What is the history of Airstream trailers?
The Airstream company was started by Wallace Merle Byam. During the late 1920s, Americans were beginning to take to the roads in greater and greater numbers. Wallys new trailer was a perfect match for the new mobile lifestyle. Wally began making a living selling sets of plans for five dollars each, complete trailer kits, and finished trailers he built in his Los Angeles backyard. The fledgling business survived the crash of 1929, and by 1930 he had abandoned law, advertising, and publishing to become a full-time builder of travel trailers. Of more than 300 trailer builders operating in 1936, Airstream was the only one to emerge from the Depression years. However, with the onset of World War II, leisure travel and the materials necessary to build trailers both became luxuries the country could not afford. Airstream Trailer Co. closed its doors. Wally decided that the best way to help the war effort was to use his experience with aluminum fabricating in the aircraft industry taking posit
The company was founded by Wallace “Wally” Byam, who began building Masonite trailers in his backyard in Los Angeles during the late 1920s. Byam, a lawyer by training, published a magazine selling “how-to” kits to customers wishing to build their own trailers. He then acquired the struggling Bowlus Company. In 1936 Byam introduced the “Airstream Clipper”, which was essentially a rebadged Bowlus. The design cuts down on wind resistance and thus improves gas mileage. It was the first of the now familiar rounded-cornered, silver aluminum Airstream trailer. Byam moved his operation to Jackson Center, Ohio, in 1952, where Airstream’s headquarters still reside. During the mid-1930s, company founder Wally Byam perfected his skill of combining form and functionality. He incorporated aircraft construction methods to lower wind resistance and improve the trailer’s strength while retaining light weight. His designs took on a more aerodynamic look. On January 17, 1936, the Airstream Trailer Co. in
