Our History
Univair Aircraft Corporation Celebrates 72 Years of Service to the Aviation Community
By Mike Sellers
On February 25, 2018 Univair will celebrate seventy-two years of being part of the aviation community. With seventy-two years of supporting aviation, Univair has entered a small group of companies with that long of a history and having the same family ownership.
Many times I have been asked – how did the company begin? In 1945 J.E. “Eddie” Dyer, the grandfather of Univair’s current owner and president, Jim Dyer, was released from the U.S. Army Air Corps and came to the Denver area looking for some sort a living in the airplane business rather returning home to Missouri. Eddie teamed up with fellow veteran and well respected Denver area used car salesman, Don Vest. In February 1946 Eddie Dyer and Vest formed the Vest Aircraft Company. This new organization would eventually become Univair Aircraft Corp.
In the early days of the company, there were two divisions of Vest Aircraft and Finance Company, the Aircraft Sales Division and the Aircraft Repair and Parts Division. The new company offered CAA and GI Bill approved flight instruction from ground school through advanced instrument training. Don Vest managed the aircraft sales and flight department while Eddie Dyer organized and operated a maintenance and repair facility.
The Vest Aircraft Company began operation at Hayden Field in a now industrialized area of northeast Denver. Upon their arrival, the airport was renamed Vest Field. Soon after the establishment of the company, the business was successful enough that it was apparent that the business had outgrown the Vest Field facilities. In the early 1950s, Eddie Dyer began a search for a new location for their company. An Army Air Force field was built as an auxiliary field for Denver’s Lowry Air Force Base. The field was completed late enough in the war that it was never used. Vest Aircraft Company relocated to this essentially brand new airport, now called Sky Ranch Airport, northeast of the Denver suburb of Aurora in early 1953 and remained there until 1971.
In the years right after WWII through the mid 1950s, many light plane manufacturers expected many returning servicemen to purchase one of the available small aircraft that were being manufactured in huge quantities. This booming post-war market never materialized and the industry suffered a devastating glut of aircraft. Many of these manufacturers were subsequently bankrupted and went out of business. Even a few of the manufacturers that currently exist today nearly failed.
In the late ‘40s and early ‘50s there were thousands and thousands of essentially new aircraft that had been orphaned by their recently defunct manufacturers. Eddie Dyer realized there was a great need to support the civilian aircraft industry which included many of these recently “orphaned” aircraft. Eddie evaluated the nationwide potential for business and believed one of the easiest way to acquire spare parts was to establish a salvage yard, which he did at Sky Ranch Airport. Wrecked and damaged aircraft were purchased and disassembled for usable parts. The used aircraft parts division filled a need and became very successful, but it soon became evident that the aircraft salvage business alone would not supply sufficient replacement parts. Commonly damaged parts such as landing gear, cowling and control surfaces remained in short supply. New manufactured parts would be necessary to keep the fleet of post-war aircraft flying.
By 1956, the Aircraft Repair and Parts Division had grown to the point that J.E. Dyer established a separate aircraft parts manufacturing and maintenance company, Universal Aircraft Industries. The new Universal Aircraft Industries Manufacturing Division purchased the manufacturing rights, tooling and remaining inventory from several bankrupted post-war aircraft manufacturers for the Ercoupe, Taylorcraft, Swift and Stinson 108 series aircraft. They also purchased the Flottorp and Aeromatic line of propellers. In these early days, if you wanted to make a replacement part, you just made it.
In 1958 the Federal Aviation Act was enacted. Among the many things the Act did was to establish the procedure for parts approvals and the manufacture of FAA certified replacement aircraft parts. Universal immediately responded to these new demands and received some of the first FAA Parts Manufacturing Approvals (PMA’s) issued under the authority of the new Federal Aviation Administration.
