Glenn Curtiss started US Naval Aviation by
training pilots and providing
aircraft. The first major order was
for 144 various subtypes of the
Model F trainer flying boat. In
1914 Curtiss lured B. Douglas Thomas
from Sopwith to design the Model J
trainer, which led to the JN-4.
With
the onset of World War I, military
orders rose sharply, and Curtiss
needed to expand quickly. In 1916
the company moved its headquarters
and most manufacturing activities to
Buffalo, New York, where there was
far greater access to
transportation, manpower,
manufacturing, and much needed
capital. An ancillary operation was
begun in Toronto, Ontario that was
involved in both production and
training, setting up the first
flying school in Canada in 1915.
The Curtiss
Aeroplane and Motor Company worked
with the United States' British and
Canadian Allies. JN-4s were built in
Canada, and many were used as
trainers in England. In order
to complete the large military
orders for the Curtiss Jenny
two-seat biplane trainer, production
shifted to as many as five other
manufacturers.
The Curtiss
HS-2L flying boat was used
extensively in the war for
anti-submarine patrols. Bases were
built in Nova Scotia, Canada, France
and Portugal for the purpose. The
Royal Navy and Curtiss worked
together to design flying boats;
this culminated with the NC-4, the
first aircraft to fly across the
Atlantic Ocean, in 1919. The Curtiss
Aeroplane and Motor Company became
the largest aircraft manufacturer in
the world during World War I,
employing 18,000 in Buffalo and
3,000 in Hammondsport, New York.
Curtiss produced 10,000 aircraft
during that war, and more than 100
in a single week.
Peace
brought cancellation of wartime
contracts. In September 1920, the
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
underwent a financial reorganization
and Glenn Curtiss cashed out his
stock in the company for $32 million
and retired to Florida. He
continued as a director of the
company but served only as an
advisor on design. Clement M. Keys
gained control of the company and it
later became the nucleus of a large
group of aviation companies.
Curtiss
seaplanes won the Schneider Cup in
two consecutive races, those of 1923
and 1925. The 1923 race was won by
U.S. Navy Lieutenant David
Rittenhouse flying a Curtiss C.R.3
to 177.266 miles per hour (285.282
km/h).
Piloted by US Army Lt. Cyrus K.
Bettis, a Curtiss R3C won the
Pulitzer Trophy Race on October 12,
1925, at a speed of 248.9 miles per
hour (400.6 km/h).
Thirteen days later, Jimmy Doolittle
won the Schneider in the same
aircraft fitted with floats.
Doolittle finished first with a top
speed of 232.573 miles per hour
(374.290 km/h).
Curtiss-Wright
came into existence
on July 5, 1929, the result of a
merger of 12 companies associated
with Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor
Company of Buffalo, New York, and
Wright Aeronautical of Dayton, Ohio,
and was headquartered in Buffalo,
New York. With $75 million in
capital, it was the largest aviation
company in the country.
There were three main divisions: the
Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division,
which manufactured airframes; the
Wright Aeronautical Corporation,
which produced aeronautical engines;
and the Curtiss-Wright Propeller
Division, which manufactured
propellers. After 1929, most engines
produced by the new company were
known as Wrights, while most
aircraft were given the Curtiss
name, with a few exceptions.
Throughout
the 1930s, Curtiss-Wright designed
and built aircraft for military,
commercial, and private markets. But
it was the Wright engine division
and the longstanding relationship
with the US military that would help
the company through the difficult
years of the Great Depression. In
1937, the company developed the P-36
fighter aircraft, resulting in the
largest peacetime aircraft order
ever given by the Army Air Corps.
Curtiss-Wright also sold the P-36
abroad, where they were used in the
early days of World War II.
During
World War II, Curtiss-Wright
produced 142,840 aircraft engines,
146,468 electric propellers and
29,269 airplanes.
During this period, it became the
second largest company in the United
States, employed 180,000 workers,
and had an annual revenue surpassing
$1 billion for two consecutive years
(behind only General Motors).
Aircraft
production included almost 14,000
P-40 fighters, made famous by their
use by Claire Chennault's Flying
Tigers in China, over 3,000 C-46
Commando transport aircraft, and
later in the war, over 7,000 SB2C
Helldivers. Its most visible success
came with the P-40, variously known
as the Tomahawk, Kittyhawk, and
Warhawk, which were built between
1940 and 1944 at the main production
facility in Buffalo, New York. Along
with the Buffalo plant, major
aircraft production was at Columbus,
Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and
Louisville, Kentucky. Engine and
propeller production was at plants
in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Ohio.
In May 1942,
the U.S. government assigned
Curtiss-Wright a defense production
factory for wartime aircraft
construction at Louisville,
Kentucky, to produce the C-76
Caravan cargo plane, which was
constructed mostly of wood, a
non-priority war material. However,
after difficulties with the C-76
(including a crash of a production
model in mid-1943), as well as the
realization that sufficient
quantities of aluminum aircraft
alloys would be available for war
production, plans for large-scale
C-76 production were rejected.
The Louisville plant was converted
to C-46 Commando production,
eventually delivering 438 Commandos
to supplement the roughly 2,500
C-46s produced at Buffalo. The C-46
cargo plane was fitted with two
powerful radial engines, and could
carry more cargo at higher altitudes
than any other Allied aircraft.
Consequently, it was used
extensively in the China-Burma-India
Theater.
The
Curtiss-Wright Corporation
was the largest aircraft
manufacturer in the United States at
the end of World War II, but has
evolved to largely become a
component manufacturer, specializing
in actuators, aircraft controls,
valves, and metal treatment.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
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