In 1935 Clarence Gilbert Taylor sold his rights to a light airplane
which he had developed and called a Taylor Cub. The buyer was a
Pennsylvania banker named William Piper who went on to build it as a
Piper Cub, the first in a long line of successful Piper Airplanes.
The following year Mr. Taylor moved to Alliance, Ohio, a city which
had seen bustling aviation activity since the earliest days of flying,
and, in a production facility north of town, began to manufacture the
first successful side-by-side light airplane. It was called a
Taylorcraft and was powered by a 60 horsepower Continental engine.
Thousands were produced during World War II and it became an invaluable
aircraft for artillery observation and reconnaissance. By the late
1940's the Taylorcraft Corporation was the largest employer in Alliance
with over 1800 employees.
From his earliest days in Alliance, Taylor recognized that if his
employees were pilots and understood the exhilaration of flying, they
would put their hearts and souls into each of the little airplanes they
built. So, during 1936, the first year of production in Alliance, Mr.
Taylor presented to his employees a new Taylorcraft airplane, the first
plane of the new Taylorcraft Flying Club.
In subsequent 65 years, of course, much has happened. The Club has
had dozens of different aircraft, has been based at several different
airfields, and has provided training and instruction for hundreds of
people who have learned to fly. The Taylorcraft Flying Club continues
to thrive and prosper, long beyond the life of the Taylorcraft
Corporation itself, because it continues to have conscientious members
who are dedicated to safe, careful, and economical flying.