Grumman - Grumman Aerospace

The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and partners, its independent existence ended in 1994 when it was acquired by Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.

History

Leroy Grumman and others worked for the Loening Aircraft Engineering Corporation in the 1920s, but when it was bought by Keystone Aircraft Corporation and the operations moved from New York City to Bristol, Pennsylvania, Grumman and his partners (Edmund Ward Poor, William Schwendler, Jake Swirbul, and Clint Towl) started their own company in an old Cox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory in Baldwin on Long Island, New York. All of the early Grumman employees were former Loening employees. The company was named for Grumman because he was its largest investor.

The company filed as a business on December 5, 1929, and opened its doors on January 2, 1930. Keeping busy by welding aluminum tubing for truck frames, the company eagerly pursued contracts with the US Navy. Grumman designed the first practical floats with a retractable landing gear for the Navy, and this launched Grumman into the aviation market. The first Grumman aircraft was also for the Navy, the Grumman FF-1, a biplane with retractable landing gear. This was followed by a number of other successful designs.

During World War II, Grumman became known for its "Cats", Navy fighter aircraft, F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, and the less well known Grumman F7F Tigercat and Grumman F8F Bearcat (neither of which saw combat during World War II), and for its torpedo bomber TBF Avenger. Grumman ranked 22nd among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. Grumman's first jet aircraft was the F9F Panther; it was followed by the upgraded F9F/F-9 Cougar, and the less well known F-11 Tiger in the 1950s. The company's big postwar successes came in the 1960s with the A-6 Intruder and E-2 Hawkeye and in the 1970s with the Grumman EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat. Grumman products were prominent in the film Top Gun and numerous World War II naval and Marine Corps aviation films. The U.S. Navy still employs the Hawkeye as part of Carrier Air Wings on board aircraft carriers, and the U.S. Marine Corps still operates the Prowler as of 2016.

Grumman was the chief contractor on the Apollo Lunar Module that landed men on the moon. The firm received the contract on November 7, 1962, and built 13 lunar modules. As the Apollo program neared its end, Grumman was one of the main competitors for the contract to design and build the Space Shuttle, but lost to Rockwell International. The company ended up involved in the shuttle program nonetheless, as a subcontractor to Rockwell, providing the wings and vertical stabilizer sections.

In 1969 the company changed its name to Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and in 1978 it sold the Grumman-American Division to Gulfstream Aerospace. The company built the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV), a light transport mail truck designed for and used by the United States Postal Service. The LLV entered service in 1986.

Grumman was responsible for a successful line of business aircraft including the Gulfstream I turboprop (Grumman model G-159) and Gulfstream II business jet (Grumman model G-1159) which were operated by a number of companies and private individuals as well as by government agencies including various military entities and NASA. In addition, the Gulfstream I propjet was operated by several commuter/regional airlines in scheduled passenger services and included a stretched version, being the Gulfstream I-C (Grumman model G-159C) which could transport 37 passengers. Gulfstream business jets continue to be currently manufactured by Gulfstream Aerospace which is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Long Island location

For much of the Cold War period Grumman was the largest corporate employer on Long Island. Grumman's products were considered so reliable and ruggedly built that the company was often referred to as the "Grumman Iron Works".

As the company grew, it moved to Valley Stream, New York, then Farmingdale, New York, finally to Bethpage, New York, with the testing and final assembly at the 6,000-acre (24 km²) Naval Weapons Station in Calverton, New York, all located on Long Island. At its peak in 1986 it employed 23,000 people on Long Island and occupied 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m²) in structures on 105 acres (0.42 km²) it leased from the U.S. Navy in Bethpage.

The end of the Cold War at the beginning of the 1990s reduced defense spending and led to a wave of mergers as aerospace companies shrank in number; in 1994 Northrop bought Grumman for $2.1 billion to form Northrop Grumman, after Northrop topped a $1.9 billion offer from Martin Marietta.

The new company closed almost all of its facilities on Long Island and converted the Bethpage plant to a residential and office complex, with its headquarters becoming the corporate headquarters for Cablevision and the Calverton plant being turned into an airport developed by Riverhead, New York. A portion of the airport property has been used for the Grumman Memorial Park. Northrop Grumman's remaining business at the Bethpage campus is the "Battle Management and Engagement Systems Division", which employs around 2,000 people.

