If you've checked out my link to the Turner microphone companies history page, you realize that not all companies ended with a product they first started with. Technically, Heath kit began in "kits", however it may surprise you to know that their first kit was a high-wing monoplane which sold for $199 (less engine) in 1926!

The kit concept was developed by Edward Bayard Heath, an aviation pioneer who wanted everyone to have the chance to experience flight. The company was purchased by Howard Anthony in 1935 and moved from Chicago to Michigan, where he carried on with the airplane parts business.

After WWII, our country was swamped with surplus wartime parts, and Howard came up with a plan to utilize them - electronic kits. Their first kit was an oscilliscope which sold for a mere $39.95, and Heathkit was on it's way to fame in the electronic kit market!

The picture above was featured in their 1976 catalog, which proudly told the companies history, as well as the fact that their plant was now 480,000 sq feet....

Sadly, the kit market declined throughout the 80's and the Heath company found new owners at almost every bend in the road. I remember spending several lunch periods hanging around the Heathkit store in Houston, and then, bidding a fond farewell as they closed their doors in the mid-to-late 80's.