When then 23-year-old Armando Leighton, Jr. launched CRS Jet Spares in 1982, Ronald Reagan was president, the Falklands War was raging and the compact disc was new. Today the Falklands conflict is history, Reagan has passed on and the CD is dying, but CRS Jet Spares is going strong. One of the world’s largest aftermarket aircraft parts suppliers, the company is celebrating its 30th anniversary here at the show, where it is giving away a Harley Davidson motorcycle at its booth (No. 3916), just as it does every year at the NBAA convention.
The success of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based CRS probably hasn’t surprised anyone who knew Leighton during his childhood. Though he intended early on to become a veterinarian, he was only 13 when his entrepreneurial bent and interest in airplanes led him to accept an after-school job in the shipping and receiving department of a neighbor’s aviation company. He continued to work for the firm–which specialized in government contracts for Lockheed C130 parts–through high school and into his college years.
