Aviation as a Business

Entrepreneurship in aviation took flight during the 1920s, though at the beginning of the decade it was struggling for survival. After World War I, the market was oversaturated with war surplus airplanes, commercial transport a mere dream, and, with no laws or regulations on air travel, aviation lacked investors. Clement M. Keys, a Canadian-born business reporter for the Wall Street Journal and editor of The World's Work, realized that aviation must be treated as a business to benefit national defense, commerce, and transportation. In Aviation as a Business: Clement M. Keys and the Formation of the American Aviation Industry, author Edward M. Young shows how Keys (a former investment banker) rescued the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation from bankruptcy, culminating in the merger that created the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. It became one of the largest aviation groups in America—with interests spanning the manufacture of military and commercial airplanes, aviation exports, air services, and finance—over a remarkable ten years with Keys's guidance. Keys was actively involved in organizing what would become three of the largest airlines in America: National Air Transport, precursor of United Airlines; Transcontinental Air Transport, the first transcontinental passenger airline and precursor of TWA; and Eastern Air Transport, which became Eastern Airlines. He also pushed for foundational aviation laws such as the 1926 Air Commerce Act. Despite Keys's influential career, his achievements have received little attention or study. Young's definitive biography of Clement M. Keys adds valuable layers to our understanding of the development of the American aviation industry, allowing him to take his place alongside more well-known innovators.