Interstate Aircraft
A small Los Angeles company that built the Cadet light plane and, remarkably, one of the first combat drones, the TDR assault drone of 1944.
Interstate Aircraft: the company and the aircraft that made its name
A plant beside the airport
Interstate Engineering became the Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation around July 1937 and opened a plant beside Los Angeles Municipal Airport, in El Segundo. Don P. Smith became president in 1938, and by mid-1939 it had 100 employees. Its first aircraft, the two-seat Cadet, entered production in 1940, helped by the company’s Fabri-Clip method of fixing fabric skin quickly. In 1940 the National Labor Relations Board ordered it to stop discriminating against employees who joined the United Automobile Workers union.
Cadets and Grasshoppers
The Cadet went to war as the XO-63, later the L-6 Grasshopper liaison aircraft, and 259 of the L-6 and L-8 series went to the US Army Air Forces. Interstate also built bomb shackles, gun chargers and hydraulic actuators, and in total made more than 700 light aircraft. It also developed a trainer for the US Navy in only nine months from first blueprint to first flight, and by November 1941 employed 22 deaf workers.
The assault drone
Its strangest product was the TDR-1, a remotely piloted assault drone for the US Navy, steered from a TBF Avenger by an operator watching a television picture. The Navy ordered 2,000 but only about 200 were built, and after limited use against Japanese targets in the Pacific in 1944 the programme was cancelled that October. In 1945 Interstate sold its aircraft line to Harlow and turned to appliances. Interstate Engineering later moved to Anaheim and was acquired by Figgie International in 1967.
Interstate Aircraft in numbers
La empresa
- En breve
- Fundada en 1937
- Based at El Segundo, California
- 100 employees by mid-1939
- Left aircraft in 1945
Producción
- Más conocido por
- Cadet and TDR drone
- S-1 Cadet: 574 built
- L-6/L-8: 259 for the USAAF
- TDR-1 assault drone: about 200 built
Hoy
- Ahora
- Out of aircraft since 1945
- Cadet design lives on as the Arctic Tern
Interstate Engineering continued making other products.
Los números
- Light aircraft built
- over 700
- S-1 Cadet built
- 574
- TDR assault drones built
- about 195–200, of 2,000 ordered
- Empleados
- 1001939
Every notable Interstate Aircraft aircraft
| Aeronave | Role | Primer vuelo | Construido | Estado | Nota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate S-1 Cadet | Monoplano ligero de dos plazas | 1940 | 574 | Jubilado | Includes military L-6/L-8 variants |
| Interstate L-6 Grasshopper | Aviones de enlace | 259 | Jubilado | XO-63/L-6/L-8 series for the USAAF | |
| Interstate TDR-1 | Assault drone | 1942 | 195 | Jubilado | Remotely controlled from a TBF Avenger by television |
Where Interstate Aircraft built, who led it, what it achieved
Fábricas
- El Segundo plant · El Segundo, beside Los Angeles Municipal Airport — Opened 1937
Gente
- Don P. Smith · president — Became president in August 1938
Récords y primicias
- TDR-1 among the first unmanned combat aircraft used in action, Pacific, 1944
Interstate Aircraft, year by year
Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation formed; El Segundo plant opens
Don P. Smith becomes president
Cadet production begins
Navy contract for two prototype and 100 production TDR-1 drones
TDR enters service
Assault drone programme cancelled
Aircraft line sold to Harlow; focus on appliances
Renamed Interstate Engineering
Everything people ask about Interstate Aircraft
What was the Interstate TDR?
What was the Interstate Cadet?
Where was Interstate based?
What happened to Interstate?
Around Interstate Aircraft
Todos los datos, verificados
Verificado el 3 de octubre de 2026.