page_title: Budd Company
section_title: Aviation
hierarchical_section_title: Budd Company / Transportation innovations / Aviation
caption_attribution_description: The Budd BB-1 Pioneer airplane in front of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. It was designed by Enea Bossi of the Budd Company, and was the first stainless steel aircraft ever built. It has been on display in front of the Franklin Institute since 1935.
context_page_description: The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense products.
  Budd was founded in 1912 in Philadelphia by Edward G. Budd, whose fame came from his development of the first all-steel automobile bodies in 1913, and his company's invention of the "shotweld" technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging its anti-corrosion properties in the 1930s.
  Budd Company became part of Budd Thyssen in 1978, and in 1999 a part of ThyssenKrupp Budd. Body and chassis operations were sold to Martinrea International in 2006. No longer an operating company, Budd filed for bankruptcy in 2014. It currently exists to provide benefits to its retirees.
context_section_description: In 1930, the company made its first foray into the aviation industry by signing contracts to manufacture aircraft wheels and stainless steel wing ribs. Enea Bossi joined the company as the head of stainless steel research to supervise the design and construction of a four-seat biplane amphibian aircraft, the Budd BB-1 Pioneer. It was the first built with a stainless steel structure. This was the first aircraft for the Budd Company and made its first flight in 1931. Built under Restricted License NR749, its design utilized concepts developed for the Savoia-Marchetti S-56 and was powered by a single 210 horsepower (160 kW) Kinner C-5 five-cylinder radial engine.
  The stainless steel construction process for the BB-1 was patented in 1942. At the time, stainless steel was not considered practical and only one was built. It logged about 1,000 flying hours while touring the United States and Europe. In 1934, this plane was stripped of its fabric covering and lower wing, and mounted outside the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The plane was memorialized in the children's book Spirited Philadelphia Adventure by Deirdre Cimino.
  During World War II, Budd designed and built the RB-1 Conestoga transport airplane for the United States Navy using stainless steel in many places instead of aluminum. Only 25 were built but after the war, 14 found their way to the fledgling Flying Tiger Line.
caption: Budd BB-1 Pioneer in front of the Franklin Institute
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