The
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
, later
Grumman Aerospace Corporation
, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian
aircraft
.
[2]
Founded on December 6, 1929, by
Leroy Grumman
and his business partners, it merged in 1994 with
Northrop Corporation
to form
Northrop Grumman
.
Grumman Corporation
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/77/Grumman.svg/220px-Grumman.svg.png) |
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
; 94 years ago
?(
1929-12-06
)
|
---|
Founders
| |
---|
Defunct
| April?4,?1994
?(
1994-04-04
)
|
---|
Fate
| Merged with
Northrop
|
---|
Successor
| Northrop Grumman
|
---|
Headquarters
| ,
U.S.
|
---|
Key people
| |
---|
Products
| |
---|
Number of employees
| 23,000?(1986)
|
---|
Subsidiaries
| - Grumman Aerospace Corp.
- Grumman Allied Industries, Inc.
- Grumman Data Systems Corp.
|
---|
Grumman historical marker
Leroy Grumman
worked for the
Loening Aircraft Engineering Corporation
beginning in 1920. In 1929,
Keystone Aircraft Corporation
bought Loening Aircraft and moved its operations from
New York City
to
Bristol, Pennsylvania
. Grumman and three other ex-Loening Aircraft employees,
[3]
(
Edmund Ward Poor
,
[4]
William Schwendler, and
Jake Swirbul
) started their own company in an old
Cox-Klemin
Aircraft Co. factory in
Baldwin
on
Long 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 the
US 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, the
Grumman FF-1
, a
biplane
with retractable
landing gear
developed at
Curtiss Field
in 1931.
[3]
This was followed by a number of other successful designs.
[3]
Grumman Corporation logo, ca. 1976
During
World War II
, Grumman became known for its "Cats" (Navy
fighter aircraft
): the
F4F Wildcat
and
F6F Hellcat
, the
Grumman F7F Tigercat
and
Grumman F8F Bearcat
,
[5]
and also for its
torpedo bomber
, the
Grumman TBF Avenger
.
[6]
Grumman ranked 22nd among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
[7]
Grumman's first
jet aircraft
was the
F9F Panther
; it was followed by the upgraded
F9F/F-9 Cougar
, and the
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 several feature movies including
The Final Countdown
in 1980,
[8]
Top Gun
in 1986, and
Flight 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]
Apollo Spacecraft: Apollo Lunar Module Diagram
Grumman was the chief contractor on the
Apollo 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 on
Apollo 13
, after an explosion crippled the main Apollo spacecraft. LM-2, a test article which never flew in space, is displayed permanently in the
Smithsonian Institution
.
[12]
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
.
[13]
In 1969, the company changed its name to
Grumman Aerospace Corporation
,
[14]
and in 1978 it sold the Grumman-American Division to
Gulfstream Aerospace
.
[15]
That same year, it acquired the bus manufacturer
Flxible
. The company built the
Grumman LLV
(Long Life Vehicle), a light transport mail truck designed for and used by the
United 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 of
Gulfstream
business aircraft, starting with the
Gulfstream I
turboprop (Grumman model G-159) and the
Gulfstream II
jet (Grumman model G-1159). Gulfstream aircraft were operated by many companies, private individuals, and government agencies including various military entities and
NASA
. In addition, the Gulfstream I was operated by several
regional airlines
in scheduled passenger services. The
Gulfstream I-C
(Grumman model G-159C) version was "stretched" to carry 37 passengers.
In the early 1970s, Grumman acquired majority interest in the
American 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 to
American Jet Industries
, which adopted the Gulfstream name. Since 1999, Gulfstream has been a wholly owned subsidiary of
General Dynamics
.
[18]
Long Island locations
edit
F-14 Tomcat
at Grumman Memorial Park,
Calverton, New York
Grumman's former headquarters in Bethpage, now
Altice USA
(formerly
Cablevision
) headquarters
For much of the Cold War period, Grumman was the largest corporate employer on
Long 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 to
Valley Stream, New York
, then
Farmingdale, New York
, finally to
its facility in
Bethpage, New York
, with the testing and final assembly at the 6,000-acre (24?km
2
)
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
[21]
and occupied 6,000,000 square feet (560,000?m
2
) in structures on 105 acres (0.42?km
2
) 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 1994
Northrop
bought Grumman for $2.1 billion to form
Northrop Grumman
,
[22]
after Northrop topped a $1.9 billion offer from
Martin 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 for
Cablevision
and the Calverton plant being turned into a business/industrial complex. Former aircraft hangars have become
Grumman Studios
, a film and television production center. A portion of the airport property has been used for the Grumman Memorial Park.
[9]
- ^
Although a Grumman American design, most aircraft were built by Gulfstream American.
- ^
Although a Grumman design, all three aircraft were built by Columbia.
- ^
"Corwin H. Meyer, Grumman Test Pilot"
(PDF)
.
The Golden Eagles
. Retrieved
December 14,
2021
.
