Aircraft Radio Corporation and their role in the development of avionics

Aircraft Radio Corporation of Boonton, N.J., a long-forgotten entity, played a huge role in the development of modern avionics. Aircraft Radio was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Radio Frequency Laboratories, RFL, in the mid 1920's and was spun off as a separate company in 1929. Aircraft Radio developed airborne radio equipment for military and civilian aircraft during the early days of radio during the “golden age of radio” in the 1920's. Most importantly, during the decade of the 1920's Aircraft Radio developed the radio beacon system used for the September, 1929 demonstration of blind flight by Lt. James, “Jimmy” Doolittle. In the 1930's Aircraft Radio provided the first two-way radio for military aircraft. Aircraft Radio designed and manufactured the famous ARC-5 series of radios for WWII aircraft where over a million pieces were made during the war. Aircraft Radio is long gone having been a casualty of years of mergers and acquisitions.