Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology

Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology is a college within Saint Louis University. Parks Air College was founded by Oliver Parks in 1927. Parks was American's first federally certified school of aviation, holding the FAA Air Agency Certificate no. 1. Parks College was initially a publicly traded company. Durring the great depression, the Detroit Aircraft Corporation bought up eighty percent of the stock as part of a large merger of aviation entities. Oliver Parks sold most of his assets to buy back a controlling interest. The college students manufactured their own series of... biplane aircraft, including the Parks P2A, which became the "hero" of books by author Richard Bach. The college quickly got out of the manufacturing business, selling the P2A rights to Ryan as the Ryan Speedster, and later the Hammond 100. In the 1930s those enrolled as aeronautical engineers, had to design, construct and test fly their own aircraft. By 1936 the enrollment reached 200 students, with a training fleet that consisted of 13 aircraft including the Kinner Sportster, and Lambert Monocoach twin.
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