In 1925 C. H. Smith was promoted to President of Steel Improvement and began construction of a new, larger facility. The move into the new facility was completed in time for the crash of 1929 and the economic problems that plagued most of the next decade. As Steel Improvement struggled through the early 1930's, it sought customers in two developing industries: the manufacture of golf clubs; and, more importantly, service to the budding aircraft industry. Following Charles Lindbergh's 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, interest in the commercial possibilities of aircraft reached a new level, and 1928 and 1929 brought an enormous investment wave in aircraft companies. The company's expertise in the technology necessary to forge special alloys and produce complicated shapes to precision tolerances made it a logical supplier, especially to the new aviation industry. Such pioneers as Glenn L. Martin, Leroy Grumman, Lawrence Bell and Glen Curtiss incorporated Steel Improvement's products in their planes.
The airplane had already demonstrated its usefulness as a military weapon and in 1916 the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) recommended the creation of a cross-country mail service. By September of 1920 the post office had established an intercontinental route from Hazelhurst Field, New York to San Francisco, California. Several companies were also formed to fly mail and a limited number of passengers. In the late 1920's Cleveland was being considered by the U. S. Air Mail service as one of their coast-to-coast stops, but only if the federal government could be satisfied that the city would build a modern airfield. Thus Cleveland became one of the busiest air mail routes in the United States because of the foresight of the city fathers; and continuing its reputation as a transportation center, became a major connecting link on transcontinental air routes.
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