The Early Years
Fredville was a farming and ranching town of about 1,400 people in the late 1920s when the Hartwell-Kane Airport opened near what is now Calloway Street and Wrenfield Parkway. Hartwell-Kane built and ran civil airfields in cities across the country, and it operated a flight school on the Fredville field for a year before the site became the city's municipal airport. As war approached, the Wingate Flying School bought the field to train military cadets, and the Navy later took it over as the Fredville Naval Landing Field.
A short distance southeast, Halbrook Field opened as an Army air base in the early 1930s. Although it sat just outside the city limits, the base, which later became a naval air station, would reshape Fredville for decades. On the eve of the war, Westcott Aviation, one of the giants of the aircraft industry, picked a site just west of Halbrook Field for a new production plant.
Construction began soon after. Built of steel and concrete, the Westcott plant was one of the first fully enclosed aircraft plants in the region, and it opened in the early 1940s.
The plant also created an urgent need for housing. Thousands of workers were on their way, and Fredville had only about 1,500 residents. To help, the federal government built Skyhaven Village, a federally funded housing development of a few hundred homes. Crews worked so quickly that some houses were finished in under two hours.
World War II: 1941 to 1945
The United States entered World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The war years gave rise to the nickname "Sky Hound," used for pilots so devoted to flying that they were said to live for it. During the war about 2,000 homes went up in Fredville, and thousands of military aircraft rolled off the Westcott assembly lines. At its peak the plant ran three eight-hour shifts around the clock.
When the war ended in 1945, about 13,000 workers remained, and all of them lost their jobs when the government canceled its warplane contracts. Westcott handed the Fredville plant back to the government, which immediately went looking for a new tenant.
The Postwar Years: 1946 to 1960
Two former Westcott executives leased part of the empty plant and started the Halcyon Engineering and Manufacturing Company (Hemco). Within a year the new firm had about 2,000 employees.
Around the same time, Bramwell Aviation, a Navy aircraft builder from another state, moved its operations and staff into part of the plant, renting space from Hemco.
Through the 1950s Bramwell built carrier aircraft for the Navy.
Hemco, Bramwell's landlord, kept going on subcontract work through the 1950s. Later Hemco merged with an electronics firm, and the companies eventually combined with Bramwell into the HCB Corporation.
The Vietnam Era: 1961 to 1979
In the early 1960s the Navy left the old Hartwell-Kane field, which went back to civilian use as the city airport. The old field was sold and closed in 1965 and later cleared and redeveloped, and in 1967 Fredville opened a new municipal airport a few miles away, with runways long enough for jets.
HCB kept improving its carrier jet, which became the company's best-known product and served the Navy for many years.
In the late 1960s HCB's missile division, the forerunner of today's Meridian Aerospace Systems, moved into its own building at West Coneflower Street and Wrenhaven Drive, where it still operates.
In the 1970s Talon Rotorcraft, a pioneer in commercial helicopters, opened a Fredville plant to build aerospace components, aircraft and drive systems.
The End of the Century: 1980 to 1999
HCB kept building military aircraft for the Navy into the late 1980s.
In time HCB sold its aircraft business, which became Granite Aerosystems, and the neighboring naval air station later closed.
HCB's missile division passed through new owners before becoming part of Meridian Aerospace Systems. Today about 2,000 Meridian employees are leaders in the research, development and production of advanced missile and rocket systems.
Another helicopter maker opened a plant at the city airport, where its roughly 350 employees build modern helicopters for private owners, businesses and governments.
A New Millennium: 2000 and Beyond
An investment group later purchased Granite Aerosystems' aircraft operation and renamed it Bramwell Aircraft Industries. Through the 2000s the company branched out into defense, commercial aviation, electronics, materials and flight simulation. Because it can build every part of an aircraft, it is a partner on nearly every major commercial aircraft program now in development.
Other aviation companies call Fredville home as well. Turbinex makes small turbine engines for jets and helicopters, and Sorel Avionics builds and installs avionics systems for business jets and helicopters. Signalpoint Controls Corporation, founded in the 1960s and a longtime major subcontractor to Bramwell, produces lighting gear, switchgear, process control instruments, and navigation and search equipment. Starglaze makes canopies for fighter jets and tail sections for a new generation of very light jets. Still other local firms produce helicopter rotor blades, passenger seating for airlines and airport baggage systems.
Fredville holds a proud and secure place in American aviation history. As its circle of aerospace and aviation employers keeps growing, Fredville is positioned to remain a leader in defense, aerospace and new technology for years to come.
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