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[edit]

WACO (referring to the aircraft) is usually pronounced "wah-co"^[1] (the first syllable pronounced as in "water"), 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.

In 1929, it was changed from Advance Aircraft Company to Waco Aircraft Company.^[2] 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[edit]

Origins and early success[edit]

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.^[3]

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 (known by Waco as Custom Cabins) as well as numerous experimental types.^{[citation needed]}

World War II[edit]

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[edit]

Waco ceased operations in 1947,^[4] having suffered the fate of a number of general aviation companies when an anticipated boom in aviation following World War II failed to develop.^[5] 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.^[6]

Revivals[edit]

Modern European WACOs[edit]

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 (semi-monocoque, enclosed-cabin, low-wing, single-engine) under licence in the United States. The program was headed by a "Mr. Berger," and the enterprise was known (in 1968) 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.^[7] The European WACOs—in some cases replacing the original Lycoming engines with less-popular Franklin engines (Mr. Berger was involved with Franklin) -- were to be manufactured (or at least assembled or re-assembled) in the U.S. by WACO Aircraft Company at Syracuse, New York. Only several dozen (perhaps 65-150) of these European-origin aircraft were sold as WACOs before the death of Mr. Berger put an end to the program. These planes included:^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

• WACO Sirrus – a relabeled Italian SIAI Marchetti S.205 comparable to the Piper PA-28 Cherokee line, a four-seat touring airplane offered with fixed or retractable gear, and Franklin or Lycoming engines ranging from 180 to 220 horsepower.^[8][9][11]
• WACO Vela – the Italian SIAI Marchetti S.208, an enhanced, five-seat version of the Sirrus / S.205, with 260 horsepower, retractable landing gear, and flush-riveted, laminar-flow wings—arguably in the same class as the Beech Bonanza line. It came with an autopilot as standard equipment—unusual for aircraft of its class, at that time—and the first fault-annunciator panel in a general aviation airplane.^{[8][9][7][10][11]}
• WACO Meteor – a relabeled Italian SIAI Marchetti F.250 / SF.260 fast, acrobatic, three-seat sport / trainer / touring plane, later offered, by others, in manufactured metal versions, metal and wood kitplanes, and as a plans-built wooden aircraft (as for instance, the SF.260, and Sequoia). Marketed in the United States under the name Waco TS-250-3 Meteor, only four were shipped to the U.S.^{[8][14][10][13]}
• WACO Minerva – relabeled French Morane-Saulnier Minerva or Rallye, a four-seat STOL aircraft designed for use in and out of very small, unimproved landing strips, later produced by French SOCATA as the SOCATA Rallye. (Reportedy, only 3 WACO Minervas were delivered.)^[10][12][13]

Modern production[edit]

The WACO Classic Aircraft company (unrelated to the original Waco) began building its WACO Classic YMF in 1986, an upgraded version based on Waco's original type certified design.^[15]

Surviving aircraft[edit]

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.^[16]

Models[edit]

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 (Cabin-Standard) and finally S.^[18] The numeral suffix represents the first year of production if it is 6 or higher (6=1936), or a sub type if 2 or less. Thus EGC-7 is a Wright R-760-E2 (350 hp (261 kW)) engined, cabin biplane airframe, custom cabin model first manufactured in 1937.^[17]

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.