 | |
| Industry | Aircraft; aircraft parts and equipment; data processing and preparation; search and navigation equipment; truck and bus bodies; electrical equipment and supplies |
|---|---|
| Founded | December 6, 1929; 95 years ago (1929-12-06) |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | April 4, 1994 (1994-04-04) |
| Fate | Merged withNorthrop |
| Successors | |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people |
|
| Products | |
Number of employees | 23,000 (1986) |
| Subsidiaries |
|
TheGrumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, laterGrumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilianaircraft.[2] Founded on December 6, 1929, byLeroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 withNorthrop Corporation to formNorthrop Grumman.
Leroy Grumman worked for theLoening Aircraft Engineering Corporation beginning in 1920. In 1929,Keystone Aircraft Corporation bought Loening Aircraft and moved its operations fromNew York City toBristol, Pennsylvania. Grumman and three other ex-Loening Aircraft employees,[3] (Edmund Ward Poor,[4] William Schwendler, andJake Swirbul) started their own company in an oldCox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory inBaldwin onLong Island, New York.
The company registered as a business on December 6, 1929, and officially opened on January 2, 1930. While maintaining the business by welding aluminum tubing for truck frames, the company eagerly pursued contracts with theUS Navy.[3] Grumman designed the first practical floats with a retractable landing gear for the Navy, and this launched Grumman into the aviation market.[3] The first Grumman aircraft was also for the Navy, theGrumman FF-1, abiplane with retractablelanding gear developed atCurtiss Field in 1931.[3] This was followed by a number of other successful designs.[3]
DuringWorld War II, Grumman became known for its "Cats" (Navyfighter aircraft): theF4F Wildcat andF6F Hellcat, theGrumman F7F Tigercat andGrumman F8F Bearcat,[5] and also for itstorpedo bomber, theGrumman TBF Avenger.[6] Grumman ranked 22nd among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[7] Production of the majority of the Wildcats and Avenger was subcontracted to a purposely established division of General Motors : theEastern Aircraft Division. Grumman's firstjet aircraft was theF9F Panther; it was followed by the upgradedF9F/F-9 Cougar, and theF-11 Tiger in the 1950s. The company's big postwar successes came in the 1960s with theA-6 Intruder andE-2 Hawkeye and in the 1970s with theGrumman EA-6B Prowler andF-14 Tomcat. Grumman products were prominent in several feature movies includingThe Final Countdown in 1980,[8]Top Gun in 1986, andFlight of the Intruder in 1990.[9] The U.S. Navy still employs the Hawkeye as part of Carrier Air Wings on board aircraft carriers, while the U.S. Marine Corps, the last branch of service to fly the Prowler, retired it on March 8, 2019.[10]
Grumman was the chief contractor on theApollo Lunar Module, the first spacecraft to land humans on the Moon.[11] The firm received the contract on November 7, 1962, and built 13 lunar modules. Six of them successfully landed on the Moon, with one serving as a lifeboat onApollo 13, after an explosion crippled the main Apollo spacecraft. LM-2, a test article which never flew in space, is displayed permanently in theSmithsonian Institution.[12] As the Apollo program neared its end, Grumman was one of the main competitors for the contract to design and build theSpace Shuttle, but lost toRockwell International.[13]
In 1969, the company changed its name toGrumman Aerospace Corporation,[14] and in 1978 it sold the Grumman-American Division toGulfstream Aerospace.[15] That same year, it acquired the bus manufacturerFlxible. The company built theGrumman LLV (Long Life Vehicle), a light transport mail truck designed for and used by theUnited States Postal Service. The LLV was produced from 1987 until 1994. Its intended service life was 24 years, but some of them were still in service in 2020.[16] In 1983, Grumman sold Flxible for $40 million to General Automotive Corporation of Ann Arbor.[17]
In the 1950s, Grumman began production ofGulfstream business aircraft, starting with theGulfstream I turboprop (Grumman model G-159) and theGulfstream II jet (Grumman model G-1159). Gulfstream aircraft were operated by many companies, private individuals, and government agencies including various military entities andNASA. In addition, the Gulfstream I was operated by severalregional airlines in scheduled passenger services. TheGulfstream I-C (Grumman model G-159C) version was "stretched" to carry 37 passengers.
In the early 1970s, Grumman acquired majority interest in theAmerican Aviation line of very light aircraft -- relabeling its planes as "Grumman-American" or "Grumman American" -- eventually joining it with their Gulfstream division before selling off that combined enterprise in 1978.
