Eyerly Aircraft Company

Eyerly Aircraft Company was an amusement ride manufacturing company in Salem, Oregon, founded by Lee Eyerly in 1930. The company originally intended to design flight simulators for the aircraft industry but shifted to amusement rides after an early simulator, called Orientator, became a popular pay-per-ride attraction with the public. The company manufactured rides until 1985 and went bankrupt in 1990, following a fatal accident in 1988 on a ride built by the company.

Eyerly Aircraft Company

Industry	Manufacturing and design
Founded	1930 (1930)
Founder	Lee Eyerly
Defunct	1985 (1985)
Headquarters	Salem, Oregon , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Aircraft, amusement rides

Aircraft manufacturing

Lee Eyerly founded Eyerly Aircraft Company in 1930 to manufacture two inexpensive ways to train pilots which he devised when the Great Depression hit: the Whiffle Hen,^[1] a plane which only burned two US gallons (8 L) of fuel per hour of flight, and a ground-based flight training device patented under the name "Orientator". The Orientator consisted of a small airplane suspended in what looked like the tines of a giant tuning fork. Air from the electrically driven propeller passed over the wings and rudder, and the operator controlled the movements of the plane in a manner similar to a real aircraft.^[2] The Orientator was produced commercially and eventually renamed "Acroplane".

Amusement rides

A salesman approached Eyerly about selling Acroplanes to carnivals and parks as an amusement ride after noticing several stored on the lot outside Eyerly's shop. While Eyerly was initially skeptical, he agreed to a deal which led to selling about 50 Acroplanes as an amusement ride. The following year, Eyerly changed the company's focus from aircraft to amusement rides based on the successful sales.^[2] Eyerly developed and patented numerous amusement rides which would become staples of carnival midways, including The Loop-O-Plane (1933),^[2][3] the Roll-O-Plane,^[4] the Fly-O-Plane and the Rock-O-Plane (1947).^[5][6] Perhaps their most popular design was the Octopus,^[4] which resulted in later variations: the Spider and the Monster. Two of the company's kiddie carousel rides were the Midge-O-Racer and Bulgy the Whale.^[7]

Although Eyerly's manufacturing business became amusement rides, the name of the company remained Eyerly Aircraft Company.^[7]

A partial list of the Eyerly Aircraft Company rides and their locations follows.

