Origins ARC originated in 1924 in
Boonton, New Jersey—a rural setting within sight of
New York City—as the aircraft radio division of
Radio Frequency Laboratories (RFL), which had started in 1922, in Boonton, as a
radio-technology research organization, developing and holding numerous patents and employing such radio pioneers as
Edward Weston,
Lewis M. Hull and
Stuart Ballantine. RFL developed technologies, but did not manufacture products. However, when it developed an aviation-radio division, in 1924, the division, ARC, soon outgrew its parent company, with the success of its aviation radios developed and manufactured in Boonton.
Independence By 1927,
Aircraft Radio Corporation (ARC) was a wholly owned subsidiary of Radio Frequency Laboratories, and was spun off as a separate company, producing navigation and communications radios for military, commercial and general aviation. ARC radios were considered mainstream, basic radios in their market segment, and were widely used. An airport was developed to accommodate the needs of the booming enterprise, on 116 acres near town. In early 1929, an engineering conference at the Flying Field drew many people from the electronic instruments industry to celebrate the new ARC facility's opening and dedication, including a laboratory in Boonton, and a hangar at the Flying Field. The GF/RU (Army designation SCR-183), a derivative of the civilian Model B, was chosen as America's standard military aircraft radio of the early 1930s.
Wartime In the 1940s, ARC radios were everywhere in U.S. military aircraft. Among the company's most notable wartime programs was the development – jointly with the
U.S. Army Signal Corps and
U.S. Navy – of the SCR-274-N, an exceptionally useful
HF voice-communication radio for aircraft, ranging up to frequencies of 20
megacycles – "the only powerful command set... available to American aviators at the beginning of the war" – particularly useful in the
Pacific Theater, and valued at over US$2,400 at the time. ARC had delivered 2,700 of an ordered 2800 by December 1941, but the sudden wartime demand for tens of thousands of them forced the government to turn to a major manufacturer –
Westinghouse Corporation – for the rest.
Postwar The military avionics market evaporated after World War II, and ARC found itself outmaneuvered in commercial airline radios by
Bendix Corp. and
Collins. The postwar collapse of the light plane industry took their last market, and for the first time, ARC was losing money. The
Korean War changed that—driving up demand for their military radios, but, again, when the war ended, ARC struggled. The situation was exacerbated by key engineers leaving to start their own enterprises. —which ARC nevertheless survived through its key position as the in-house supplier of the "factory standard" avionics for Cessna, world leader in light aircraft. During this time, ARC's "Cessna" avionics line expanded and diversified radically to include most types of avionics for light planes, including
NAV,
COM,
ADF,
DME, and
Marker beacon radios, and
autopilots—mostly at the low end of the quality spectrum. In the mid-1970s, during a period of exceptionally high productivity for Cessna, ARC was entangled in a legal battle with its employee's union, which resulted in a 1975 judgement favoring ARC. During the proceedings, the following findings emerged as public record in the published decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: ::"Aircraft Radio Company,* located at Boonton, New Jersey, is the second smallest of seven operating divisions of the Cessna Aircraft Company which has its headquarters at Wichita, Kansas. ARC is engaged in the manufacture, distribution and sale of
aviation communication and navigational equipment. It supplies its products to Cessna as well as to other competitive firms. ARC is conducted as an independent business; sales and profits are accounted for separately, and its wage agreements are independently negotiated. In fiscal year 1972, ARC had total sales of $11,000,000 and in 1971, $6,700,000, which resulted in net losses for each of those years. By contrast, Cessna is much larger and more profitable. Its sales for 1972 were $248,000,000 which resulted in profits of $13,500,000." He was followed in the mid 1970s by Paul Gralnick as Chief Engineer with Richard Foster assuming the helm as General Manager. In 1979 Gralnick was replaced by Virgil Davis as Chief Engineer. By 1980, a rejuvenated Quality Control organization led by Paul Weeks and new engineering Managers were hard at work enhancing the tarnished quality image that ARC had prior to that time. Engineering Departments were led in 1980 by Kermit Beseke - Radios, Bob Fuller - Navigation Products, Alan Metzger - Autopilots, and Ed Burt - Elecrtromechanical Displays. In November, 1981, John Ferrara was Manager of Advanced Development. By 1982, the 110-acre Boonton plant was employing 900, with an estimated US$20 million in sales of aircraft and mobile communications systems, and navigation and guidance equipment.
Sperry / Unisys / Honeywell acquires ARC In late 1983, Cessna finally sold its avionics subsidiary onto rival avionics maker (and industrial conglomerate)
Sperry, who, in turn was acquired by
Unisys, then
Honeywell, Inc. Sperry decided to relocate ARC to Sperry's
Phoenix, Arizona facility, ending 57 years of ARC's avionics development and production in Boonton. The ARC relationship didn't last long. On September 1, 1987, Honeywell handed ARC off to Sigma Tek, Inc.
Sigma Tek acquires ARC On September 1, 1987, Sigma Tek, Inc. bought Aircraft Radio Corporation (ARC) from Honeywell, Inc. (When general aviation was at its most prosperous in the 1970s, ARC had been, by far, Sigma Tek's largest customer.) Through ARC, Sigma Tek now services and supports nearly all of the avionics and flight control systems for Cessna Aircraft. Apparent press releases published in
Aerospace and Defense Technology and in
Avionics magazine describes it as "a wholly-owned business unit" owned by AirSpeed Engineering (ASE). The ARC Avionics Corp. website indicates it is based in
Kirkland and
Everett, Washington (
Seattle area). However,
Aviation Maintenance Magazine lists the company as being based at a street address in
Miami Springs, Florida, and the
Aircraft Electronics Association also lists it (as a member "since 2001") in Miami Springs, at the same phone number, but as "Aircraft Radio & Avionics LLC," at a post office box. That company says it primarily works in commercial and military aircraft technical services. with capabilities for test, repair, overhaul and calibration of navigation, communications and avionics instruments, as well as "hydraulic, mechanical, electro-mechanical" accessories and components for "commercial... military, corporate and general aviation, [both] fixed and rotary wing aircraft." According to their website, ARC Avionics has operated continuously since 1980, and has operated as an
FAA-Certified Repair Station (FAA certificate LQ4R345M) and
EASA Repair Station (EASA certificate 145.6521). Further, the site claims that ARC Avionics has FAA Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) certification to install and build STC kits, having "manufactured kits and parts" for various
supplemental type certificates (STCs) held by ARC, as well as other STCs licensed under design approval agreements with FAA 8130-3 (EASA Form 1) approvals. ==References==