ERCO aka Ercoupe

ERCO (Engineering and Research Corporation) was started by Henry Berliner in Wasington D.C. Henry was the son of Emile Berliner who had patented numerious inventions relating to sound and acoustics. He founded his company to produce tools for the manufacture of metal aircraft and propellers. Through his work in propellers he met Fred Weick who worked with NACA doing cowling and propeller work. Weick came to work for ERCO and brought the idea of the Ercoupe with him.

The Ercoupe is a low wing monoplane first manufactured by the ERCO aircraft company shortly before the second World War. The design evolved out of the Safe Airplane competition in the 1930's and came from the creative mind of Fred Weick. The war interrupted production, but following the war in 1946, the greatest number of Ercoupes were produced.

The Aircraft Type Certificate for the Ercoupe passed from ERCO to Forney, then to the city of Carlsbad New Mexico, then to Alon (which manufactured the aircraft as the Aircoupe), and to Mooney and finally rests with Univair Aricraft Corporation of Colorado. Mooney was the last company to actively manufacture the aircraft, as Univair only supplies parts and support.

Early Ercoupes were powered with 65hp A-65 Continental 4 cylinder engines, with the final versions of the Aircoupe being powered by 90hp Continental C90-16F engines also of 4 cylinders.

More information can be found on the web page of the Ercoupe Owners Club at:

http://www.ercoupe.org