A tool shop in a shed

Henry Berliner, son of the gramophone inventor and helicopter pioneer Emile Berliner, founded the Engineering and Research Corporation in 1930 in a shed on 5th Street NW, Washington, to make tools for building metal aircraft and propellers. Through propeller work he met Fred Weick, a NACA engineer obsessed with making flying safe. In 1936 Weick left NACA to join ERCO, and in 1937 Berliner bought 50 acres beside College Park Airport in Riverdale, Maryland, for a large new factory and airstrip.

The aeroplane that would not spin

Weick’s design became the Ercoupe: a low-wing two-seater with tricycle gear, limited elevator travel and, in many examples, linked rudder and ailerons so it could be flown without pedals. It was the first aircraft certified by the CAA as characteristically incapable of spinning. LIFE magazine called it nearly foolproof. The Ercoupe 415 went on sale in 1940, but only 112 were delivered before the war stopped civil production, and ERCO switched to gun turrets and other war work, earning an Army-Navy E award.

Boom, bust and simulators

Peace brought a frenzy: in 1946 alone ERCO built 4,311 Ercoupes, expecting a nation of newly trained pilots to buy them. The market collapsed late that year. In 1947 Berliner left aviation and sold the Ercoupe rights to Sanders Aviation; the design lived on with Forney, Alon and finally Mooney, with 5,685 built in all. ERCO turned to flight simulators in 1948 and became part of ACF Industries in November 1954.

Factories

• 5th Street shed · Washington, D.C. — Original premises, 1930
• Riverdale factory · Riverdale, Maryland, by College Park Airport — Built from 1937 on 50 acres

People

• Henry Berliner · founder — Son of Emile Berliner
• Fred Weick · chief designer — Former NACA engineer; later designed the Piper Pawnee and worked on the Cherokee
• Harold Morehouse · engine designer — Designed the I-L 116

Records and firsts

• First aircraft certified by the CAA as characteristically incapable of spinning