The Bennett Aircraft Corporation was established on April 5, 1940, to create aircraft using a special type of plywood called Duraloid. The company’s first design was the BTC-1, a twin-engine monoplane. In 1941, the company renamed itself Globe Aircraft Corporation. It then produced a single-engine plane, the Globe GC-1 Swift, which was powered by a Continental A-80 engine. When the war began, the company stopped its aircraft plans and focused on building 600 Beech AT-10s and parts for other planes, like the Curtiss C-46. After wartime restrictions ended, the company created a new all-metal version of the GC-1 called the GC-1A Swift, which first flew in 1945.
Production of the Swift was handed over to the Texas Engineering and Manufacturing Company (TEMCO). In July 1947, the company went bankrupt, and TEMCO bought the Swift’s assets and design rights. In its small existence, Globe Aircraft Corporation built various aircraft and unmanned target systems from the 1940s to the early 1950s. Its designs included the Bennett BTC-1, a twin-engine transport created in 1940, and the Globe GC-1 Swift, a sport aircraft launched in 1941. In 1943, the company made the Globe AT-10 Wichita, a twin-engine trainer. After WWII, Globe moved into unmanned aircraft and developed a series of target drones. These included the Globe KDG Snipe, KD2G Firefly, and KD3G Snipe in 1946, followed by the KD4G Quail in 1949, the KD5G in 1950, and the KD6G Firefly in 1951. Read more Forgotten Factories articles HERE.
