 | |
| Founded | 1934 |
|---|---|
| Founder | T. Claude Ryan |
| Defunct | 1969/1999 |
| Fate | Merged withTeledyne |
| Successor | Northrop Grumman |
| Headquarters | San Diego, California |
TheRyan Aeronautical Company was founded byT. Claude Ryan inSan Diego, California, in 1934. It became part ofTeledyne in 1969, and ofNorthrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovativeV/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft was theRyan Firebee line of unmanned drones used astarget drones andunmanned air vehicles.[1]
In 1922, T.C. Ryan founded a flying service in San Diego that would lead to several aviation ventures bearing the Ryan name, includingRyan Airline Company founded in 1925.[2]
T.C. Ryan, whose previous companies were best known for buildingCharles Lindbergh's transatlanticSpirit of St. Louis, actually had no part in building the famous aircraft.[3][4][5][6][7][8] Ryan had been owner or partner in several previous companies, one of which also bore the name Ryan Aeronautical. TheSpirit of St. Louis was not built by the final Ryan Aeronautical entity.[9]
The new company's first aircraft was theS-T Sport Trainer,[10] a low-wing tandem-seat monoplane with a 95 hp (71 kW)Menasco B-4 Piratestraight-4 engine. Five were built before production switched to theRyan ST-A Aerobatic with a more powerful 125 hp (93 kW)Menasco C-4 in 1935. This aircraft now had enough power for aerobatic display, and it won the 1937 International Aerobatic Championships. A further improved ST-A Special was built in 1936, with a supercharged 150 hp (110 kW)Menasco C-4S.
In 1937 and 1938, a second civilian aircraft model was introduced, theS-C Sport Coupe, or SC-W with a 145 hp (108 kW)Warner Super Scarab radial engine. The SC-W was a larger three-seater aircraft with a sliding canopy and side-by-side front seating. The prototype SC-M was originally powered by aMenasco C-4 inline engine, however testing revealed that more power was needed. Thirteen examples of the SC-W were built, although the last one was assembled from surplus parts decades after the initial production run was finished.
Interest from theUnited States Army Air Corps followed. The Menasco engines proved unreliable, and instead Kinnerradial engines were fitted. Aircraft were produced as the PT-16 (15 built); PT-20 (30 built); PT-21 (100 USAAF, 100 USN); and finally as the definitivePT-22 Recruit (1,048 built) ordered in 1941 as pilot training began its rapid expansion.
Ryan also pioneeredSTOL techniques in itsYO-51 Dragonfly liaison and observation craft, but only three were built.[11]
TheRyan FR Fireball is an American mixed-power (piston and jet-powered) fighter aircraft designed by Ryan Aeronautical for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the Navy's first aircraft with a jet engine. Only 66 aircraft were built before Japan surrendered in August 1945. The FR-1 Fireball equipped a single squadron before the war's end, but did not see combat.
In the immediate postwar years, Ryan bought the rights to theNavionlight aircraft fromNorth American Aviation, selling it to both military and civilian customers.[11]: 222–225
Ryan became involved in the missile and unmanned aircraft fields, developing theRyan Firebee unmanned target drone, theRyan Firebird (the first American air-to-air missile) among others, as well as a number of experimental and research aircraft.
Ryan acquired a 50% stake inContinental Motors Corporation, the aircraft-engine builder, in 1965.[12]
In the 1950s, Ryan was a pioneer in jet vertical flight with theX-13 Vertijet, a tail-sitting jet with a delta wing which was not used in production designs. In the early 1960s, Ryan built theXV-5 Vertifan for the U.S. Army, which used wing- and nose-mounted lift vanes forV/STOL vertical flight. Other RyanV/STOL designs included theVZ-3 Vertiplane.[11]: 226–235
Ryan developed the highly accurate radar system used on theApollo Lunar Module.[11]: 237–238
In 1968, the company was acquired byTeledyne for $128 million and a year later became a wholly owned subsidiary of that company as Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Company.[11]: 237
Northrop Grumman purchased Teledyne Ryan in 1999, with the products continuing to form the core of that firm's unmanned aerial vehicle efforts.
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan M-1 | 1926 | 36 | Mail plane |
| Ryan ST,PT-22 Recruit | 1934 | 1994 | Trainer |
| Ryan S-C | 1937 | 14 | Light passenger aircraft |
| Ryan YO-51 Dragonfly | 1940 | 3 | STOL scout |
| Ryan FR Fireball | 1944 | 66 | Piston-jet fighter |
| Ryan XF2R Dark Shark | 1946 | 1 | Turboprop fighter |
| Ryan Navion | 1948 | 1202 | Light passenger aircraft; military liaison |
| Ryan X-13 Vertijet | 1955 | 2 | Experimental vertical takeoff |
| Ryan Firebee | 1955 | xx | Target drone |
| Ryan VZ-3 Vertiplane | 1959 | 1 | Experimental V/STOL |
| Ryan Model 147 | 1960s | Drone | |
| Ryan XV-8 | 1961 | 1 | Flex wing |
| Ryan XV-5 Vertifan | 1964 | 2 | VTOL |
| Ryan AQM-91 Firefly | 1968 | 28 | Reconnaissance drone |
| Ryan YQM-98 | 1974 | Reconnaissance drone | |
| Teledyne Ryan Scarab | 1988 | Reconnaissance drone | |
| Teledyne Ryan 410 | 1988 | Reconnaissance drone | |
| BQM-145 Peregrine | 1992 | Reconnaissance drone |
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