PLANE TALK
AEA AND AVIONICS HISTORY
I have chosen to start the story about avionics and the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) with a quick review of the development of avionics from the beginning of World War Two. Prior to the war there were electrically driven components and some simple (by today’s standards) electronics devices that were found in aircraft — mainly radio and simple navigation equipment. But not to the scale found during and after the Second World War. The following story has been developed from my life experience in aviation and avionics since I joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1963. A large part of the avionics story
concerns the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) in Canada as well as the United States, although later the AEA expanded to other parts of the world. So, to start I have copied
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DOMmagazine.com | mar 2020
the AEA Mission statement to give the readers some sort of overview of why they exist. You will see as I progress that the AEA has fulfilled those objective over the years I worked with them. The AEA mission statement: The AEA membership includes
government-certified international repair stations, manufacturers of avionics equipment, instrument repair facilities, instrument manufacturers, airframe manufacturers, test equipment manufacturers, major distributors, engineers and educational institutions. Mission Statement The mission of the Aircraft Electronics Association is to be a worldwide, self- sustaining organization committed to enhancing the profitability of its members by... • providing effective leadership to its members,
BY ROGER BEEBE
• facilitating the communications between members,
• encouraging members to establish quality processes,
• furthering the education of its members and their various constituent groups,
• influencing the applicable legislative and regulatory processes.
RAPID ADVANCES SINCE 1940 A quote from a 1940’s speech by The Hon. C.D. Howe, Minister of Transport and Minister of Munitions and Supply, says: “A cataclysm of the magnitude of the present war affects all civil activities. Aviation has no exception. Every phase of flying has been gravely affected by the change-over from peace to war. While meeting the Air Force requirement in all respects, the aim of the Department of Transport, Civil Aviation, has been to
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