Berliner and Aviation
I write extensively elsewhere about Emile Berliner and his son Henry
A(dler). Berliner, of gramophone fame, and their extensive contributions to
aviation.
A kind gentleman formerly in the employ of Henry Berliner's Engineering
and Research Corporation (ERCO) in the early 50's e-mailed me 08 Feb 00 with
the following (edited only very slightly):
"When the light airplane market folded in the early 50's, Henry had the
foresight to get into the flight simulation business which proved to be very
sucessful. He sold the business (ERCO) to ACF Industries {formerly American
Car & Foundry}. It later was sold to General Precision Inc. and later to The
Singer Corporation. The ERCOUPE business was sold prior to that to a
company which later produced the design as the AIRCOUPE."
[For more on this venture, see also the Hebrew History Federation, Ltd.
Website
where there are two pages devoted to "Emil{sic} Berliner; An Unheralded
Genius",
"Part I - The Early Years", and and "Part II - The Later Years", by Samuel
Kurinsky
(links below). The two pages noted here represent a highly-detailed and
slightly different
and most interesting take on the life of this most inspired and inspiring
man, with
lots of new material on his various inventions (gramophone, helicopter,
Ercoupe, etc.);
I strongly recommend that you look at them, but do come back.
"Henry was very visible at his ERCO plant and knew most of the employees
on a first-name basis. We had about 2,000 when I first started working
there. He was a very gregarious type of person and treated his employees with
great respect.
He continued to experiment with all manner of gadgets -- a propeller driven
car, an aluminum hull cabin cruiser, one of the first hovercraft, a
twin-engined version of the ERCOUPE airplane, and many other interesting
projects.
You can find a photo of him flying his father's helicopter at College Park
Airport on the Web at Aerofiles* {formerly Aero Data Files}. The museum at
College Park Airport now has the helicopter on display. {I requested
permission to reproduce the photo here and received it 11 Feb 00.}
