HISTORY

Kaman Aircraft is a U.S. aerospace company, with headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1945 by Charles Kaman. During the first ten years the company operated exclusively as a designer and manufacturer of several helicopters that set world records and achieved many aviation firsts.

In 1956, Kaman began to diversify as an aerospace subcontractor of McDonnell Douglas, Grumman and others. In the mid-1960s Kaman diversified outside of the aerospace industry, using the expertise Kaman had gained in composite materials and the end of the need for skilled woodworkers to craft wooden rotor blades.   In 1976 Kaman designs and begins manufacturing the K-747 blade, the world's first production all-composite rotor blade for the Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopter. Total production exceeds 4,000 blades.

Charles Kaman, a guitarist as well as an aerospace pioneer, worked with his engineers and other musicians to create the round-backed, composite-body Ovation guitar, which revolutionized the guitar industry and led to the eventual creation of Kaman Music. Kaman Music is an independent distributor of musical instruments and accessories, and a major producer of guitars and guitar parts and accessories. 

In June 2008 Kaman acquired Brookhouse Holdings Limited, a world leading composite development company based in the UK, and renames it Kaman Composites UK Ltd.

On April 19, 2024, it was announced that Arcline Investment Management, L.P. had completed its purchase of Kaman Corporation for approximately $1.8 billion.

Source: Wikipedia