FreightWaves Classics is sponsored by Sutton Transport, an LTL leader in the Midwest for more than 40 years. Sutton Transport proudly services Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. Request a quote here.

In Part 1 of this article, the early life and career of Victor Bendix were outlined. His story continues in Part 2 with a profile of the remainder of his career.

Ups and downs during the 1930s

On July 11, 1930 Bendix founded the Bendix Airport in South Bend. The airport was incorporated and capitalized for $500,000; it officially opened June 21, 1931. A little over five years later (September 1936), the city of South Bend purchased the airport for $193,000 and renamed it Bendix Field – St. Joseph County Municipal Airport.

In 1931 Victor Bendix was elected as the 26th president of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

The same year, the Bendix Products Corporation was organized to “consolidate the manufacturing operations of Bendix Brake Company, Bendix Cowdrey Brake Tester, Inc., Bendix Stromberg Carburetor Company and the B-K Corporation.”

Although the U.S. and most of the world were mired in the economic misery of the Great Depression, the 1930s were a time of daring, glamor and major advancements in aviation. In 1931 Bendix established the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race “to encourage experimental developments by airplane designers and to improve the skills of aviators in cross-country flying techniques.” 

The first Bendix Transcontinental Air Race was won by Major James Doolittle, who would gain fame for the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. At an average speed of over 220 miles per hour, Doolittle flew from Los Angeles to Cleveland in nine hours and 10 minutes. Other winners of the Bendix Trophy for cross-country flight were such famous aviation figures as Louise Thaden and Jacqueline Cochran. (To read more about Thaden, the first female to win the Bendix Trophy, follow this link to an earlier FreightWaves Classics article. To read more about Jacqueline Cochran, follow this link.)

In 1962, the winners of the last Bendix race were captains Robert Sowers, Robert MacDonald and John Walton. They flew a B-58 at an average speed of 1,215 miles per hour, completing the trip between Los Angeles and New York in two hours. The original Bendix Trophy can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Great Depression was a difficult time for the company (as it was for most companies in nearly all industries). However, the research and development efforts at Bendix during the 1930s brought forth a number of new inventions, as well as improvements to the company’s aviation and automotive products. 

Perhaps the most important Bendix invention during the 1930s was the pressure carburetor for aircraft engines. By 1938, the Bendix pressure carburetor was standard equipment on nearly all American aircraft. During World War II, it was utilized on the engines of nearly every airplane in the Allied fleets. 

Company reorganizations continued; in 1939 the Bendix Products Corporation’s name was changed to the Bendix Products Division. While the Bendix companies were both successful and influential as the 1930s ended, by contrast Victor Bendix had significant personal financial difficulties. 

In 1939 he was named as a defendant in federal court in South Bend by holders of bonds on the Michigan Chestnut Building Corporation of Chicago. Bendix was forced to file a petition of involuntary bankruptcy. He listed liabilities of $14 million and assets of just over $1 million.

World War II

By 1939, production orders from the British and French governments for military-related materials helped Bendix sales to reach record levels. Then, during 1940-41, Bendix facilities were expanded to meet the needs of the U.S. military’s preparations for war.  

Because of his profligate lifestyle (and then his personal bankruptcy), Bendix had gradually sold all of his shares in the corporation he had founded. After acquiring enough of the company stock to have managerial control, General Motors’ leadership tired of Bendix and eased him out of day-to-day control of the company. In February 1942, Bendix was named Chairman of the Board of the Bendix Aviation Corporation, while Ernest R. Breech was elected president of the company. The following month (March 1942), Bendix resigned from the position of board chairman. Subsequently, the company’s headquarters were moved from South Bend to Detroit. Bendix later severed all official connections with the company he had founded and built. 

After Bendix left the company, the Bendix Corporation founded the Bendix Aviation Division in 1944. While it developed several aircraft, including an all-metal light plane and an amphibian, none of these aircraft were certified by the government or went into full-scale production.

Bendix Helicopters, Inc. 

After resigning from Bendix Aviation Corporation, Bendix founded Bendix Helicopters, Inc. Encouraged by the success of helicopters manufactured by Igor Sikorsky, Bendix’s goal for the company was to develop a “four-passenger helicopter sedan.” He announced that it would be ready for mass production after the war. (To read more about Igor Sikorsky, follow this link to an earlier FreightWaves Classics article.)

