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What little I know about Blackhawk Aircraft Co. comes from two paragraphs in John Underwood's 1969 article "The Parrakeet Story" (Bib. # 5). John's article is
Jack Rose's first person account of the Parrakeet's history. A shorter variation of the story about Blackhawk Aircraft is repeated by Dorr Carpenter in his 1980 article in Aviation Quarterly (Bib. #9). I have found
historical CAA/FAA aircraft registration documents for NC40100, which cite Blackhawk Aircraft Co. as the manufacturer.
Here is part of Jack Rose's account to John Underwood. "... The upshot was that I agreed to let him [Anthony Ingrassia] build the 65-hp [A-4] Parrakeet
under license for a royalty fee of $25 per airplane. He incorporated as Blackhawk Aircraft and rented the second floor of my machine shop in Chicago. I helped him get started by welding up five fuselages
myself.
One airplane was finished and passed for covering by the CAA. At this point the Blackhawk company decided to move to Rockford, where more space was
available. All the remaining working capital went into a new factory building with offices in front. By the time it was finished, there wasn't enough cash left to finish the other four planes."
According to CAA/FAA documents, the completed aircraft was Blackhawk Rose Parrakeet, S/N 00, NC40100. Parrakeet A-4, S/N 00, NC40100 was sold to Anthony
D. Ingrassia 2 April, 1947. Ingrassia as Blackhawk Aircraft Co. applied for registration of and air worthiness certificate for this aircraft on the same date. Date of Manufacture is listed as March 1947.
Here is Dorr Carpenter's account. "In 1948 Rose was again anxious to get back into the airplane business, but he did not have the funds. He was
contacted by a gentleman who wanted to set his nephew set up in the aircraft manufacturing business. The young man's name was Tony Ingrasses and neither he nor his uncle had any idea what was involved in such
a venture. Rose wasted many months and a great deal of effort in this dead end association and nothing came of it."
Please note that according to CAA/FAA documents, Carpenter is off by at least one year and misspells Ingrassia's last name. If there were any
airframes left over from Jack Rose's pre WW II production, he does not mention them in his comments to John Underwood or Dorr Carpenter. Instead, he specifically states that he welded up five airframes for
Blackhawk Aircraft Co., four of which were not completed by Blackhawk.
On 30 March, 1948, NC40100 is sold to Hannaford Aircraft Co.
, Inc. as "(Blackhawk HANNAFORD Rose) PARRAKEET". On the same date Hannaford Aircraft applies for registration of NC40100 as "HANNAFORD
(Blackhawk Rose)" and no more mention of Blackhawk Aircraft Co. has been found as of 4/12/2007.
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