The Wichita Aviation Industry is a finalist for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Commerce because the "Air Capital of the World" represents the manufacture of more than half of the world's general aviation light aircraft and business jets, in addition to being a major supplier to the builders of commercial airliners.

Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines!

From Wichita Chamber site: wichitakansas.org/community/move_history.asp (page is no longer in service)

Men like Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, E.M. Laird, J.M. Mollendick and George Weaver were responsible for starting the aircraft industry in the area. With Mollendick as the financial backer, Laird started the Swallow Airplane Company to build the Swallow that had been designed in Chicago. Interestingly, Beech, Stearman, and Weaver all worked for Laird and Mollendick until each went on to establish his own company. Stearman's company later was purchased by The Boeing Company of Seattle, now Spirit AeroSystems. Today Spirit is Wichita's largest employer with more than 20,000 employees.

The Beech (now Hawker Beechcraft) and Cessna companies continue today, as does Learjet (now Bombardier Aerospace Learjet), founded by William Lear in the mid 1960s. It was through the efforts of these aviation pioneers that Wichita earned the title of "Air Capital of the World." With all companies still located in Wichita that title firmly remains today. 

The count of Wichita-area employees for the following companies - 

• Cessna Aircraft Company = 12,017 (established 1927) 
• Spirit Aerosystems Inc = 10,500 (2005) 
• Hawker Beechcraft Corporation = 7,692 (1932) 
• Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Wichita = 3,000 (1940) 
• Bombardier Learjet = 2,540 (1962)

From the 12/05/2008 Wichita Business Journal, page 18. 

The following information was compiled by Richard Harris and sent on January 14.  We are grateful for this addition to the information.

WICHITA'S AVIATION HISTORY 

Throughout the city's history, since 1920, Wichita (and its aircraft companies headquartered here) have produced approximately a quarter-million aircraft -- more than any other city on earth. In 1929, the aircraft industry's national association, the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce (today's Aerospace Industries Assn.), cited Wichita for producing the most aircraft of any American city, awarding it the title "Air Capital City" -- a title which the city has claimed ever since, expanding it to "Air Capital of the World." 

During World War II, Wichita exploded, almost overnight, from 111,000 residents (in 1939) to 184,000 (by 1943), from the growth in its military aircraft production -- drawing workers from around the state and adjoining states, too. Wichita's aircraft industry employment has remained high almost ever since, as the industry has grown into Kansas' second-largest, after agriculture.

Since 1920, Wichita aircraft-manufacturers have included:

Airbus (engineering facilities only) 

Boeing 

Bombardier 

Beech 

Cessna 

Culver 

Great Lakes 

Hawker 

Javelin 

LaFrance 

Laird 

Learjet 

Mooney 

Piaggio 

Prescott 

Rawdon 

Raytheon 

Seibel 

Helicopter 

Spirit 

AeroSystems 

Stearman 

Superior 

Swallow 

Travel Air 

Wren 

STOL ...and more! 

Wichita-built aircraft have included biplanes, sport planes, race planes, gliders, crop dusters, helicopters, seaplanes, training planes, personal aircraft, and business jets. Wichita is generally regarded, worldwide, as the "Detroit of the general aviation aircraft industry" -- at one point in the 1960s building over half of the world's light aircraft.  

 Wichita has also built hundreds of piston-engine and turboprop airliners, jet fighter-bombers, spy planes, and most of America's largest bombers -- including every B-52 still flying. Most of the U.S. military's training airplanes are Wichita products. 

Wichita-based manufacturers have also supplied major sections or systems to many other military and commercial aircraft (including the fuselages of Boeing's most popular airliners), and to most of America's manned spacecraft.

WICHITA AIRCRAFT-MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT

Near the end of 2008, approximately 40,000 people worked in Wichita's aircraft manufacturing industry -- approximately 1 out of every 6 aircraft-manufacturing workers in the United States -- particularly at the city's five main aircraft-manufacturing plants (approximate numbers based on media reports): 

• Cessna 12,000 
• Hawker Beechcraft 7,000 
• Bombardier Learjet 2,500 
• Spirit AeroSystems 10,000 
• Boeing IDS 2,500