Martin Jensen, a Bendix designer, developed the Bendix Model J single-seat helicopter, which used a system of coaxial rotors and was driven by a 450-horsepower engine. This was followed by the Model K, which had an enclosed tube and fabric fuselage, but had a much smaller 100-hp engine. The Model K made its maiden flight in June 1945, but Bendix eventually ceased operations in 1949 without achieving certification.

During World War II, Bendix’s current and former enterprises became the primary source of American aviation electronics.

Spending money  

As noted above, Bendix had many jobs as a young man, and made and lost a fortune during his lifetime. Some of his most expensive purchases were lavish homes. For example, in 1928 he bought the Potter Palmer mansion on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago for $3 million (the equivalent of almost $52 million today). Moreover, he announced that the mansion would be demolished so that the world’s largest hotel could be built on the site (at a cost of approximately $25 million, or $433 million today). Perhaps luckily for all, the project never went forward, and the property passed from Bendix’s possession in 1935.

Also in 1928 Bendix purchased the Clem Studebaker estate in South Bend. Built for Studebaker in 1910, the mansion was elaborately remodeled by Bendix. Among the “upgrades” were a “spacious brick clubhouse, a nine-hole golf course and a magnificent tiled and electrically lighted swimming pool.” In addition, Bendix completely enclosed the estate with an expensive iron fence. The massive entrance gates were hand-made and imported from France, and the estate was known as “Chateau Bendix.” 

The following year (1929) Bendix bought an oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for $250,000 (or about $4.33 million today).

In 1930 Bendix commissioned and paid Sweden’s Dr. Sven Hedin to buy a Buddhist temple and bring it to the United States for reconstruction. When this proved to be impractical, Chinese architects produced a copy of the Golden Pavilion of Jehol that was erected at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933, was later dismantled and then erected again at the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40. In 1943 the pavilion, as well as its furnishings and other art objects, was given to Oberlin College. 

Bendix established the Steel Wheel Corporation in 1932, which was described as “a front to allow the secret creation of an aerodynamic front-wheel-drive saloon.” A saloon is a car that seats four or more people, has a fixed roof, and a boot (trunk) that is separated from the rear seats. A drivable prototype was built in 1934 at a cost of about $2 million in 2022 dollars. Bendix sent the car to Europe to showcase Bendix auto parts. Several European manufacturers examined the vehicle, including Citroën, Peugeot, Renault and Fiat, but the car was never put into production in Europe or the United States..  

Legacy

Victor Bendix died on March 27, 1945, of a coronary thrombosis at the age of 62. At the time of his death, Bendix was president of Bendix Helicopters, Inc., and he was reportedly paid more than $1 million by the company, so he was “back in the money” when he died. 

From his humble beginnings, Bendix became a pioneer and leader in both the automotive and aviation industries during the 1920s and 1930s. His business aptitude and work ethic helped him to establish a company that would become one of the world’s leading multi-industry manufacturers. By the early 1930s, Bendix’s companies had 15 factories and more than 15,500 patents. 

As noted earlier, Bendix was elected president of the Society of Automotive Engineers, awarded a Knight of Sweden’s Order of the North Star and France’s Légion d’Honneur. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1984 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991.

Very wealthy at certain points in his life, Bendix sponsored air races and competitions, bought numerous homes, etc. However, his extravagant tastes and ideas eventually caused him to declare bankruptcy. Nonetheless, despite his past financial difficulties, he was on an upward financial trajectory when he died. 

Ironically, the invention that made his name well known to the general public really had nothing to do with him. Two employees at one of his subsidiaries persuaded him to lend his name to their invention in return for shares in the business. So while the Bendix automatic washing machine (and various other appliances) carried his name, he had to purchase advertising to state that they were not made by Bendix Aviation.

FreightWaves Classics thanks drivestoday.com, the Automotive Hall of Fame, the National Aviation Hall of Fame, dommagazine.com, amannamedvincent.wordpress.com, bendixradiofoundation.com and Wikipedia for information and photographs that helped make this article possible.