Consolidated Aircraft
Consolidated Aircraft was an American aircraft manufacturer .
history
The company was founded by Reuben H. Fleet on May 29, 1923 to build Dayton-Wright TW-3s under license in a building leased from Gaulladet Aircraft . Soon after, Fleet took over Gaulladet Aircraft and acquired the rights to build Dayton-Wright designs from General Motors, which was withdrawing from aircraft construction at the time.
In February 1929, Fleet founded the Fleet Aircraft company in Buffalo, New York. In August 1929, Fleet Aircraft merged with Consolidated, but the products continued to be sold under the name "Fleet". At the same time, Consolidated also acquired the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation. At the end of 1941, Fleet sold its 34 percent stake in Vultee Aircraft , a subsidiary of AVCO (Aviation Corporation), whereupon Vultee acquired the majority of shares in Consolidated in November 1942 and founded the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation on March 17, 1943 . This was also still a subsidiary of AVCO and in 1954 became a division of General Dynamics Corporation under the name CONVAIR .
Products
The most famous aircraft were the long-range bomber Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" and the flying boat Consolidated "Catalina" .
Other aircraft from Consolidated Aircraft are the following (first flight dates in brackets):
- PT-1 Trusty (1923)
- NY training aircraft
- XPY-1 Commodore (1931)
- C-22 Fleetster (1932)
- A-11 / Y1P-25
- P2Y
- PBY Catalina (1936)
- PB2Y Coronado (1937)
- PB3Y (project of a four-engine flying boat completed in November 1942)
- XP4Y-1 Corregidor (1939)
-
B-24 Liberator (1939)
- PBY4-1 Liberator US Navy
- C-87 Liberator Express
- C-109 Liberator
- PB4Y-2 Privateer (1944)
- B-32 Dominator (1942)
Individual evidence
- ^ Dennis R. Jenkins, Tony R. Landis: Experimental & Prototype - US Air Force Jet Fighters. Specialty Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-58007-111-6 , p. 247.
- ↑ Photos of a PT-1 at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil
- ↑ Information on the A11 / Y1P-25 (Engl.)
- ↑ Information on P2Y
- ↑ Information on the XP4Y