Skot Weidemann Photo
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine February/March 2024 Digital Issue
The photo of the American Eagle A-1 Biplane featured on the cover of the December 2023/January 2024 issue of Midwest Flyer Magazine was taken by Skot Weidemann at the Midwest Antique Airplane Club (MAAC) Annual Grassroots Fly-In in Brodhead, Wisconsin (C37). The aircraft is owned by Frank Pavliga of Atwater, Ohio.
The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was founded by E.E. Porterfield in 1925. At the time, Porterfield ran a flight school near Kansas City, Missouri which had an aging fleet of Curtiss Jennys and Lincoln Standards. In addition to the age of the Jenny, the aircraft only had room for one passenger, so Porterfield designed and built the Eagle A-1 Biplane, later designated the A-101 after certification. The A-101 featured a front cockpit with room for two passengers. The pilot sat in the rear cockpit. The A-I and A-101 are powered by a Curtiss OX-5 engine.
Production was 17 aircraft a week, and the aircraft sold for $2,815. Some 300 of the 100-series biplanes were built.
Like many other aviation companies of the time, American Eagle Aircraft Corporation fell victim to the Great Depression, and in 1931, the Lincoln-Page Company bought its assets. Production continued under the new American Faole-Lincoln Aircraft Company for several years.
During the six years of its existence, American Eagle Aircraft Corporation (including its merger with the Lincoln-Page Company) built over 700 airplanes. At the time of the Depression, American Eagle Aircraft Corporation was the third-largest aircraft manufacturer in the world!
