Grumman Aerospace Corporation

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Leroy Grumman (1895-1982)

The Grumman (1929-1994) was an American company that specializes in the manufacture of aircraft , components for the aviation and aerospace and avionics had specialized.

Founding history

The company was incorporated in Baldwin on December 5, 1929 and was called Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation until 1969 . In addition to Leroy Grumman , who had previously left Loening Aircraft Engineering , which was then sold, the founders were Ed Poor , William Schwendler , Jake Swirbul and Clint Towl .

FF-1 biplane

Grumman FF of the US Navy

Grumman initially manufactured floats for the US Navy . The first aircraft was the Grumman FF-1 , a biplane with retractable landing gear . The company established itself quickly and therefore moved to ever larger headquarters, first to Valley Stream , then to Farmingdale , in order to finally set up a plant just a few kilometers away in Bethpage in 1937 .

Second World War

Two F6F-3
E-2C Hawkeye

During World War II , Grumman supplied warplanes to the US Navy. The best known were the Grumman F4F Wildcat, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Grumman TBF Avenger. In order to continue to utilize production capacities after the end of the Second World War and the breakdown of military orders, the company opened up additional sales markets. Among other things, it took up the manufacture of aluminum canoes , with which Grumman temporarily achieved a dominant position in the market.

Grumman developed after the Second World War, a civilian business aircraft , the very successful Grumman Gulfstream I .

Lunar Module

Lunar Module Eagle (1969)

On December 7, 1962, the company received the order to develop and manufacture the lunar module for the Apollo program , 16 of which were built. With the end of the Apollo program, Grumman tried to handle further orders for NASA, such as the development of a new space shuttle, which, however , was realized by Rockwell .

In the 1960s, Grumman was also temporarily involved in marine research, including the production of the PX-15 Ben Franklin research submarine .

Warplanes

A-6E Intruder
F-14A Tomcat

Well-known developments of the 1960s and 1970s are the Grumman A-6 and the Grumman F-14 .

Business jet

Grumman Gulfstream II

On January 1, 1973, the company took over North American Aviation to form the Grumman American Aviation Corporation. This manufactured small touring planes like the Grumman American AA-1 or the AA-5 , but also business jets like the Grumman Gulfstream II . Already on September 1, 1978 Grumman sold this branch to American Jet Industries, from which the Gulfstream American Corporation emerged.

Northrop-Grumman

With the end of the Cold War and declining military spending, Grumman ran into financial difficulties. Therefore, the Grumman with the castle in 1994 Northrop Corporation together to Northrop Grumman to establish.

During the company's 65-year history, three different logos have been used:

See also

Web links

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