North American Aviation was a prominent American aerospace manufacturer that produced a range of notable aircraft and spacecraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, P-51 Mustang fighter, B-25 Mitchell bomber, F-86 Sabre jet fighter, X-15 rocket plane, XB-70, B-1 Lancer, Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, and the Space Shuttle Orbiter.
The company was founded in 1928 by Clement Melville Keys as a holding company specializing in buying and selling interests in various airlines and aviation-related companies. However, the Air Mail Act of 1934 led to the breakup of such holding companies, prompting North American to change its focus to become a manufacturing company under the leadership of James H. “Dutch” Kindelberger. In 1933, General Motors bought a controlling interest in North American and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, while retaining the name North American Aviation.
During World War II, North American began producing combat aircraft, including the BC-1, which was the company’s first combat aircraft. The company opened factories in Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, and Kansas City, Kansas, and ranked eleventh among American corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
North American Aviation was ultimately merged with other companies to become part of North American Rockwell, then Rockwell International, and is now part of Boeing.