Industry | Aerospace |
---|---|
Founded | 1927 |
Headquarters | Paterson, New Jersey |
Key people | Ivan R. Gates, co-founder; Charles H. Day, co-founder, president |
Products | General aviation aircraft |
Subsidiaries | New Standard Flying Services |
The New Standard Aircraft Company was an airplane manufacturing company based in the United States. It operated from 1927 until 1931.
The company was originally formed as the Gates-Day Aircraft Company on October 17, 1927, in Paterson, New Jersey.[1] The founders were Ivan R. Gates (owner of the famous Gates Flying Circus) and Charles H. Day (an aviation engineer with the Standard Aircraft Corporation).[1][2] The company initially updated the Standard Aircraft Corporation's Standard J-1 United States Army aircraft trainer and then sold it on the civilian market.[1] The firm built a number of biplanes on the J-1 model, including the Gates-Day D-25, GD-23, and GD-24.[1]
Day left the company in April 1928, and Charles L. Augur became its new president.[1] With more stable finances, the company changed its name to the New Standard Aircraft Company on December 29, 1928.[1][3] The company at one time considered merging with six other, unnamed aviation firms to form a much larger manufacturing concern,[4] but this plan was never acted on. The company continued to develop a large line of aircraft, but the onset of the Great Depression left it significantly weakened.[1] Day returned to the firm as president in 1930, but sold his financial interest in the company in the spring of 1931.[1][2][5] The company went bankrupt later that year.[1]
Despondent over the collapse of his company, Gates committed suicide on November 24, 1932.[6]