The First U.S. Aircraft Manufacturing Companies

The second decade of the twentieth century marked the beginning of the U.S. aircraft industry. Growth was slow though and companies remained small until the United States started supporting the needs generated by World War I. The war provided the impetus for the creation of several fledgling companies and the growth of already-existing companies.

The honor of organizing the first aircraft factory in the United States may belong to Edson Gallaudet, who, in 1908, organized the first aircraft engineering office, which the modern General Dynamics Corporation claims as its ancestor. In 1910, he established Gallaudet Engineering Company to build planes under contract. He reorganized as the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation in 1917. Its first mass production craft was the 1918 production of Curtiss floatplanes. The DB-1 and DB-1B, built after the war and planned as day bombers, never reached the production stage. The company was sold to Major Reuben Fleet of the newly formed Consolidated Aircraft in 1923.

The Burgess Company (originally called Burgess Company and Curtis, Inc.—after Greely S. Curtis) was the first licensed aircraft manufacturer in the United States. On February 1, 1911, it received authorization to build Wright aircraft in the United States. Burgess fitted some Wright planes with pontoons, proceeding to run afoul of Wright's patent rules, which permitted only exact copies of Wright aircraft.

The company provided seaplanes and other aircraft to the military. The first tractor biplane procured by the U.S. military was a Burgess H. In September 1913, a Burgess seaplane was delivered to the Signal Corps in the Philippines where it was used in its flying school. A Burgess-Wright biplane was used in December 1914 to demonstrate air-to-ground radio communications.

When Curtis withdrew his interest in 1914, the company was renamed the Burgess Company. Burgess merged into the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (begun by Glenn Curtiss) in 1916, and Curtiss acquired all Burgess stock.

The company founded by William T. and Oliver W. Thomas made a major contribution to the war effort. Born and educated in England, the brothers moved to Hammondsport, New York, and founded the Thomas Brothers Company in November 1909. In 1912, they incorporated the Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company in Bath, New York, and began manufacturing aircraft.

The company moved to Ithaca, New York, at the end of the 1914, where it built 24 Thomas T-2 biplanes for the Royal Naval Air Service and 15 similar aircraft with floats instead of wheeled landing gear, designated the SH-4, for the U.S. Navy in 1915 and 1916. The company also built two two-seat, open-cockpit biplanes designated the D-5 for evaluation by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

On January 31, 1917, the need for a larger plant and more capital led Thomas Brothers to merge with the Morse Chain Company and form the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation. The new company trained many U.S. and Canadian fliers and developed new planes including the compact Thomas Morse S-4 single-seat advanced trainer. The company produced almost 600 S-4s with either Gnome or Le Rhone rotary engines and a model with twin floats, the S-5, for the Navy.

Thomas-Morse then began to design fighter aircraft—the MB-1, 2, and 3 biplane. The MB-3, powered by a 300-horsepower (224-kilowatt) Wright-Hispano engine, was considered the most capable. After evaluation of two MB-3 prototypes, the company built 50 production aircraft. Boeing built 200 improved MB-3As for Thomas-Morse, some which were converted later to advanced trainers and designated MB-3M. One MB-3 was converted for use as a racing aircraft with the designation MB-6. During this time, the company's workforce reached more than 1,200 employees, and it became one of the leading manufacturers in the country.

The industry pioneer Grover Loening was the first person to earn a degree in aeronautical engineering, graduating from Columbia University in 1910. He joined the Wright Company in 1913, but frustrated by Orville Wright's leadership style, left to become chief aeronautical engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps in San Diego, California. He improved the Curtiss and Wright training planes and persuaded Glenn Martin to develop a trainer for the Navy that would be the source of Martin's success.

Loening helped organize and manage the new Sturtevant Aircraft Company, formed in July 1915, and developed some original designs. When the war began, he launched Loening Aeronautical, primarily focused on naval aviation. His first design, the Kitten, was intended as a naval scout airplane but turned into the M-8, one of the first U.S. fighters.

New York businessman Inglis M. Uppercu founded the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company in New Jersey in March 1914. Initially the Boland Aeroplane Company, Uppercu renamed the firm Aeromarine when Boland died in a crash and his widow sold Uppercu control. Uppercu developed the Boland designs and later contributed to the flying-boat field. A military order enabled Aeromarine to begin mass production. Aeromarine employed 900 employees at the war's peak, and produced some 300 aircraft during the war.

Glenn Martin was one of the most successful aircraft pioneers. He began his aviation career in Santa Ana, California, building his first successful plane in 1909 and performing as the "Flying Dude."

In 1911, Martin organized the Glenn L. Martin Company, which was officially established on August 16, 1912. He moved to Los Angeles where he beat out competitors Wright and Curtiss to win orders for his Model TT tractor-engine trainer from the U.S. Signal Corps and delivered 17 military trainers in 1914. In 1915, Martin hired Donald Douglas, who would soon start his own successful aircraft company, as chief engineer.

On August 7, 1916, the Wright Company approached Martin about merging. Martin accepted the offer, and in September 1916, the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company was formed. But Martin was unhappy with the company, and after a short time, left it and established the second Glenn L. Martin Company on September 10, 1917, at Cleveland, Ohio, rejoined by Douglas.

Toward the end of World War I, the Army asked Martin to develop a bomber aircraft that would be superior to the Handley Page 0/400, His MB-1 met the requirements, and Martin received an initial order for 50 Martin MB-1 bombers on January 17, 1918, reduced to 10 planes when the war ended. This was the first of the large bombers that would distinguish Martin's career as an aircraft manufacturer.

The L-W-F Company was founded in December 1915. The company was named after its founders, Edward Lowe, Jr., Charles Willard, and Robert Fowler, and some think also for the laminated wood fuselage it developed. L-W-F pioneered the monocoque fuselage in the United States, a major improvement over earlier open fuselages.

The Boeing Company would be the most successful company to get its start in the World War I era. William Boeing began in the lumber business in Seattle in 1903. On July 4, 1914, Bill and his friend Navy Lieutenant Conrad Westervelt had their first plane ride—on a rickety structure piloted by a barnstormer. The ride convinced the two that they could build a better plane. Boeing took flying lessons and bought his own Martin plane. The two built their first plane—a seaplane called the B&W—and Boeing formed his own company, Pacific Aero Products Company, soon to become the Boeing Airplane Company. It would grow to be one of the most successful U.S. companies in history.

The Loughead brothers, Allan and Malcolm, also would build a giant of the industry after several false starts in the early days of aviation. Two early flying enthusiasts, the brothers formed their first company, the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company, in 1912. They couldn't find a customer for their first plane, the Model G floatplane, but didn't give up. Moving to San Francisco, they formed the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company in 1916. Their first effort was the 10-passenger F-1 seaplane, which debuted on March 29, 1918. It was an instant success, but the end of the war destroyed their market. The business survived for a while by building two Curtiss HS-2L flying boats and by working as a subcontractor. Nevertheless, the company went bankrupt in 1921.

Of these early companies, most would disappear, either leaving the business completely or being subsumed by other companies. However, a few would grow to become giants in the industry.

—Judy Rumerman

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