Many stories have circulated about Wally Byam, the founder of Airstream—some true, others exaggerated or entirely false. What follows is what I’ve come to understand after countless hours of reading, research, and personal conversations with members of his family.
Fittingly for the creator of an American icon, Wallace Byam was born on the Fourth of July, 1896.
- Wally was born in Baker City, Oregon, a small rural town on the eastern edge of the state.
- He was named after a deceased uncle on his mother’s side. His mother worked as a bookkeeper, and his father was a veterinarian.
- His parents’ marriage was short-lived. His mother later married David Davis. Wally was so attached to his stepfather that he went by the name Wally Davis until his first marriage in 1924.
- Wally was raised in Portland, Oregon, but often spent time in eastern Oregon with his aunt, uncle, and grandparents. Sadly, both his mother and stepfather passed away before he graduated high school.
- A modest inheritance and various part-time jobs enabled him to attend college.
- He graduated with honors from Stanford University in 1921, earning degrees in both journalism and architectural engineering.
- Wally had a passion for the outdoors and spent much of his time hiking and enjoying nature.
- He worked for the L.A. Times and eventually started his own advertising company. Through this business, he began selling plans for a DIY travel trailer.
- Some customers complained that the plans were too difficult to follow or incomplete.
- Wally attempted to build a trailer from the plans himself and realized the criticisms were valid. He redesigned the trailer and built his own, which became known as the Torpedo Car Cruiser.
- He went on to sell both plans and completed trailers with great success.
- In 1934, he officially founded the Airstream Company—one of California’s earliest trailer manufacturers, holding license #7.
- His first Airstream trailers were “canned hams” constructed from Masonite, a durable and water-resistant material popular in pre-war trailers.
- One of these early models, the Airlite, was just 12 feet long and is featured in early Airstream logos.
- Wally expanded the line with models such as the Silver Cloud, Silver Cloud Junior, Torpedo, Torpedo Junior, and Mobile Home, but he is most recognized for the Clipper, his first all-aluminum trailer.
- Introduced in 1935, the Clipper ranged from 19 to 27 feet in length.
- Like many manufacturers, Airstream suspended operations during World War II.
- Wally and his team went to work for the Vultee Aircraft factory, contributing to the war effort.
After the war, Wally initially planned to open a rabbit farm and considered selling camping and outdoor gear. However, in 1946, a meeting with Curtis Wright—an entrepreneur whose name resembled that of the famed Curtiss-Wright Corporation—changed his course. Wally joined Curtis Wright Aviation, shared his trailer designs, and agreed to oversee production in exchange for a salary and a commission on each unit sold.
At the end of the year, Curtis Wright owed Wally a significant amount of money and failed to pay. The fallout led Wally to leave, taking both materials and some of the labor force with him.
In 1947, Wally relaunched the Airstream Company in Los Angeles. Because he had shared his original designs with Wright, he had to rename the Airstream Clipper to the Airstream Liner.
The company grew steadily, eventually opening a second factory in Jackson Center, Ohio, and establishing a loyal following through the formation of the Wally Byam Caravan Club.
Although Wally passed away in 1962 after a three-year battle with a brain tumor, the club remains active today, and Airstream trailers continue to roll off the line in Jackson Center—carrying forward the legacy of a man who shaped a movement.
