HISTORY
Alexander
Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky
(June 7, 1894 – August 24, 1974) was
a Russian-American
aviation
pioneer, inventor, and influential
advocate of strategic air power.
In 1927, Seversky became a
naturalized citizen of the United
States.
Using the $50,000 from the
sale of his bombsight to the
U. S. Government, Seversky
founded the Seversky Aero
Corporation in 1923.
Concentrating on making
aircraft parts and
instruments, the small
company was unable to
survive the stock market
crash of 1929. On February
16, 1931, with the backing
of Wall Street millionaire
Edward Moore and other
investors, he resurrected
the enterprise as the new
Seversky Aircraft
Corporation in Long Island,
New York.
Moving into the former EDO
Corporation's float plane
factory at College Point,
Long Island, Seversky's
patents were the primary
assets of the new company.
Resolved to invest in
research and design rather
than relying on
licence-manufacturing, many
of Seversky Aircraft's
designers were Russian and
Georgian engineers,
including Chief Engineer
Michael Gregor and Alexander
Kartveli. Along with
Seversky, the designers
embarked on an advanced
all-metal, multi-place
monoplane amphibian, the
SEV-3. This ground-breaking
design would go on to set
numerous speed records at
the 1933–1939 National Air
Races, often piloted by
Seversky himself, who was
the company's greatest
"pitchman". On September 15,
1935, flying at a speed just
over 230 mph, Seversky set a
world speed record for
piston-engine amphibious
aircraft. Seversky
also set a transcontinental
speed record in 1938.
The
SEV-3 was eventually the
progenitor of a family of
advanced aircraft including
the SEV-3XLR and 2-XP
(two-place, experimental)
fighter, the BT-8 trainer
and SEV-1P (single-seat)
fighter. The most radical
conversion occurred when the
fixed-gear SEV-1P was fitted
with a rearward retracting
main undercarriage to
produce the prototype of the
successful P-35A fighter
series. The Seversky
Aircraft design office led
by Seversky was responsible
for 25 different innovative
projects, many of them
"still-born" including the
"Seversky Super-Clipper", an
eight-engine, 250 ft span
transoceanic transport and
the four-place, tricycle
gear "Seversky Executive"
high speed personal
aircraft. The Sev-S2,
virtually identical to the
P-35, which was undergoing
trials in 1937, dominated
the last three Bendix Trophy
air races, beginning in 1937
when Frank Fuller won at an
average speed of
415.51 km/h.
The Seversky Aircraft
Company began operating out
of new facilities in Long
Island in 1936, purchasing
three factories, a flying
field and hangar along with
a seaplane assembly base at
Famingdale and Amityville,
Long Island.
Despite landing several
government contracts,
Seversky Aircraft was never
able to turn a profit under
Seversky's management and by
September 1938, the company
had to be bailed out again
by Paul Moore (Edward's
brother and heir). His
financing of a rescue came
with the proviso that
Seversky, as President,
would have his personal
budget cut, while the Board
of Directors transferred
more power to Managing
Director Wallace Kellett. A
controversial contract
Seversky negotiated in
secret with the Japanese for
20 SEV-2PA-B3 fighters
created antagonism with the
War Department, leading
inevitably to the U.S.
government putting pressure
on the USAAC to limit the
P-35 order to the initial
batch of 76 aircraft.
When Seversky left for
Europe on a sales tour in
the winter of 1938–39, the
Board reorganized the
operation on October 13,
1939, renamed as Republic
Aviation Corporation with
Kellett becoming the new
president. Seversky sued for
redress but while legal
actions dragged on, the
Board of Directors voted him
out of the company he had
created. Republic Aviation
would become an industrial
behemoth during World War II
designing and producing the
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
and in postwar years, a
continuing line of
successful fighter aircraft
before being acquired by
Fairchild in 1965.
Source:
Wikipedia
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