Air Associates, Inc.

Air Associates was incorporated in July 1927 and marketed itself as the first company to provide complete servicing to airplane owners, manufacturing and distributing aeronautical and automotive materials and accessories. It also acted as the service dealer for manufacturers of Wright Aeronautical engines and held the eastern distributor franchises of Lockheed Aircraft Company and Whittelsey Avian Company. The company started in early 1927 with nothing more than an empty hangar and did $600 in business during the first month. By the end of the first year it was grossing $15,000 per month. Air Associates completed an agreement with United Aircraft Exports, Inc., in 1927, giving United Aircraft exclusive foreign rights to the sale of Air Associate's aircraft and automotive equipment and materials that covered over 500 items. Air Service embarked on an ambitious expansion program in 1928, spending $500,000 to expand the field station it operated at Curtis Field, Long Island, and to open facilities at municipal airports in Chicago and Newark. The services and parts provided by Air Associates were used to help such well-known aviators as Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and Armeno Lotti Jr. News accounts from the late 1920s often included a reference to the hangar of Air Associates at Curtis Field.