On April 25, 1963 Eddie Dyer died. On his instructions, his wife Veda Dyer sold the company. In 1964 under new ownership, the company floundered. Unwilling to see Eddie’s hard work destroyed, Veda bought the company back in 1965. In the 17 years prior to Eddie’s death he had taken the company from an obscure aircraft maintenance facility to a world-renowned part manufacturing company. Universal Aircraft Industries was re-organized in August 1965 and its name, Universal Aircraft Industries, was shortened to the current registered trade name of Univair Aircraft Corp.
The company was back in Dyer hands and Veda became General Manager and CEO of Univair Aircraft Corporation. After the debacle of the previous year, she found the need to narrow the focus of the company and concentrate on areas that were more profitable and where the company was more efficient. Some of the Type Certificates were sold, most of the specialized maintenance shops were closed and the salvage yard was sold. Under Veda’s capable management, the company continued to expand its presence in support of the worldwide light aircraft industry. In her 11 years as CEO she set the course which Univair follows today.
In the early 1970s, the cities of Denver and Aurora began encroaching the Sky Ranch Airport. There was talk of sale of the property, closing of the airport and industrial development. Steve Dyer, Eddie and Veda’s son, took on the project of moving the company to a new facility just off the airport property in 1972. This is where the company has remained to today.
Veda retired in 1976. Steve Dyer took command of Univair as General Manager and CEO. In the 30 years under Steve’s watch the plant grew from 44,000 sq. ft. to 62,000 sq. ft. after a major expansion in 2003. Under Steve’s leadership, Univair held more PMA’s for out-of-production aircraft than any other company in the United States. In 2006, Steve turned over the operation of the company to the third generation of the Dyer family, Jim Dyer.
Jim maintains the legacy left by his father, Steve Dyer, and grandparents, Eddie and Veda Dyer. The company has evolved from being housed in a half dozen war surplus hangars and various outbuildings to a single purpose-built 62,000 sq. ft. facility.
Jim has overseen major developments in technology and the efficiency resulting from these changes. Currently, Univair operates three CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) turning centers, two CNC vertical milling centers, one CNC laser center, one CNC high definition plasma tube contouring machine and two CNC press brakes. Today, Jim is maintaining the family commitment to keeping these older airplanes flying with a blend of craftsmanship and technology.
Currently, Univair owns three aircraft Type Certificates: one for the Stinson 108 series and two for the Ercoupe series - one for the two earliest models of the Ercoupe and the other for the later models of the Ercoupe, Forney, Alon and M-10 Cadet. We also hold thousands of PMA’s for Aeronca, Champion, Citabria, Decathlon Scout, Cessna, Luscombe, Piper and Taylorcraft.
In the case of the Ercoupe Series and Stinson 108 Series, we are fortunate to have most of the original engineering and tooling. Many of our customers have assumed or have been led to believe that we also have the Type Certificates, engineering and tooling for all the older aircraft we support including the older Pipers. Unfortunately, this is not so. However, our Piper inventory is one of our largest. Over the years, we have been able to purchase a few foreign military inventories and numerous parts directly from Piper or their distributors. However, most new Piper parts have been added to our Piper line by us. We’ve done all the necessary work to make them one part at a time. It is a slow process of drawing up blueprints, doing engineering reports, making tooling, inspecting and working the paperwork through the FAA, but we’ve been doing it for the better part of 72 years. After a while, it all adds up to several thousand parts.
The Dyer family leadership and vision has been vital in the company’s success. However, Steve has stated many times that the success of the company is not due to his efforts alone. Without the hard work and dedicated effort of many employees who cared about their work and the welfare of the company, none of this would be possible. Univair has made an effort to recognize and reward these individuals. Consequently, about half of the employees have been with the company for more than 10 years. One of Univair’s greatest assets is the collective knowledge of its employees. Univair’s entire staff is dedicated to supporting the “Classic Aircraft” fleet.
About the author: Mike Sellers comes from an aviation family. A month after graduating from the University of Colorado at Denver, Mike joined the company as a sales representative in September of 1978. He was promoted to Sales Manager in 1985, and then to Vice President of the company in January 2017. Mike retired in September of 2022 after 44 years of service.
The Univair Aircraft Corporation today