Alfred Victor Verville

Verville was born in Atlantic Mine, a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on November 16, 1890, as the son of Victor Verville and Fabianna Miron. As a child, his mother bought him a Conyne-style box kite from Sears Roebuck, which captured his imagination and started his interest in flight and aviation. Verville also began reading stories about the Wright brothers in newspapers and magazines with great interest. Later he even wrote to the Wrights and Glenn Curtiss and received responses.

After graduating from Adams Township High School, Verville took a correspondence course in electrical engineering. He moved to Detroit, Michigan, at the age of twenty, and from 1910 to 1913 he worked in the electrical departments of the Detroit Edison Company, Ford Motor Company, and Hudson Motor Car Company. By 1913, Verville had made his mind up that he wanted to learn to fly. William Edmund Scripps, the editor and owner of The Detroit News, introduced Verville to Glenn Curtiss in July 1913. Curtiss encouraged Verville to apply for his spring 1914 flight school. Instead, Verville went to Hammondsport, New York, in February 1914, where Curtiss Aeroplane Company was located, and told Curtiss he wanted to work as an apprentice in his drafting and engineering shop. Curtiss agreed and this began Verville's aviation career.

Verville excelled as a draftsman and designer, but still wanted to attend flight school and to become an exhibition pilot. After applying and being passed over three times for the Curtiss Flying School, Verville went to Curtiss, who responded: "No, Mr. Verville you don't want to be a pilot. We can get all the pilots we want. What we want are designers. You're [really] a designer and you don't know it." While at Curtiss Aeroplane, Verville took an active part in the development of the transatlantic flying boat America (which was a Curtiss H-2) and the Curtiss Jenny of World War I fame. In the fall of 1914, Verville left the company and joined the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company in New Jersey; shortly thereafter, he joined the Thomas-Morse Airplane Company. In March 1915, he returned to Detroit and joined the General Aeroplane Company, where he led his first full design and build to his specifications, the Verville Flying Boat.

On July 9, 1917, Verville married Bertha M. Kamrath in Escanaba, Michigan. He had three children with her, daughters Betty and Janet, and son Myron. Also in 1917, Verville left the General Aeroplane Company to become executive engineer of Fisher Body Corporation, where he supervised the construction of de Havilland DH-4 airplanes.

In 1925, Verville left the government service to co-found the Buhl-Verville Aircraft Company with the Buhl family in Detroit. On March 29, 1927, Buhl was awarded the first Approved Type Certificate for its Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster (i.e. A.T.C. No. 1) issued by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce on March 29, 1927. There were a total of 20 of this aircraft manufactured and it broke a number of speed and endurance records, placing at the top of the Ford National Reliability Air Tour and the National Air Races. Verville was the chief designer from the company's founding in 1925 until 1927.

In 1928, Verville left Buhl-Verville to establish the Verville Aircraft Company, also in Detroit. The company sought to market planes to the wealthy private owner. Verville Aircraft produced the Verville Air Coach, a four-passenger, high-wing monoplane, which made its debut at the 1929 Detroit Air Show and the Verville Sport Trainer, a two-seat tandem biplane. The United States Army Air Corps purchased four Sport Trainers under the designation YPT-10. The USAAC tested with five different engine versions resulting in YPT-10 thru YPT-10D designations.