- ^
Wragg, David W. (1973).
A Dictionary of Aviation
(first?ed.). Osprey. p.?146.
ISBN
9780850451634
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Jordan, Corey C.
"Grumman's Ascendency: Chapter One."
Archived
November 3, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
Planes and Pilots Of World War 2,
2000. Retrieved: July 22, 2011.
- ^
"Air Warfare".
An International Encyclopedia
, Volume Two, M-Z, Volume 1, pp. 270?271.
- ^
Nicklas, Brian (September 2006).
"The Grumman Cats"
. Air Space Magazine
. Retrieved
April 19,
2020
.
- ^
"Grumman TBM Avenger"
.
Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
. Retrieved
April 19,
2020
.
- ^
Peck, Merton J.
&
Scherer, Frederic M.
The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis
(1962)
Harvard Business School
p.619
- ^
Stephen A. Riffin (June 1, 2005).
Aviation's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Winged Wonders, Lucky Landings, and Other Aerial Oddities
. p.?294.
ISBN
9781574886740
. Retrieved
April 18,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Stark, Ian J. (March 29, 2018).
"Grumman Studios: Secrets and fun facts"
.
Newsday
. Archived from
the original
on August 1, 2020
. Retrieved
April 17,
2020
.
- ^
"EA-6B Prowler, one of the saltiest warfighters in the Marine Corps, retires"
, "MarineTimes"
- ^
"Apollo Spacecraft: News Reference"
(PDF)
.
NASA
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Lunar Module"
.
Cradle of Aviation Museum
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
Astronautics and Aeronautics: Chronology of Science, Technology, and Policy
. 1972. p.?339
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Grumman Aerospace Corporation | American Company"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
Thomas, Joel (May 19, 2014).
"History of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation"
. Retrieved
January 5,
2016
.
- ^
Gastelu, Gary.
"$6.3 billion delivery: New U.S. Postal Service truck to be picked this year"
.
Fox News
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Grumman to Sell Troubled Bus Unit"
.
The New York Times
. December 22, 1982
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
"History"
. Gulfstream News
. Retrieved
April 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Facts You Didn't Know About Long Island Businesses"
.
Newsday
. Newsday
. Retrieved
January 28,
2019
.
- ^
Skrula and Gregory 2004
- ^
"Long Islanders Shocked by Grumman's Merger."
The New York Times,
March 8, 1994.
- ^
a
b
Shaman, Diana (December 28, 1997).
"Commercial Property/Selling Off Northrop Grumman's Surplus; Cablevision Takes Last of the Grumman Buildings"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
June 24,
2024
.
- ^
"Northrop Bests Martin Marietta to Buy Grumman."
The New York Times,
April 5, 1994.
- ^
"Ag-Cats in the Military"
.
Gene Soucy Airshows
. Retrieved
February 1,
2021
.
- ^
Library, Beth OljaceAnderson Public.
"Howe Fire Apparatus had know-Howe"
.
Herald Bulletin
. Retrieved
March 9,
2019
.
- ^
"Paddling a Canoe to Success."
Newsday.
Retrieved: May 15, 2009.
- ^
"Marathon BoatGroup: About Us."
Archived
May 21, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
Marathonboat.com
. Retrieved: May 15, 2009.
- ^
"Marathon Boat Group - Sportboat"
. Marathon Boat
. Retrieved
April 17,
2020
.
- ^
"History - Flxible Owners International"
. Flxible Owners International
. Retrieved
April 17,
2020
.
- ^
"Deep Sea Sub Story"
.
NASA
. July 16, 2004
. Retrieved
April 17,
2020
.
- ^
Stu Mills (July 12, 2017).
"Aging delivery trucks poisoning us, postal workers claim"
.
CBC Canada
. Retrieved
April 17,
2020
.
- Ferguson, Robert G. "One Thousand Planes a Day: Ford, Grumman, General Motors and the Arsenal of Democracy."
History and Technology
, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2005.
- Fetherston, Drew.
"Pioneers on the Runway: Raising Grumman."
LI History.com
, Grumman Park. Retrieved: March 18, 2009.
- Kessler, Pamela. "Leroy Grumman, Sky King."
The Washington Post
(Weekend)
, October 11, 1985.
- O'Leary, Michael, ed. "Leroy Grumman."
Air Classics
, Volume 19, no. 2, February 1983, pp.?27?29.
- Skurla, George M. and William H. Gregory.
Inside the Iron Works: How Grumman's Glory Days Faded
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004.
ISBN
978-1-55750-329-9
.
- Tillman, Barrett.
Hellcat: The F6F in World War II
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001.
ISBN
0-87021-265-6
.
- Thruelsen, Richard.
The Grumman Story
. New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc., 1976.
ISBN
0-275-54260-2
.
- Treadwell, Terry.
Ironworks: Grumman's Fighting Aeroplanes
. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishers, 1990.
ISBN
1-85310-070-6
.