Winfield
Bertram Kinner, mechanical and aeronautical engineer, incorporated the Kinner
Airplane and Motor Corporation in February 1920. He became the first aeronautical
corporation in California to be approved by the State of California to sell
stock. Kinner operated an office in downtown Los Angeles, a factory on University
Avenue, and an airfield on Long Beach Boulevard near Lynwood. The first airplane
produced by Kinner was a small biplane known as the Kinner Airster powered with
a Lawrence L-2, 60 horsepower engine. It was test flown in May of 1920, and
proved to be a popular design. The Kinner Airster was Amelia Earhart's first
airplane. In 1923, Kinner moved his operations to Glendale, where he re-established
his office and factory. He continued to produce the Airster with improvements.
In 1928, he also built a special plane christened the "Spirit of Ether"
for Dr. T. C. Young, a local aviation enthusiast and chairman of the Aviation
Council of the California Development Association. Not satisfied with the Lawrence
engine, Kinner designed and built his own engine for use in the Airsters. This
five cylinder, 100 horsepower, radial engine was approved by the U.S. Government
in 1928. The factory became so busy with engine production that airplane construction
was discontinued. Because of the brisk business Kinner experience, the Crown
Motor Carriage Company of Los Angeles was given a franchise to continue building
the Airster under the name of the Crown company. Kinner resigned from the Crown
Company in 1930, and formed the Security National Aircraft Corporation. Under
this company, he built an aircraft factory and airport in Downey, California,
where he built the Security Airster, a low wing monoplane. The factory was
later moved to Long Beach.
