The Localization of the Aircraft Industry in the United States

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THE LOCALIZATION OF THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES Edwin H. Hammond University of California The aircraft industry has always attracted attention far out of proportion to its physical or economic magnitude. With the growing importance of airplanes in transportation and in warfare, and the innately spectacular quality of aviation, the industry has occupied a place of high rank in the public consciousness , a position which has been tremendously furthered by the present emergency . This spotlighting of the industry has brought to light a very interesting concentration of factories in two small areas on opposite shores of the continent . The purpose of this paper is to outline very briefly the historical development of this remarkable pattern and to suggest a few factors influential in that development. Historical Development of the Pattern To facilitate the visualization of the changing pattern, a series of maps has been prepared, each of which illustrates, for a given year, the location of factories producing aircraft. The data from which these maps were constructed were yearly directories of manufacturers, published in trade periodicals. Number of wage-earners or production figures would in many respects be preferable for cartographic representation, but such data are not available outside the Census. The Census cannot be used because figures for many of the producing states are combined in order not to reveal data for a single plant. Thus location of plants alone is recorded on the maps, with no separation of important producers from minor manufacturers. The map for 1925 shows the situation which prevailed after the expansion accompanying the first World War had subsided. Many of the plants shown were producing during the war period; others had been established since that time. The map indicates a strorg concentration of the industry in the northeastern part of the country, particularly in the environs of New York City. It will be noted that most of the plants are in relatively large industrial cities : Detroit, Buffalo, Dayton, Indianapolis, etc. The prairie states are entirely devoid of aircraft enterprises, and the Pacific Coast boasts only two small establishments . By 1930 the picture has changed radically. A tremendous number of plants have sprung up throughout the country. The Middle West in particular shows a startling increase, with Wichita its capital. The Pacific Coast has also begun to rise, the Los Angeles area gathering in as many as eight factories, reaching a par with Wichita, Detroit, and New York, the other centers. Even the South and the- Mountain States have a few. An interesting change to be noted is that it is no longer only the important industrial centers which possess aircraft factories . Several small towns through the midlands have a single plant each, and even Wichita cannot be termed a major industrial city. Many of the little 33 34Yearbook of the AssociationVol. 7 plants established during this period were never successful, and the drastic reduction in number and in volume of production in the succeeding years mirrors the unsound character of some of the endeavors and perhaps the overtaking of even some of the firmer ones by the general economic depression. The total number of plants in 1935 is much lower than five years earlier. Only a few new locations are to be noted. The South has once more relapsed ; New York has declined markedly, and Wichita's primacy has disappeared. Los Angeles alone of the greater centers remains apparently unaffected, although there has been an internal turnover there. By this time many of the organizaUW , Fig. i. Sites of plants manufacturing aircraft in the United States, 1925. Where there is not room enough for one symbol per plant, the symbol entered, for the locality represents the number of plants indicated by the numeral placed next to the symbol. tions for which Los Angeles is now famous are well established. This year, then, is in the period of retrenchment; the strong companies have remained, and several new ones have been solidly established. There are now scarcely a half-dozen important manufacturers who were not producing in 1935. The picture for 1941 again embodies some striking changes. The number of factories has increased greatly, but the number of locations has not increased in anything...

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