As American aircraft design and manufacturing began to hit its stride in post-World War I skies, certain key individuals in aviation history are notable not just for their designs but also for the associations they made that got the industry established and moving toward reliable, economical flying.
One of these names is engineer and designer Emil M. Laird, originally from Chicago but who was located in Wichita, Kansas at the turn of 1920. There he and partners founded the Wichita Airplane Company to manufacture his “Swallow” design – the first commercial aircraft to be mass-produced, with about 43 examples made. The Swallow used the Curtiss OX-5 engine, which was also on the Curtiss Oriole aircraft which Northwest used for its first flights.
Laird left the company in 1923 and returned to Chicago. His partners in Wichita would sign on Lloyd Stearman as chief engineer and Walter Beech the general manager, but they would leave a year later and form the renowned Travel Air Company along with Clyde Cessna.
Meanwhile, Laird continued to produce custom aircraft at his new firm, the E.M. Laird Aircraft Company. Northwest’s own “Speed” Holman knew Laird well and acquired two airplanes for use at the airline and another for his own competitive flying.
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Holman would use the Laird Commercial to set a flying record in 1928 for the most inside loops flown – over 1,000 in about five hours!