In 1978, Grumman sold Gulfstream toAmerican Jet Industries, which adopted the Gulfstream name. Since 1999, Gulfstream has been a wholly owned subsidiary ofGeneral Dynamics.[18]
For much of the Cold War period, Grumman was the largest corporate employer onLong Island.[19] Grumman's products were considered so reliable and ruggedly built that the company was often referred to as the "Grumman Iron Works".[20]
As the company grew, it moved toValley Stream, New York, thenFarmingdale, New York, finally toits facility inBethpage, New York, with the testing and final assembly at the 6,000-acre (24 km2)Naval Weapons Station inCalverton, New York, all located on Long Island. At its peak in 1986 it employed 23,000 people on Long Island[21] 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.[22]
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 1994Northrop bought Grumman for $2.1 billion to formNorthrop Grumman,[22] after Northrop topped a $1.9 billion offer fromMartin Marietta.[23]
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 forCablevision and the Calverton plant being turned into a business/industrial complex. Former aircraft hangars have becomeGrumman Studios, a film and television production center. A portion of the airport property has been used for the Grumman Memorial Park.[9]
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grumman FF | 1931 | 116 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman JF Duck | 1933 | 48 | Single piston engine floatplane observation airplane |
| Grumman F2F | 1933 | 55 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman F3F | 1935 | 147 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman XSBF | 1936 | 1 | Prototype single piston engine dive bomber |
| Grumman J2F Duck | 1936 | 254 | Single piston engine floatplane observation airplane |
| Grumman G-21 Goose | 1937 | 345 | Twin piston engine flying boat |
| Grumman F4F Wildcat | 1937 | 2,605 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman G-44 Widgeon | 1940 | 276 | Twin piston engine flying boat |
| Grumman XF5F Skyrocket | 1940 | 1 | Prototype twin piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman XP-50 | 1941 | 1 | Prototype twin piston engine fighter |
| Grumman TBF Avenger | 1941 | 2,290 | Single piston engine torpedo bomber |
| Grumman F6F Hellcat | 1942 | 12,275 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman F7F Tigercat | 1943 | 364 | Twin piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman G-63 Kitten I | 1944 | 1 | Prototype single piston engine airplane |
| Grumman G-72 Kitten II | 1944 | 1 | Prototype single piston engine airplane |
| Grumman F8F Bearcat | 1944 | 1,265 | Single piston engine naval fighter |
| Grumman G-65 Tadpole | 1944 | 1 | Prototype single piston engine flying boat |
| Grumman AF Guardian | 1945 | 389 | Single piston engine anti-submarine warfare airplane |
| Grumman G-73 Mallard | 1946 | 59 | Twin piston engine flying boat |
| Grumman HU-16 Albatross | 1947 | 466 | Twin piston engine flying boat |
| Grumman F9F Panther | 1947 | 1,382 | Single jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman F9F-6 Cougar | 1951 | 1,988 | Single jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman XF10F Jaguar | 1952 | 1 | Prototype single jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman S-2 Tracker | 1952 | 1,184 or 1,185 | Twin piston engine anti-submarine warfare airplane |
| Grumman F11F Tiger | 1954 | 200 | Single jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman C-1 Trader | 1955 | 87 | Twin piston engine cargo airplane |
| Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger | 1956 | 1 | Prototype single jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman E-1 Tracer | 1956 | 88 | Twin piston engine airborne early warning airplane |
| Grumman G-164 Ag Cat | 1957 | 402[24] | Single piston engine agricultural airplane |
| Grumman G-159 Gulfstream I | 1958 | 200 | Twin turboprop engine business airplane |
| Grumman OV-1 Mohawk | 1959 | 380 | Twin turboprop engine observation airplane |
| Grumman A-6 Intruder | 1960 | 693 | Twin jet engine attack airplane |
| Grumman E-2 Hawkeye | 1960 | 122 | Twin turboprop engine airborne early warning airplane |
| Grumman American AA-1 | 1963 | 680+[a] | Single piston engine civil airplane |
| Grumman C-2 Greyhound | 1964 | 56 | Twin turboprop engine cargo airplane |
| General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B | 1965 | 7 | Prototype twin jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman G-1159 Gulfstream II | 1966 | 256 | Twin jet engine business airplane |
| Grumman EA-6B Prowler | 1968 | 170 | Twin jet engine electronic warfare airplane |
| Grumman American AA-5 | 1970 | >3,057[b] | Single piston engine civil airplane |
| Grumman F-14 Tomcat | 1970 | 712 | Twin jet engine naval fighter |
| Grumman American GA-7 Cougar | 1974 | ~1[c] | Twin piston engine civil airplane |
| General Dynamics–Grumman EF-111A Raven | 1977 | 42 | Twin jet engine electronic warfare airplane |
| Grumman X-29 | 1984 | 2 | Experimental single jet engine airplane |
| Grumman XJL | N/A | 0[d] | Single piston engine floatplane observation airplane |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
