Piper
Originally founded as the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company in September 1927 by Clarence Gilbert Taylor and Gordon A. Taylor in Rochester, New York. The company was renamed Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation in April 1928, shortly before Gordon Taylor died in a plane crash on April 24, 1928. The company was enticed to move to Bradford, Pennsylvania with the promise of larger facility and investment capital from local businessmen, including an initial investment of $400 from local oilman William T. Piper. The move was completed in September, 1929.
In late 1930 the company filed for bankruptcy and William T. Piper purchased the assets of the company for $761. Reorganized as the Taylor Aircraft Company, Piper effectively took control of the firm when he assumed the position of corporate secretary-treasurer, although he retained C. G. Taylor in the role of president. Piper, often called the “Henry Ford of Aviation”, firmly believed that a simple-to-operate low-cost private airplane would flourish, even in the darkest depths of the Great Depression.
In December 1935, after a series of clashes, William Piper bought out C. G. Taylor, who left the company and went on to form the Taylorcraft Aircraft Company. On March 16, 1937 a fire destroyed the Bradford factory and Piper relocated to an abandoned silk mill in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. By November, 1937, all traces of Taylors’ involvement with the company were erased when it was renamed Piper Aircraft Corporation.
Piper continued operations in Lock Haven throughout World War II. In their business planning following the war, it became clear that the Lock Haven facility would not support larger manufacturing efforts, and in 1955, they acquired rights to property at the Vero Beach Municipal Airport. Initially, this location was limited to the design and production of the Piper Cherokee series.
The Lock Haven facility was nearly destroyed in 1972 when torrential rains from Hurricane Agnes caused the great Susquehanna River flood of 1972, flooding the manufacturing plant and destroying airframes, parts, and much of the tooling necessary for production of several designs, including the Aztec, Navajo, and Comanche. The company eleced to abandon production of the Piper PA-24 Comanche and Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche, neither of which were selling particularly well (and were very expensive to produce), move the production of remaining models to Florida, and within 5 years close all operations in Pennsylvania.
Manufacture ceased in the mid 1980′s when, together with other sellers of light aircraft in the USA, increasing insurance premiums made continued operation financially impossible. Upon limitation of liability provided by new legislation in the early 90′s, manufacturing re-commenced in 1995. The firm was re-branded New Piper Aircraft at that time.
On July 2003, American Capital Strategies, Ltd. bought 94% of Piper’s voting equity.
In August 2006 the firm dropped the “New” from its name, reverting to Piper Aircraft. Also in that month, a partnership with Honda was announced to market the new HondaJet.
On 1 May 2009 American Capital Strategies sold the company to Singapore-based investment strategy company Imprimis, making a profit of US$31M on the sale. Piper headquarters will remain in Vero Beach, while the company is expected to seek expanded markets in Asia through Imprimis. Imprimis is funded by the Government of Brunei and has offices in Bangkok, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
In June 2009 James Bass, CEO of Piper Aircraft since 2005, announced that he would step down effective 26 June 2009. He was succeeded by VP of operations Kevin Gould. During his four years at Piper, Bass oversaw development of the PiperJet, the Meridian G1000 and the Matrix and negotiated a new business partnership with Honda. He also negotiated $32 million in incentives from the state and county that retained Piper’s factory in Vero Beach, Florida.
On 2 November 2009 another Piper executive resigned. Company president John Becker announced his resignation effective 1 December 2009 to “to pursue other career opportunities”. Becker was replaced as President by CEO Kevin Gould.
On 4 January 2009 the company announced that Boeing subsidiary Aviall will act as Piper’s sole global parts distributor.
Reference: Wikipedia