of the first wind tunnels for aviation experiments in Dayton. In the spring of 1916, his father, Edward A. Deeds, and Charles Kettering formed the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, which reused the factory buildings of the 1909–1916 Wright Company but was a completely different business. The young Talbott became the company's president, while Orville Wright received a courtesy position as a consulting engineer. Talbott was a passenger on Orville's last flight in 1918. At the beginning of World War I, Deeds joined the US Army with the rank of colonel and became Chief of Aircraft Production. At McCook Field, a precursor to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Deeds supervised aircraft procurement. The Dayton-Wright Company took over the newly built Delco-Light plant. The expanded plant constructed the two-seat fighter, the DeHaviland–4, later modified to the DeHaviland–9, and turned out about 400 training planes. In 1918 the plant, which employed 12,000 people, produced 38 planes per day and manufactured more wartime aircraft overall than any other U.S. plant. During September 1918, Talbott was commissioned a major in the Air Service of the Signal Corps. His assignment as one of a group of officers in charge of aircraft maintenance and repair in France was canceled by the armistice. In October 1918 Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory reported to President Wilson on the results of an investigation into wartime aircraft production. Justice Hughes criticized the close relationship between Colonel Deeds and Dayton-Wright. Hughes specifically mentioned improper communications between Deeds and Harold Talbott about matters affecting aircraft procurement. Justice Hughes recommended that Colonel Deeds be court-martialed, but the Army did not pursue the case. In 1919 General Motors acquired DELCO-Light, Dayton-Wright, and the Dayton Metal Products Company. All were businesses associated with Talbott, Deeds, and Kettering. In 1922 GM established the Inland Manufacturing Division to build wooden steering wheels at the former Dayton-Wright plant. Talbott served as president of Inland. In 1925 Talbott moved to New York and became a director of Chrysler Corporation. In the 1930s he served as President of the Cloud Club located on the 66th, 67th, and 68th floors of the Chrysler Building in New York City. General Motors Corporation took a controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with its General Aviation division in 1933. In 1932 Talbott became chairman of the executive committee of NAA. In the 1930s he was also a