Name	Model	Park	Open	Closed	Details
Monster	Unknown	1962 Seattle World's Fair	Unknown	Closed	Appears similar to a Monster, but only had 5 arms instead of the typical 6.
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	All Star Adventures (Wichita, Kansas)	Unknown	Open	[8][9]
Spider	Spider	All Star Adventures (Wichita, Kansas)	Unknown	Open	[10][8]
Spider	Spider	All Star Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	Unknown
Freddie the Fish	Bulgy the Whale	Arnolds Park	Unknown	Open	[11]
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Arnolds Park	Unknown	Open	[12]
Roll-O-Plane	Roll-O-Plane	Arnolds Park	Unknown	Open	[13]
Spider	Spider	Arnolds Park	Unknown	Closed	[14]
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Big Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	Open
Monster!	Monster	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	1968	1995	[15]
Dragon Loops	Loop-O-Plane	Blue Sky Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[16]
Killer Whales	Bulgy the Whale	Boardwalk Amusements (Daytona Beach, Florida)	2017	Closed	Trailer mounted; new whale vehicles.[17]
Monstrous Mamba	Monster	Busch Gardens Tampa	1976	1995	After removal the ride was sold for scrap.[18]
Octopus	Octopus	C&L Shows (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[19]
Lobster	Monster	California's Great America	1976	Closed	[20]
Spider	Spider	Camden Park	Unknown	2011	Removed after incident hospitalized three riders.[21]
Fury	Monster	Canada's Wonderland	1981	2003	Originally named Shiva's Fury. Sat in storage after removal. Ultimately sent to Kings Island for spare part usage on their similar Monster.[22]
Black Widow	Monster	Carowinds	1973	1987	Originally named The Witch Doctor. Relocated within park in 1977. Replaced with Cinema 180.[23]
Spider	Spider	Castle Park	Unknown	Open	[24]
Monster	Monster	Cedar Point	1970	Open	Refurbished in 2014 alongside renovated Gemini Midway.[25][26]
Monster	Monster	Coney Island	1968	1971	Relocated to Kings Island after park closure.[27]
Rock-O-Planes	Rock-O-Plane	Coney Island	2007	2019	Relocated from LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park. Following removal, listed for sale on Rides4U for $19,000.
Clown Fish	Bulgy the Whale	Deggeller Attractions, Inc. (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[28]
Whales	Bulgy the Whale	DelGrosso's Amusement Park	Unknown	Open	[29]
Monster	Monster	Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom	1995	2023	Removed for addition of Dominator in 1998, but refurbished and returned to operation in 2000.[30]
Monster	Monster	EsselWorld (India)	Unknown	Open	[31][32]
Octopus	Octopus	Fantasy Farm (Middletown, Ohio)	1987	1991	Purchased by Nolan Amusements for $17,500 after park closed.[33][34]
Spider	Spider	Fun Spot America Theme Parks (Atlanta)	Unknown	Open	[35]
Black Squid	Spider	Geauga Lake	1970	2007	Relocated to Kings Dominion; sat in storage but never operated.
Monster	Monster	Ghost Town Village	1992	2000	Ride did not reopen with park in 2007.
Bulgy the Goldfish	Bulgy the Whale	Gilroy Gardens	Unknown	Open	[36]
Octopus	Octopus	Hammerl Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[37]
Monster	Monster	Hersheypark	1972	1982	Replaced by Tilt-A-Whirl.[38]
Dancer's Fish	Bulgy the Whale	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari	Unknown	Open	Previously named Salmon Run. Relocated within park for 2014 season.[39]
Paul Revere's Midnight Ride	Spider	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari	1978	2011	Originally named Spider Ride. Removed due to dependability issues.[40]
Green Machine	Loop-O-Plane	Hydro Free Fair	1980s	Open	[41]
Loop-O-Plane	Loop-O-Plane	Idora Park	1936	Closed	[42]
Monster	Monster	Idora Park	1972	Closed	[42]
Flying Ocotpus	Octopus	Idora Park	1938	Closed	Acquired from Great Lakes Exposition in Cleveland.[42]
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Idora Park	1976	1984	[42]
Spider	Spider	Idora Park	1973	Closed	[42]
Clown Fish	Bulgy the Whale	James H. Drew Exposition (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[43]
Unknown	Spider	Jolly Roger at 30th Street	Unknown	Unknown
Unknown	Loop-O-Plane	Keansburg Amusement Park	Unknown	Unknown	[44]
Loop-O-Plane	Loop-O-Plane	Kennywood	Unknown	1950	[45]
Monongahela Monster	Monster	Kennywood	1979	1989
Roll-O-Plane	Roll-O-Plane	Kennywood	1950	2003
Monster	Monster	Kings Dominion	1975	1988	Originally named Bad Apple.[46]
Monster	Monster	Kings Island	1972	Open	Relocated from Coney Island after park closure. Maintained with parts from The Fury at Canada's Wonderland.[22][47]
Rock-O-Planes	Rock-O-Plane	Kissel Entertainment (Showman)	Unknown	Unknown
Satellite	Roll-O-Plane	Knoebels Amusement Resort	Unknown	Open	[48]
Bulgy the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Lagoon	1956	Open	[49]
Rock-O-Planes	Rock-O-Plane	Lagoon	8 May 1954	Open
Octopus	Octopus	Lagoon	8 May 1954	1979
Loop-O-Plane	Loop-O-Plane	Lagoon	1972	1987
Roll-O-Plane	Roll-O-Plane	Lagoon	30 Mar 1947	1953	Burned down in fire of 1953.
Roll-O-Plane	Roll-O-Plane	Lagoon	8 May 1954	1971
Roll-O-Plane	Super Roll-O-Plane	Lagoon	1 Apr 1972	2002	Metal fatigue caused the arm to bend during the ride cycle when it was rotating horizontally. No one on the ride was injured.
