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Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company, Factory No. 1, 851 Pennsylvania Ave Hagerstown, Washington County, MD
Kreider-Reisner Factory No. 1 (also known as Fairchild No. 1) was built as a result of a partnership between upstart airplane builders Ammon H. Kreider and Lewis E. Reisner and aviation industrialist Sherman Fairchild in 1929, in order to meet demand for the Challenger, a popular sport biplane. A modern open industrial structure by the late 1920s standards, the factory was constructed in only four months in the former airfield behind the original Kreider-Reisner Shed. Here Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company and Fairchild Aviation Corporation developed and mass produced several innovative commercial aircraft, including the KR-31 and KR-34 Challengers, the F-22 and F-24, and the F-91 Amphibian. Entering the defense field in 1939, Fairchild`s PT-19 Primary Trainer and C-82 Packet both earned major Army contracts, leading to tremendous expansion of both the factory and the company. During World War II, Fairchild No. 1 was the center of the "Hagerstown System" of manufacturing as Fairchild subcontracted with over twenty-five businesses throughout the city to assist in the production of military aircraft for the war effort. Although Fairchild closed in the 1980s, the factory survives as a symbol of Fairchild`s and Hagerstown`s heyday as a major aviation manufacturing center.
Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company, Factory No. 1, 851 Pennsylvania Ave Hagerstown, Washington County, MD
Kreider-Reisner Factory No. 1 (also known as Fairchild No. 1) was built as a result of a partnership between upstart airplane builders Ammon H. Kreider and Lewis E. Reisner and aviation industrialist Sherman Fairchild in 1929, in order to meet demand for the Challenger, a popular sport biplane. A modern open industrial structure by the late 1920s standards, the factory was constructed in only four months in the former airfield behind the original Kreider-Reisner Shed. Here Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company and Fairchild Aviation Corporation developed and mass produced several innovative commercial aircraft, including the KR-31 and KR-34 Challengers, the F-22 and F-24, and the F-91 Amphibian. Entering the defense field in 1939, Fairchild`s PT-19 Primary Trainer and C-82 Packet both earned major Army contracts, leading to tremendous expansion of both the factory and the company. During World War II, Fairchild No. 1 was the center of the "Hagerstown System" of manufacturing as Fairchild subcontracted with over twenty-five businesses throughout the city to assist in the production of military aircraft for the war effort. Although Fairchild closed in the 1980s, the factory survives as a symbol of Fairchild`s and Hagerstown`s heyday as a major aviation manufacturing center.
Posted Date
Sep 28, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
Source Website
Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company, Shed, 851 Pennsylvania Ave Hagerstown, Washington County, MD
The "little green shed" survives as the oldest structure associated with aviation pioneers Ammon H. Kreider and Lewis E. Reisner, who formed the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company (KRA) in 1926, a year after Reisner moved the former Middlekauf shoe shop to this location. It was at this shed that Kreider and Reisner designed and built the Midget and Challenger airplanes. After winning several national air races, KRA built a reputation for innovative, well-built, affordable sport planes, establishing Hagerstown as an important center of the aviation industry. The shed remained in service even after Kreider-Reisner merged with aviation industrialist Sherman Fairchild and built a modern plan, Fairchild No. 1, right behind it in 1929. Fairchild Corporation grew into a major defense supplier in World War II and ultimately went bankrupt in the 1980s, but the shed survived as a symbol of the company`s humble beginnings. A team of volunteers disassembled the shed and stored it in the building that replaced it, Fairchild No. 1, in the winter of 2006, in hopes of resurrecting it in the future Hagerstown Aviation Museum.
Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company, Shed, 851 Pennsylvania Ave Hagerstown, Washington County, MD
The "little green shed" survives as the oldest structure associated with aviation pioneers Ammon H. Kreider and Lewis E. Reisner, who formed the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company (KRA) in 1926, a year after Reisner moved the former Middlekauf shoe shop to this location. It was at this shed that Kreider and Reisner designed and built the Midget and Challenger airplanes. After winning several national air races, KRA built a reputation for innovative, well-built, affordable sport planes, establishing Hagerstown as an important center of the aviation industry. The shed remained in service even after Kreider-Reisner merged with aviation industrialist Sherman Fairchild and built a modern plan, Fairchild No. 1, right behind it in 1929. Fairchild Corporation grew into a major defense supplier in World War II and ultimately went bankrupt in the 1980s, but the shed survived as a symbol of the company`s humble beginnings. A team of volunteers disassembled the shed and stored it in the building that replaced it, Fairchild No. 1, in the winter of 2006, in hopes of resurrecting it in the future Hagerstown Aviation Museum.
Posted Date
Sep 28, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
