Waco Aircraft Company


The Waco Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer located in Troy, Ohio, United States. Between 1920 and 1947, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes.
The company initially started under the name Weaver Aircraft Company of Ohio but changed its name to the Waco Aircraft Company in 1928/29.

Company name

WACO is usually pronounced "wah-co", not "way-co" like Waco, Texas, whose name is entirely unrelated.
Several companies operated under the Waco name, with the first company being the Weaver Aircraft Company, a firm founded by George E. Weaver, Clayton Bruckner, and Elwood Junkin in 1920 in Lorain and Medina, Ohio after they had already been collaborating for several years. In the spring of 1923 this became the Advance Aircraft Company in Troy, Ohio, after the departure of Weaver.
At some point it was changed from Advance Aircraft Company to Waco Aircraft Company. The firm is often confused with Western Aviation Company, the name of four unrelated aircraft enterprises in Chicago, Illinois; San Antonio, Texas; and Burbank, California.

History

Origins and early success

Waco's history started in 1919 when businessmen Clayton J. "Clayt" Brukner and Elwood "Sam" Junkin met barnstorming pilots Charles "Charley" William Meyers and George "Buck" Weaver. Although their initial floatplane design was a failure, they went on to found the Waco company in 1920 and established themselves as producers of reliable, rugged planes that were popular with travelling businessmen, postal services and explorers, especially after the company began producing closed-cabin biplane models after 1930 in addition to the open cockpit biplanes.
The Waco name was extremely well represented in the U.S. civil aircraft registry between the wars, with more Wacos registered than the aircraft of any other company. Production types including open cockpit biplanes, cabin biplanes and cabin sesquiplanes as well as numerous experimental types.

World War II

During World War II, Waco produced large numbers of military gliders for the RAF and US Army Air Forces for airborne operations, especially during the Normandy Invasion and Operation Market Garden. The Waco CG-4 was the most numerous of their glider designs to be produced. At the same time Waco produced over 600 of its UPF-7 open biplanes and 21 VKS-7F cabin biplanes for the Civilian Pilot Training Program, which supplemented the output of the military training establishments. 42 privately owned models of sixteen types were impressed into service as light transports and utility aircraft with the USAAF under the common designation C-72/UC-72.

End of normal operations

Waco ceased operations in 1947, having suffered the fate of a number of general aviation companies when an anticipated boom in aviation following World War II failed to develop.
The final Waco relied on an experimental Franklin engine which, with the cancellation of other contracts became so expensive, the Aristocraft, which relied on it, was cancelled.

Revivals

Modern European WACOs

The Waco brand name was briefly revived, in the 1960s and early 1970s—for a scheme to produce, assemble, re-assemble or market a series of modern, all-metal Italian and French lightplanes under licence in the United States. The program was headed by a "Mr. Berger," and the enterprise was known as Waco Aircraft Co., a subsidiary of Allied Aero Industries, Inc., and based at Pottstown-Limerick Airport, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, with dealers in Connecticut, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, California, and Ontario, Canada. The European WACOs—in some cases replacing the original Lycoming engines with less-popular Franklin engines -- were to be manufactured in the U.S. by WACO Aircraft Company at Syracuse, New York. Only several dozen of these European-origin aircraft were sold as WACOs before the death of Mr. Berger put an end to the program. These planes included:
The WACO Classic Aircraft company began building its WACO Classic YMF in 1986, an upgraded version based on Waco's original type certified design.

WACO aircraft preserved and restored

A large number of survivors exist, with the largest single collection residing at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum at Dauster Field, Creve Coeur, near St Louis, Missouri.

Models

Note: Waco civilian designations describe the configuration of the aircraft. The first letter lists the engine used, the second the specific type, and the third the general series. The coding system was changed in 1929 with several letters reassigned, and later with the introduction of the Custom Cabin series, the third letter 'C' was initially replaced with C-S and finally S. The numeral suffix represents the first year of production if it is 6 or higher, or a sub type if 2 or less. Thus EGC-7 is a Wright R-760-E2 engined, cabin biplane airframe, custom cabin model first manufactured in 1937.
Many Waco Cabin Biplanes that were originally sold as civilian aircraft, were impressed into military service in World War II. The United States Army Air Forces classified theirs regardless of type as Waco C-72s, with type letters identifying specific models. Other countries used other designations for their own Wacos.

Open cockpit biplanes and monoplanes

; Waco Cootie :Single seat biplane/parasol monoplane, 1 produced, then re-built
; Waco models 4 through 7: Used many Curtiss JN-4 parts with new interchangeable wing panels and powered by a Curtiss OX-5.
; Waco 8: First Waco cabin biplane, powered by Liberty - 1 built
; Waco 9: First mass-production model, steel-tube framing, powered by OX-5, equipped for EDO floats. Many re-engined. 270 built.
giving joy rides, c.1930
; Waco 10: Most produced model of any Waco aircraft, 1,623 built between 1927 and 1933. Refinement of Waco 9 with Curtiss OX-5 V8 engine. Redesignated GXE by Waco in 1928.
; Waco Mailplanes
; Waco A series
;Waco CHD: Multipurpose military biplane with Wright J-6-7 Whirlwind radial engine.
;Waco JHD: Multipurpose military biplane with Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind radial engine. 6 exported to Uruguay.
;Waco S2HD: Multipurpose military export biplane with Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior SB radial engine. 1 exported to Cuba
;Waco S3HD: Multipurpose military biplane with Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior TB. 1 built.
;Waco S3HD-A: Armed variant of S3HD but otherwise similar, 4 exported to Cuba.
;Waco WHD: Multipurpose military biplane with Wright J-6-9 Whirlwind engine. 5 built, including 4 exported to Nicaragua.
;Waco CMD: Multipurpose military biplane with Wright J-6-7 Whirlwind. None built.

[Waco F series]

YMF-F5C at Sun 'n Fun 2006
2006
;Waco RPT-1: Low wing open cockpit monoplane trainer prototype, similar in concept to Fairchild PT-19. 1 built.

Waco Standard Cabin Biplanes">Waco Standard Cabin Series">Waco Standard Cabin Biplanes

in 1996 showing the longer cabin glazing of late C series aircraft

Websites