ERCO

The Engineering and Research Corporation occupied a sprawling campus with numerous manufacturing buildings, Quonset huts, and an L-shaped runway. Its main manufacturing structure was built in the Moderne style, with streamlined and curved surfaces, tubular chromed steel frames, minimal ornament, early air conditioning, richly grained wood lobbies, and walls of glass brick, giving it the look of 1930s transportation machinery such as ships, automobiles, and airplanes. The factory floor was busy and loud, equipped with 2,000-ton hydraulic presses, boring mills, grinders, and a 35,000 square foot final assembly shop, and at peak capacity it produced 34 Ercoupes daily. First tested in 1937, the Ercoupe was recognized by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as virtually stall-proof, slip-proof, and spin-proof because of its twin-tail design, and its safety was promoted so strongly that LIFE Magazine published a photograph of one being landed with the pilot's hands raised above his head. Advertised as the "World's Safest Plane," the first prototype was completed and flown in 1939 and is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Ercoupe featured strong pilot visibility and streamlined design, and special versions with gun turrets were manufactured and sold to the United States Government for missions in World War II. In 1947 ERCO sold its Ercoupe inventory to Sanders Aviation, which continued production until the final model year in 1970. More than 5,500 Ercoupe aircraft were produced in total. After Ercoupe production ended, the company was involved in producing flight simulators, school bus bodies, and rocket launchers, and the plant remained active until it closed in 1954.

Riverdale Park, Maryland · United States