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| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Predecessor | |
| Founded | Buffalo, New York, United States, 1923; 103 years ago (1923) |
| Founder | Reuben H. Fleet |
| Defunct | 1943; 83 years ago (1943) |
| Fate | Merged withVultee Aircraft |
| Successor | Convair |
| Headquarters | , United States of America |
Key people | Isaac M. Laddon |
| Parent | Aviation Corporation (1941–1943) |
| Subsidiaries | Consairway |
TheConsolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in1923 byReuben H. Fleet inBuffalo, New York, the result of theGallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from theDayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was being closed by its parent corporation,General Motors.[1] Consolidated became famous during the 1920s and 1930s for its line offlying boats. The most successful of the Consolidated patrol boats was thePBY Catalina, which was produced throughoutWorld War II and used extensively by the Allies. Equally famous was theB-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber which, like the Catalina, saw action in both thePacific andEuropean theaters.
In1943, Consolidated merged withVultee Aircraft to form Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft, later known asConvair. The Los Angeles-basedConsolidated Steel Corporation is not related.
Consolidated Aircraft (and later Convair) had their headquarters inSan Diego, California, on the border ofLindbergh Field (KSAN).
Consolidated's first design was one of those purchased by Fleet from Dayton-Wright, the TW-3 primary trainer, sold to the U.S. Army as thePT-1 Trusty. In September 1924 the company moved from the Gallaudet plant in Connecticut to new facilities inBuffalo, New York, and in the same year won a U.S. Navy contract for a naval version of the PT-1 designated theNY-1.[1]
Lawrence D. Bell served as the Operating Head at Consolidated from 1929 to 1934. When the company made plans to relocate to San Diego, Bell decided to stay behind to start up his own company, theBell Aircraft Corporation, in the former Consolidated plant.[2]
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In September 1935 Consolidated moved across the country to its new "Building 1", a 247,000-square-foot (22,900 m2) continuous flow factory in San Diego, California. The first productionPBY Catalina was launched in San Diego Bay in 1936,[3] and the firstXPB2Y-1 Coronado test aircraft made its first flight in 1937.[4] Consolidated vice presidentEdgar Gott was responsible for securing the company's contract to design and build theB-24 Liberator bomber.[5] TheXB-24 Liberator prototype made its first flight in December 1939, and the first production order was from the French in 1940, just days before their surrender to Germany; six of theseYB-24 Liberators were designated LB-30A and ferried to Britain.[6]
In 1940, Consolidated bought Hall-Aluminum Aircraft Corporation and dissolved the company. Archibald M. Hall was President of the company at the time and later became an executive of Consolidated. Several other Hall-Aluminum engineers and technical people were added to the Consolidated staff to meet defense production needs.[7] By the fall of 1941, Consolidated was San Diego's largest employer with 25,000 employees, which eventually expanded to 45,000 by the following year.[8][9]
In November 1941, Fleet sold his 34.26% interest in Consolidated for $10.9 million to Victor Emanuel, the president of theAviation Corporation (the future AVCO), with the idea that Consolidated would be merged with Aviation’s Vultee subsidiary.[6]
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To meet the needs of the military during World War II,General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold decided to open a regular air transport service between the U.S. mainland and the Southwest Pacific in April 1942. The Ferry Command chose Consolidated as the operating agency, forming Consolidated Airways, Inc., also known asConsairways. The airlines carried personnel, cargo and delivered aircraft to the Pacific Theatre. It was reported to have carried more than 101 million tons of cargo and had flown more than 299 million passenger miles when it closed in 1945.[10]
In1943, Consolidated merged withVultee Aircraft to form Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft orConvair.
In March 1953,General Dynamics purchased a majority interest in Convair, where it continued to produce aircraft or aircraft components until being sold toMcDonnell Douglas in 1994. McDonnell Douglas shut down the division after just two years of operations in 1996.
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consolidated PT-1 Trusty | 1923 | 221 | Single engine biplane trainer |
| Consolidated NY | 1925 | 302 | Single engine biplane trainer |
| Consolidated PT-3 | 1927 | 250 | Single engine biplane trainer |
| Consolidated O-17 Courier | 1927 | 35 | Single engine biplane observation airplane |
| Consolidated Commodore | 1928 | 14 | Twin engine monoplane flying boat airliner |
| Consolidated P2Y | 1929 | 78 | Twin engine monoplane flying boat patrol airplane |
| Consolidated Fleetster | 1929 | 26 | Single engine monoplane transport |
| Consolidated PT-11 | 1931 | 41 | Single engine biplane trainer |
| Consolidated XB2Y | 1933 | 1 | Single engine biplane dive bomber |
| Consolidated P-30 | 1934 | 60 | Single engine monoplane fighter |
| Consolidated PBY Catalina | 1936 | 1,871 | Twin engine monoplane flying boat patrol bomber |
| Consolidated PB2Y Coronado | 1937 | 217 | Four engine monoplane flying boat patrol bomber |
| Consolidated XP4Y Corregidor | 1939 | 1 | Prototype twin engine monoplane flying boat patrol airplane |
| Consolidated B-24 Liberator | 1939 | ~9,251 | Four engine monoplane heavy bomber |
| Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf | 1941 | 180 | Single engine monoplane torpedo bomber |
| Consolidated B-32 Dominator | 1942 | 118 | Four engine monoplane heavy bomber |
| Consolidated XB-41 Liberator | 1 | Prototype four engine monoplane bomber escort | |
| Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator | 977 | Four engine monoplane patrol bomber | |
| Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express | 287 | Four engine monoplane cargo airplane | |
| Consolidated C-109 | 218 | Four engine monoplane cargo airplane | |
| Consolidated Liberator I | 20 | Four engine monoplane heavy bomber | |
| Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer | 1944 | 739 | Four engine monoplane patrol bomber |
| Consolidated R2Y | 1944 | 1 | Prototype four engine monoplane cargo airplane |
| Consolidated XPB3Y | N/A | 0 | Unbuilt four engine monoplane flying boat patrol bomber |
