A Plane Beside the Refrigerators
In October 1945, shoppers at Macy’s in Manhattan walked past socks and kitchen appliances to find a gleaming two-seat airplane on display. It was the Ercoupe, a sleek all-metal aircraft marketed as so safe and simple, anyone could fly it.
Sold for under $3,000, the plane was advertised as “spin-proof” and operated much like a car, with no rudder pedals and a steering wheel linked to the nose wheel. Soon, it appeared in department stores across the country and captured the imagination of magazines, celebrities, and the public.
Flying Like a Ford
The Ercoupe was the brainchild of aviation pioneer Henry Berliner and engineer Fred Weick, who aimed to create an aircraft as accessible as the family car. Completed in 1938 and approved in 1940 by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as “characteristically incapable of spinning,” the Ercoupe removed one of aviation’s most feared risks.
After World War II ended, production resumed, and orders poured in—more than 6,000 in a single year. At its peak in 1946, the ERCO factory in Riverdale, Maryland was building 34 planes a day.
Crash of the Everyday Aircraft
Despite initial success, the Ercoupe’s boom was short-lived. By late 1946, demand collapsed. A postwar recession tightened consumer spending. Professional pilots questioned the aircraft’s safety for untrained flyers, warning that handling issues during descent could be fatal.
Meanwhile, production had far exceeded what the market could absorb. In just two years, ERCO sold only 5,140 planes before Berliner gave up and sold the rights. By 1952, the Ercoupe was out of production.
Still Turning Heads
Today, around 2,000 Ercoupes remain, with about 1,000 still registered to fly. Enthusiasts like Chris Schuldt continue to pilot them, often fielding questions from curious onlookers wherever they land. Schuldt says the Ercoupe is easy to teach—up to a point. “Ninety percent of the time, it’s simpler than most aircraft,” he notes, “but the last ten percent is what can kill you.”
The Ercoupe didn’t change how Americans travel, but for a brief moment in the 1940s, it was on display in stores, in the air across the U.S., and in the national conversation. It remains a rare example of an airplane once sold alongside girdles and ballpoint pens.
In 1945, Macy’s shoppers in Manhattan could buy more than socks—they could buy an airplane.
The Ercoupe, a sleek, spin-proof two-seater, was advertised as a plane anyone could fly.
Affordable and easy to use, it was sold in department stores nationwide…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/hAQBvonj2F
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) June 6, 2025