Aviation As a Business: Clement M. Keys and the Formation of the American Aviation Industry (Centennial of Flight Series)

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