April 3, 1922), 401. The charter company, Aero Limited, had been founded in 1919, and operated a route structure parallel to Aeromarine Airways': Miami to Bimini and Nassau in the winter, and New York to Atlantic City and New England resorts during the summer. See Aviation, v. 10 (May 9, 1921), 590, for information on this little-known pioneer company.

24 Aviation, v. 12 (April 3, 1922), 401. Wing Commander M. G. Christie, British Air Attaché, agreed with Redden. “No financial backing,” he reported to London, “and consequently no real development can be hoped for in this country until Civil Aviation receives legalised status and protective regulation through Federal Legislation.” “Annual Report of the British Air Attaché Washington for 1922,” March 31, 1923, Records of the Air Ministry, AIR 2/246, Public Record Office, London.

25 Aviation, v. 12 (April 24, 1922), 578. For the Wadsworth bill and other background to the Air Commerce Act of 1926, see Komons, Nick A., Bonfires to Beacons: Federal Civil Aviation Policy under the Air Commerce Act, 1926–1938 (Washington, 1978).Google Scholar

26 Aeronautical Digest, v. 1 (August 1922), 25; New York Times, December 19, 1922. The Eastern Division operated 807 nights and carried 2,380 passengers.

27 Aviation, v. 13 (July 24, 1922), 94–95; New York Times, December 19, 1922.

28 Redden, , “The Outlook for Commercial Aviation in America,” Aeronautical Digest, v. 2 (February 1923), 100–102Google Scholar; New York Times, January 10, 1923; Aircraft Year Book, 1923, 22; Aviation, v. 14 (January 8, 1923), 49. The mail contract provided for one trip daily, except Sunday, with 150 pounds of mail for $50 a flight (600 pounds and $200 on Wednesday). See U.S. Senate, Document No. 70, Air Mail Contracts, 8.

29 Aviation, v. 14 (January 22, 1923), 142.

30 Redden, “The Outlook for Commercial Aviation in America”; Redden testimony, January 16, 1925, U. S. House of Representatives, Select Committee of Inquiry into the Operations of the United States Air Services, 68th Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, 1925), 1024–1033Google Scholar; Aircraft Year Book, 1923, 17–22; “Annual Report of the British Air Attaché Washington for 1922.” Loss of Ponce de Leon is detailed in Bernard L. Smith's photographic collection, made available to the author by Mr. Smith's stepdaughter, Mrs. Miliard Brundage.

31 Redden to Edwin Denby, Secretary of the Navy, December 22, 1922; Denby to Redden, February 7, 1923; Secretary of the Navy, General Correspondence (1916–1922), 26983, Box 2124, Record Group 72, National Archives.

32 Aviation, v. 15 (October 20, 1923), 550–552; Child to Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, March 31, 1923, and Richardson to Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, August 22, 1923, BuAer GC (1925–42), QM 18, Box 4362.

33 New York Times, July 22 and October 16, 1923. The airline charged $40 for a one way trip between Cleveland and Detroit. This compared to a rail fare of $4.25.

34 Bureau of Aeronautics to Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company, December 7, 1923, BuAer GC (1925–42), QM 18, Box 4362; Aviation, v. 15 (December 10, 1923), 714. Uppercu retained a small engineering staff until October 1924. See Aviation, v. 17 (October 13, 1924), 1133.

35 Redden to Moffett, January 14, 1924, BuAer GC (1925–42), QM 18, Box 4362; Aeronautical Digest, v. 4 (February 1924), 100; U. S. Air Services, v. 9 (February 1924), 56; Newton, Wesley Phillips, The Perilous Sky: U. S. Aviation Diplomacy and Latin America, 1919–1931 (Coral Gables, Fla., 1978), 63.Google Scholar

36 Warner, The Early History of Air Transportation (York, Pa., 1938), 31; Redden to Major General Mason W. Patrick, November 20, 1924, and Redden to Information Division, Army Air Service, July 7, 1924, Army Air Forces Central Decimal Files 360.01, Box 654; Smith, , Airways: The History of Commercial Aviation in the United States (New York, 1942), 87–88.Google Scholar

37 Newton, Perilous Sky, is excellent for the role of strategic considerations in the rise of Pan American.

38 “Inglis Moore Uppercu,” The National Cyclopedia of American Biography; New York Times, April 8, 1944; interview with Mary Lillian Uppercu Haight, May 5, 1976; Ralph A. O'Neill to the author, March 15, 1976, with reference to Uppercu's plans to operate on the Great Lakes. Uppercu died on April 7, 1944.