Products

Aircraft

• The "Cats"
  • Grumman F4F Wildcat
  • Grumman F6F Hellcat
  • Grumman F7F Tigercat
  • Grumman F8F Bearcat
  • Grumman F9F Panther
  • Grumman F9F, F-9 Cougar
  • Grumman XF10F Jaguar
  • Grumman F-11 Tiger
  • Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger
  • Grumman F-14 Tomcat
• Other fighter aircraft
  • Grumman FF1
  • Grumman F2F
  • Grumman F3F
  • Grumman XF5F Skyrocket
  • Grumman XP-50
  • General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B
  • Grumman G-118
• Amphibious
  • Columbia XJL
  • Grumman JF Duck
  • Grumman J2F Duck
  • Grumman G-21 Goose some modified as Super or Turbo Goose
  • Grumman G-44 Widgeon
  • Grumman G-73 Mallard
  • Grumman HU-16 Albatross (Coast Guard UF-1/UF-2, Navy U-16, Civilian G-111)
• Attack
  • Grumman A-6 Intruder
• Bomber
  • Grumman XSBF
  • Grumman TBF Avenger
  • Grumman XTB2F
  • Grumman XTSF
• Electronic warfare aircraft
  • Grumman EA-6B Prowler
  • General Dynamicsâ€"Grumman EF-111A Raven
• Other aircraft
  • Grumman AF Guardian
  • Grumman C-1 Trader
  • Grumman E-1 Tracer
  • Grumman S-2 Tracker
  • Grumman E-2 Hawkeye
  • Grumman C-2 Greyhound
  • Grumman OV-1 Mohawk
  • Grumman X-29
• Civilian
  • Grumman Gulfstream I
  • Grumman Gulfstream II
  • Grumman American AA-1 (1971â€"76)
  • Grumman American AA-1B Trainer (1971â€"76)
  • Grumman American AA-5 Traveler (1972â€"75)
  • Grumman American AA-5A Cheetah (1976â€"79)
  • Grumman American AA-5B Tiger (1975â€"79)
  • Grumman American Cougar
  • Grumman Ag Cat
  • Grumman Kitten
  • Grumman G-65 Tadpole

Spacecraft

• Space
  • Apollo Lunar Module

Other products

• Grumman Olson built aluminum truck bodies, known as stepvans. Under the Grumman Olson brand it made the P-600 and P-6800 step vans for UPS.
• Grumman manufactured fire engines under the name Firecat and aerial tower trucks under the Aerialcat name. The company entered the fire apparatus business in 1976 with its purchase of Howe Fire Apparatus and ended operations in 1992.
• Grumman canoes were developed in 1944 as World War II was winding down. Company executive William Hoffman used the company's aircraft aluminum to replace the traditional wood design. The canoes had a reputation for being sturdier, lighter and stronger than their wood counterparts and had a considerable market share. Grumman moved its boat making division to Marathon, New York in 1952.

Outboard Marine Corp. bought the division in 1990 and produced the last Grumman-brand canoe in 1996. Shortly thereafter former Grumman executives formed the Marathon Boat Group to produce the canoes. In 2000 the Group worked out an agreement with Northrop Grumman to sell the canoes using Grumman name and logo. The Grumman canoes with its logo are used in the film Deliverance.

• After Grumman took over Howe Fire Apparatus, the fire trucks were rebranded Grumman.
• Grumman sport boat
• Grumman-Flxible 870 transit buses (1978â€"1982)
• Ben Franklin (PX-15), a science submarine
• Grumman LLV postal vehicle widely used by the United States Postal Service and Canada Post
• In 1984 Grumman leased the first superconducting MRI in Manhattan to East River Medical Imaging then known as S-K Magnetic Resonance Imaging, P.C.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 11. St. James Press, 1995 (via fundinguniverse.com)
• Grumman profile on Aerofiles.com
• Grumman Memorial Park History Center
• WW2DB: Grumman aircraft of WW2
• 1994 Aerial photograph of Bethpage Headquarters, including intact runways
• Grumman Firecat on multimedia gallery
• Archived 2007 Newsday article on decline of Grumman