Manufacturer
North American
United States1928
North American Aviation, Inc.
Company
- Country
- United States
- Headquarters
- Los Angeles, California
Founding
- Founded
- December 6, 1928United States
- Founders
- Clement Melville Keys
North American Aviation built the T-6 Texan, the P-51 Mustang, the B-25 Mitchell and the F-86 Sabre, then the X-15, the XB-70 and the Apollo command and service module. Founded in 1928 as a holding company and controlled by General Motors from 1933 to 1948, it merged with Rockwell-Standard in 1967 and its line is now part of Boeing.
North American Aviation built some of the most important American aircraft of the mid-century, the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber and the F-86 Sabre, and then moved to the edge of space with the X-15 and the Apollo command and service module.
Through a series of mergers and sales it became part of North American Rockwell, then Rockwell International, and is now part of Boeing.
Origins
Clement Melville Keys founded North American on 6 December 1928 as a holding company that bought and sold interests in airlines and aviation companies; it kept Eastern Air Lines until 1938. The Air Mail Act of 1934 forced such holding companies to break up.
In 1933 General Motors bought a controlling interest and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, keeping the North American name. Its first combat aircraft was the BC-1 of 1937.
Wartime production
In 1940 North American opened factories in Columbus, Dallas and Kansas City. Its T-6 Texan was built to the number of 17,000, making it the most widely used trainer ever, and the B-25 Mitchell and the P-51 Mustang came from the same company. After the war its employment fell from a peak of 91,000 to 5,000 in 1946, and in 1948 General Motors divested it as a public company.
The jet age
The F-86 Sabre followed in the jet age. In 1955 the rocket-engine operations became a separate division, Rocketdyne, and North American built the airframe of the X-15, the rocket-powered research aircraft that first flew in 1959, as well as the XB-70 Valkyrie.
Space
In 1960 the new chief executive, Lee Atwood, turned the company towards the space programme, and North American became prime contractor for the Apollo command and service module. The fatal Apollo 1 fire of January 1967 was at first blamed on the company in the press, though a congressional hearing later ruled otherwise. In September 1967 it merged with Rockwell-Standard as North American Rockwell.
Products
Programmes the company has built or is building. Entries that exist elsewhere in FLYPEDIA are linked.
Military aircraft
- North American BC-1Out of production
The company's first combat aircraft, of 1937.
- North American T-6 TexanOut of production
A trainer built to the number of 17,000, the most widely used ever.
- North American B-25 MitchellOut of production
A medium bomber of the Second World War.
- North American P-51 MustangOut of production
The long-range fighter of the Second World War.
- North American F-86 SabreOut of production
A swept-wing jet fighter.
Space
- Apollo command and service moduleOut of production
The spacecraft for which North American was prime contractor.
Prototypes
- North American X-15Out of productionFirst flight 1959
A rocket-powered research aircraft, first flown in 1959.
- North American XB-70 ValkyrieOut of production
An experimental high-speed bomber.
Genealogy
North American's line: the holding company of 1928, merged by General Motors with General Aviation Manufacturing in 1933, then with Rockwell-Standard in 1967; as Rockwell International its aerospace business went to Boeing in 1996.
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Timeline
December 6, 1928
Clement Keys founds North American as a holding company
1933
General Motors takes control and merges it with General Aviation Manufacturing
1937
The BC-1, the company's first combat aircraft
1940
New factories at Columbus, Dallas and Kansas City
1948
General Motors divests North American as a public company
1959
First flight of the X-15
January 1967
The Apollo 1 fire
September 1967
Merger with Rockwell-Standard as North American Rockwell
- North American Aviation, Wikipedia
Checked September 19, 2026