Wally Byam

Wally Byam, one of the pioneer manufacturers of the travel trailer, founded the company, Airstreaminc.. Byam led caravans worldwide as publicity exercises for the Airstream brand. His most notable caravan was a 1959 caravan from Capetown, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt.

He created the nonprofit club, Wally Byam Caravan Club International, to promote the use of Airstreams to travel as much as possible. The club is still in existence today, but is struggling to maintain members.

Airstream is now owned by Thor Industries, Inc., the largest travel trailer manufacturer in the world.

Wallace Merle Byam was practically born a traveler. Born July 4, 1896 in Baker Oregon. As a young child he traveled extensively with his grandfather, who led a mule train in Baker, Oregon. Later, as an adolescent, he was a shepherd, living in a two-wheeled donkey cart outfitted with a kerosene cookstove, a sleeping bag, and wash pail. These early experiences undoubtedly contributed to the direction his life would eventually take.

As a young man, Wally signed on with the merchant marines, attended Stanford University, owned an advertising agency, and became a magazine publisher. A do-it-yourself magazine he published featured an article describing how to build a travel trailer. When readers began complaining about the plans, Wally tried them out for himself. Indeed, the plans turned out to be flawed.

Wally's innovative spirit drove him to build his own model. While he considered it primitive, his design forever changed the history of travel trailers. By dropping the floor down between the wheels and raising the ceiling height, the revolutionary design made it possible for campers to stand up straight when inside the trailer. Wally wrote an article describing how to build his trailer for under $100 - this time drawing an enthusiastic response from his readers.

During the late 1920s, Americans were beginning to take to the roads in greater and greater numbers. Wally's new trailer was a perfect match for the new mobile lifestyle. Wally began making a living selling sets of plans for five dollars each, complete trailer kits, and finished trailers he built in his Los Angeles backyard. The fledgling business survived the crash of 1929, and by 1930 he had abandoned law, advertising, and publishing to become a full-time builder of travel trailers.

During the mid 1930s, Wally honed his skill of fusing form and functionality. By incorporating aircraft construction methods to lessen wind resistance and improving the trailer's strength-to-weight ratio, his designs began taking on a more aerodynamic and contemporary look.

On January 17, 1936, the Airstream Trailer Co. introduced the "Clipper," and a well-known American brand was born. The Clipper was truly revolutionary. With its monocoque, riveted aluminum body, it had more in common with the aircraft of its day than with its predecessors. It could sleep four, thanks to its tubular steel-framed dinette which could convert to a bed, carried its own water supply, had an enclosed galley, and was fitted with electric lights throughout. The Clipper boasted of its advanced insulation and ventilation system, and even offered "air conditioning" that used dry ice.

At $1200, the Clipper was expensive, especially during the Depression years, yet the company could not build them fast enough to keep up with the orders that poured in. And Wally Byam's meticulous attention to quality would prove crucial.

Of more than 300 trailer builders operating in 1936, Airstream was the only one to emerge from the Depression years. However, with the onset of World War II, leisure travel and the materials necessary to build trailers both became luxuries the country could not afford. Airstream Trailer Co. closed its doors. Byam decided that the best way to help the war effort was to use his experience with aluminum fabricating in the aircraft industry - taking positions at Lockheed and Curtis Wright for the duration of the war.

When World War II ended, the economy boomed and people's attention once again turned towards the open road. By 1948 the demand for Airstream trailers seemed to know no bounds, and like the Coca-Cola™ bottle and Zippo™ lighter, Airstreams became one of the most recognizable products in the world.

In July 1952, the lease was signed for a facility in Jackson Center, Ohio, to serve the eastern market. By August the first Ohio-made Airstream rolled off the production line, and the California factory was moved to larger facilities in Santa Fe Springs.

Wally Byam passed away on July 22 1962 aged 66. His company, Airstream Trailer Co., was dissolved November 12 of the same year.

Notable Wally Byam Quotes

"Don’t stop. Keep right on going. Hitch up your trailer and go to Canada or down to Old Mexico. Head for Europe, if you can afford it, or go to the Mardi Gras. Go someplace you’ve heard about, where you can fish or hunt or collect rocks or just look up at the sky. Find out what’s at the end of some country road. Go see what’s over the next hill, and the one after that, and the one after that."

Wally Byam's Creed

"In the heart of these words is an entire life's dream. To those of you who find in the promise of these words your promise, I bequeath this creed... my dream belongs to you."

To place the great wide world at your doorstep for you who yearn to travel with all the comforts of home.

To provide a more satisfying, meaningful way of travel that offers complete travel independence, wherever and whenever you choose to go or stay.

To keep alive and make real an enduring promise of high adventure and faraway lands... of rediscovering old places and new interests.

To open a whole world of new experiences... a new dimension in enjoyment where travel adventure and good fellowship are your constant companions.

To encourage clubs and rallies that provide an endless source of friendships, travel fun and personal expressions.

To lead caravans wherever the four winds blow... over twinkling boulevards, across trackless deserts... to the traveled and untraveled corners of the earth.

To play some part in promoting international goodwill and understanding among the peoples of the world through person-to-person contact.

To refine and perfect our product by continuous travel-testing over the highways and byways of the world.

To strive endlessly to stir the venturesome spirit that moves you to follow a rainbow to its end... and thus make your travel dreams come true.

- Wally Byam

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