History of the Funk Aircraft

In a simpler time, when a young man or woman could dream dangerous dreams and bring them to life with nothing more at hand than imagination, spunk, drive, and a little cash, twin brothers Joe and Howard Funk dreamed of flying and saw those dreams realized in a succession of gliders and ragwinged, powered aircraft.

Born 30 minutes apart on September 17, 1910 to Lilly and Orbin Funk of Akron, Ohio, Joe and Howard demonstrated early on their mechanical poweress, excelling in shop and drafting in school. Because Akron was the center of the American lighter-than-air airship industry, it was only natural that the boys quickly developed an interest in flying. Ecomonic realities took them away from lighter-than-air craft and to gliders, and finally to powered aircraft. Although their parents set the twins up in the retail grocery business, that business simply served as a financial platform to support the young men's flying aspirations. It was expected, then, that a succession of gliders and powered aircraft should emerge from the back door of Funk Poultry Store (after all, the Wrights did it from a bicycle shop!).

Howard and Joe Funk

Serial Number One, the first powered Funk aircraft, first flew on July 2, 1934. Looking a bit like a chunky Piper Cub and powered by a vary unreliable Szekely 3-cylinder radial engine, Number One proved that the Funk brothers could design a flyable aircraft from a clean sheet of paper. It was quickly discovered that the Funk aircraft was easy to fly and extremely resistant to stalls and spins--desireable qualities in a general aviation aircraft.

The Szekely engine was the plane's Achille's heel, and so Number One was repowered with a highly-modified, water-cooled Ford 4-cylinder automotive engine which was mounted in an inverted position. The modifications were designed by Joe and Howard Funk and Pratt Jones, and the engine powered some 60 Funk aircraft built from the first production model (S/N 3, 1939) through 1940 (S/N 195). Continental, Lycoming, and Frankline air-cooled engines were also offered.

Obviously, serious aircraft production couldn't take place in the back room of a poultry store, so Joe and Howard turned to the Akron business community for support and formed the Akron Aircraft Company with a capitalization of $78,000 (!!!), moving operations into an abandoned four-story schoolhouse on the northwest corner of the Akron Airport. When production slowered in 1940 because the modified Ford engine was found to demand a lot of ongoing maintenance, the Funks switched to a 75 h.p. Lycoming air-cooled engine.

The Lycoming engine had a hidden design flaw which shut down the assembly line for a time while the flaw was corrected. During this shutdown, an uneasy creditor forced the company into bankruptcy. Rescue came in the persons of two Kansas oil-field suppliers, Bill and Raymond Jensen of Coffeyville, Kansas. As a condition of their bailout, the Jensens insisted that the Funks relocate their operations to Coffeyville; eager to resume operations, the Funks readily agreed. The revived firm was named the Funk Aircraft Company, and production began again in November 1941. Three planes were built and shipped to South America before the bombing of Pearl Harber and the ensuing war halted private aircraft construction. During the war, to keep body and soul together, the Funk twins produced --quite illegally--several Funks from engines and parts on hand. They also turned out various subassemblies for war materials.

In the euphoric immediate post-war "bubble"--when every pilot returning from the War was expected to buy his own personal plane and it was assumed that the market had no "top"--the Funk twins resumed aircraft construction in Coffeyville. Continental had developed an 85 h.p. engine, and this was installed in place of the pre-war 75 h.p. Lycoming (although the Lycoming could also be ordered). The repowered Funk was designated as the Model B85C, and over 100 people were employed on the production line. During 1946, the modest factory churned out one hundred and seventy eight planes, not bad for a company that started life in the back room of a poultry store. While not the production level of a Piper or Taylorcraft or Stinson, it was a respectable figure for a small firm turning out up-market 2-place aircraft for the middle-class businessman (one could buy a new B85C in 1946 for about $3,700).

Air began to leak from the post-war bubble in 1947. The Federal Government started releasing hoards of surplus military aircraft. At the same time, a glut of newly-built civilian aircraft flooded a market which didn't exist--those returning pilots had homes to build and families to raise and a college degree to pursue, and taking to the air was the last thing on their minds. Production at the Coffeyville plant fell to almost nothing. Then the Federal Government gutted the G.I. Bill of its flight-training money. About a dozen planes were produced in 1947; at the end of 1948, the Funk Aircraft Company ceased production, never to produce another airplane again. The ever resourceful Funk boys, however, had developed a contract to make power takeoffs and other devices to go on the back of Ford engines for the new Ford Industrial Engine Division. The Funk Manufacturing Company carries on as a gear manufacturer and is the largest employer in Coffeyville.

Howard Funk passed away on October 18, 1995, at the age of 85. His brother Joe still lives in Coffeyville, and while no longer active in the family business, he eagerly follows the activities of the Funk Aircraft Owners Association and attends the Annual Reunions in Coffeyville.

Because the factory records were destroyed, first in a fire, then in a flood, and because the serial numbers were "inflated" as a sales device, the exact number of Funks built is unknown. A fairly reliable number is 337. Of this number, about 200 are believed to survive. This is an astonishing figure, given the survival percentages of other light aircraft built in far greater numbers. The number stands as testimony to the safety, quality, durability, strength, and enduring worth of the Funk brothers' work.

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