The Franklin Engine Company was a manufacturer of aircraft engines, formed as the H. H. Franklin Co. in 1902, located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Barely surviving bankruptcy in 1933, the company was purchased by a group of ex-employees and renamed Aircooled Motors in 1937. While the company kept the name of "Aircooled Motors," their engines continued to be marketed under the Franklin name[1]. Engineers Carl Doman and Ed Marks kept the company alive through the depression by manufacturing air-cooled truck and industrial engines.
During World War II Aircooled Motors was very successful producing helicopter and airplane engines. Several aircraft carried their engines including the Aero-Flight Streak, Bartlett Zephyr, Bell 47, Bellanca Cruisair, Brantly B-1, Goodyear Duck, H-23 Raven, Hiller 360, Seibel S-4, Sikorsky S-52, Stinson Voyager, Taylorcraft 15, Temco TE-1B, and the YT-35 Buckaroo.
Aircooled Motors was purchased by Republic Aviation Company in 1945 to produce engines for its Republic Seabee light amphibious aircraft. After the war demand for the engines dropped dramatically and Republic was unsure of the company's future.
In 1947 Aircooled Motors was purchased for the price of $1.8 million by the Tucker Car Corporation to produce an engine for the (in)famous 1948 Tucker Sedan[2]. After purchasing Aircooled Motors, Tucker cancelled all of the company's aircraft contracts so that its resources could be focused on making automotive engines for the Tucker Corporation. This was a significant event, since at the time of Tucker's purchase Aircooled Motors held over 65% of postwar U.S. aviation engine production contracts. For this reason when the Tucker Car Corporation failed amidst allegations of stock fraud, Aircooled nearly failed with it.
Tucker and the Tucker family held onto the company until 1961, when it was sold to Aero Industries who officially renamed it the Franklin Engine Company.
In 1975 the government of Poland purchased the company and relocated production to Rzeszów, originally under the name PZL-Franklin, and later simply PZL-F.
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