Fly-O-Plane	Fly-O-Plane	Lake Winnepesaukah	2000	Closed	Ejected two riders in 2016.[50][51]
Monster	Monster	Lakemont Park	Unknown	Closed	[52]
Octopus	Octopus	Lakemont Park	Unknown	Closed	[53]
Loop-O-Plane	Loop-O-Plane	Lakeside Amusement Park	Unknown	Open
Giant Octopus	Octopus	LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park	1944	Closed
Rock-O-Planes	Rock-O-Plane	LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park	1949	Closed	Received new cars in 1990. Relocated to Coney Island after park closure.
Mustekala	Monster	Linnanmäki	1979	1984	After removal the ride was scrapped and replaced with a similar, more efficient model.
Spider	Spider	Luna Park, Melbourne	1983	Open	Head on top of Spider designed by children's book author Leigh Hobbs in 2001. Ride modified to enable all the arms to load and unload simultaneously.[54]
Willie the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Michael's Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[55]
Bullet	Loop-O-Plane	Miracle Strip Amusement Park	Unknown	2004	This ride was sold to Sylvan Beach, New York's Amusement Park after Miracle Strip permanently closed, but later transformed into a Rock-O-Plane.[44]
Spider	Monster	Modern Midways (Showman)	Unknown	Open
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Oaks Amusement Park	Unknown	Open
Spider	Spider	Oaks Amusement Park	Unknown	Open
Ahuna Thrill Ride, The	Octopus	Pacific Ocean Park	Unknown	Closed	Originally named Mrs. Squid. Dual Tub Octopus with a squid decor in the center.[56]
Mr. Octopus	Octopus	Pacific Ocean Park	Unknown	Closed	[56]
Unknown	Spider	Race City PCB	Unknown	Unknown
Bulgy the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk	Unknown	Open	[57]
Monster	Monster	Silverwood	Unknown	Closed	Replaced by Trabant.
Black Dragon	Monster	Six Flags AstroWorld	1968	1977	[58]
Jolly Monster	Monster	Six Flags Magic Mountain	1973	1981	[59]
Spider	Spider	Six Flags New England	1968	2006
Crazy Legs	Monster	Six Flags Over Texas	1973	1982	[60]
MoMo the Monster	Monster	Six Flags St. Louis	1973	1994	Replaced by River View Racer.[61]
Bulgy the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Skerbeck Family Carnival (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[62]
Monster	Monster	Sunshine Amusements (Showman)	Unknown	1988	Crashed during 1988 Broward County Fair, causing a fatality. After the incident, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission asked all owners and operators of Monster attractions to perform metallurgical inspection of their rides.[63][64]
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Sylvan Beach Amusement Park	Unknown	Open	[65]
Bomber	Roll-O-Plane	Sylvan Beach Amusement Park	Unknown	Open	[65]
Bulgy the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Tinkertown Family Fun Park	Unknown	Open	[66]
Rock-O-Planes	Rock-O-Plane	Upper Clements Parks	Unknown	2019	[67]
Monster	Monster	Valleyfair	1977	Open	Using the former Octopus at Worlds of Fun for spare parts.[68][69]
Bulgy the Whale	Bulgy the Whale	Wade Shows (Showman)	Unknown	Open	[70]
Octopus	Octopus	Whalom Park	Unknown	Closed
Funnel Web	Spider	Wonderland Sydney	1985	1989	Removed and placed in storage; current whereabouts unknown.
Octopus	Monster	Worlds of Fun	1973	2014	Originally named Oriental Octopus, then later Tailspinner. Ride was absent from park for 1997 season, but returned in 1998 with new cars. Its pieces are currently used for Monster at Valleyfair.[69]
Guppies	Bulgy the Whale	Wyandot Lake	Unknown	2006
Barracuda	Rock-O-Plane	Wyandot Lake	Unknown	1999
Black Squid	Spider	Wyandot Lake	Unknown	2006
Little Racers	Midge-O-Racer	Playland, Fresno, CA	1955	Open	Ride was one of the originals when Rotary Playland opened in 1955 on the SW corner of Roeding Park in Fresno, CA. It was called "Midge-O-Racer" but the name was changed to "Little Racers" after a generous donation from a local car dealership.
Rock-O-Plane	Rock-O-Plane	Thomas Amusements (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada)	Unknown	Seasonal	[71]

Closure

Eyerly Aircraft Company continued to produce amusement rides until 1985.^[72] A fatal accident occurred at the Broward County Fair in Florida in 1988, when an arm (carrying four rider baskets) of a Monster ride snapped along an existing crack that had been painted over years before, and had then been missed in inspections.^[73] A 17-year-old girl died of head injuries when the basket she was riding in collided with another as it fell to the ground, and at least six others were injured.^[73][74] A wrongful death lawsuit was brought against the ride's owner and county fair operator for failure to properly inspect and reinforce the ride, despite Eyerley's warning bulletins recommending maintenance.^[75][74] Following the lawsuit against the operator, Eyerly Aircraft's insurance premiums increased and became unaffordable; the company filed for bankruptcy and closed in 1990.^[72] The rights to their rides were later purchased by Oregon Rides Inc.^[6]

See also

• Aviation portal
• Companies portal

• Octopus (ride)