The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in
Davidson, North Carolina
Davidson is a suburban town located in northern Mecklenburg and Iredell counties, North Carolina, United States, on the banks of Lake Norman. It is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 10,944 at the 2010 census, and ...
, with factories and operations in and outside the United States.
Created in 1929 from the
consolidation of
Curtiss,
Wright
Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright i ...
, and various supplier companies, the company was immediately the country's largest aviation firm and built more than 142,000 aircraft for the U.S. military during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Today, it no longer makes aircraft but makes many related components, particularly
actuators,
aircraft controls
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. C ...
,
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
s, and surface-treatment services. It also supplies the
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
,
industrial,
defense, and
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
markets; it makes parts for
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
and
naval nuclear power systems, industrial vehicles, and
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
- and
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
-related machinery.
History
Merger and expansion
Curtiss-Wright formed on July 5, 1929, the result of a merger of 12 companies associated with
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company of
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, and
Wright Aeronautical
Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the ...
of
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
.
It was headquartered in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
. With
$75 million in capital (equivalent to $ billion in ), it became the largest aviation company in the United States.
By September 1929, Curtiss-Wright had also acquired the Moth Aircraft Corporation and
Travel Air Manufacturing Company.
Divisions
There were three main divisions: the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Division, which manufactured
airframes; the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, which produced
aircraft engines; and the Curtiss-Wright Propeller Division, which manufactured
propellers
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
. 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.
Pre-World War II
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 U.S. 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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
War production
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Curtiss-Wright produced 142,840 aircraft engines, 146,468 electric propellers and 29,269 airplanes.
Curtiss-Wright employed 180,000 workers, and ranked second among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts (behind only
General Motors).
![Curtiss-Wright entrance Cladwell NJ 1941](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Curtiss-Wright_entrance_Cladwell_NJ_1941.jpg)
Aircraft production included almost 14,000
P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...
fighters, made famous by their use by
Claire Chennault
Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Air Force in World War II.
Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursuit" or fighte ...
's
Flying Tigers
The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...
in China, over 3,000
C-46 Commando
The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...
transport aircraft, and later in the war, over 7,000
SB2C Helldiver
The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few surv ...
s. 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 facilities in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
. During the war, a second large plant was added at Buffalo, followed by new plants at
Columbus, Ohio;
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
; and
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. 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
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, 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
The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...
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
China Burma India Theater (CBI) was the United States military designation during World War II for the China and Southeast Asian or India–Burma (IBT) theaters. Operational command of Allied forces (including U.S. forces) in the CBI was offi ...
.
Defective engines sold to U.S. military in World War II
From 1941 to 1943, the Curtiss Aeronautical plant in
Lockland, Ohio, produced aircraft engines under wartime contract destined for installation in
U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft.
[Meyers, Jeffrey, ''The Genius and the Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe'', University of Illinois Press, (2009), pp. 92–93][Clausen, Henry C., and Lee, Bruce, ''Pearl Harbor: Final Judgment'', Da Capo Press, (2001), pp. 56–58] Wright officials at Lockland insisted on high engine production levels, resulting in a significant percentage of engines that did not meet Army Air Forces (AAF) inspection standards. These defective engines were nevertheless approved by inspectors for shipment and installation in U.S. military aircraft. After investigation, it was later revealed that Wright company officials at Lockland had conspired with civilian technical advisers and Army inspection officers to approve substandard or defective aircraft engines for military use.
Army Air Forces technical adviser Charles W. Bond was dismissed by the Army in 1943 for "gross irregularities in inspection procedure."
[''Colonel Ready To Deny Neglect'', The Toledo Blade, 20 April 1944, p. 2] Bond would later testify that he had been "wined and dined" by Wright company officials; one of those occasions was the night before Bond fired four AAF engine inspectors another AAF inspector had described as "troublemakers."
In 1944, three Army officers, Lt. Col. Frank Constantine Greulich of Detroit, former chief inspection officer for the material command, Major Walter A. Ryan of Detroit, former central states inspection officer, and Major William Bruckmann, a former Cincinnati brewer and resident Army inspections officer at the Wright plant in Lockland were charged with neglect of duty, conspiracy, and giving false testimony in a general
court martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
.
[Hinton, Harold B., ''Air Victory: the men and the machines'', New York: Harper & Bros. (1948), pp. 249–251][''Three Air Officers 'Guilty of Neglect', Ordered Dismissed'', The Milwaukee Journal, 26 April 1944, p. 33] All three men were later convicted of neglect of duty.
The story of defective engines had reached investigators working for Sen.
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's congressional investigative board, the
Truman Commission, after several Wright aircraft assembly workers informed on the company; they would later testify under oath before Congress.
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
's play ''
All My Sons'' is based on this incident.
Post–World War II
Demise of aircraft production
Curtiss-Wright failed to make the transition to design and production of
jet aircraft, despite several attempts. During the war, the company had expended only small amounts on aircraft research and development, instead concentrating on incremental improvements in conventional aircraft already in wartime production. This was especially true in the first two years of the war. Curtiss' failure to research and develop more advanced wing and airframe designs provided an opening for
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
,
Bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
, Lockheed, Northrop, and other U.S. aircraft manufacturers to submit newer and more advanced aircraft designs. The
P-60, the firm's last prop-driven fighter design, was merely an extrapolation of its 1930s
P-36 Hawk
The Curtiss P-36 Hawk, also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, is an American-designed and built fighter aircraft of the 1930s and 40s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, it was one of the first of a new generatio ...
, offering no advantage over other designs already in service. With the rapid development of jet engine technology and near-supersonic flight, this technological lag resulted in Curtiss losing a number of critical postwar military aircraft orders. The final nail in the coffin was the choice of the
Northrop F-89 Scorpion
The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was an American all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft built during the 1950s, the first jet-powered aircraft designed for that role from the outset to enter service. Though its straight wings limited its per ...
over the
XF-87 Blackhawk
The Curtiss-Wright XF-87 Blackhawk (previously designated the XP-87) was a prototype American all-weather jet fighter-interceptor, and the company's last aircraft project. Designed as a replacement for the World War II–era propeller-driven P ...
; after the F-87 was cancelled October 10, 1948, Curtiss-Wright shut down its entire Aeroplane Division and sold the assets to
North American Aviation.
Flight research
While this marked Curtiss-Wright's departure from preeminence in the aviation industry, one notable spin-off involved Curtiss-Wright's flight research laboratory, founded in 1943 near the main plant at the Buffalo airport. During divestiture of the airframe division, the lab was given to
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
along with a cash gift to finish the construction of a transonic wind tunnel. Cornell Aeronautical Labs, or CAL as it was known, was eventually spun off from the university as a private company,
Calspan Corporation, which has been responsible for many subsequent innovations in flight and safety research.
Engine development
After the government gave the development of the
Whittle jet engine to
GE, the company concentrated on reciprocating engines and propeller production for military transport and civilian airliners. With the approaching twilight of the big piston aircraft engine, Curtiss-Wright needed new design inspiration.
in 1950, Curtiss-Wright licensed the
Sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...
jet engine from
Armstrong Siddeley
Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines.
The company was created following t ...
in the U.K and manufactured it as the
Wright J65
The Wright J65 was an axial-flow turbojet engine produced by Curtiss-Wright under license from Armstrong Siddeley. A development of the Sapphire, the J65 powered a number of US designs.
Design and development
Curtiss-Wright purchased a license f ...
.
It powered models of the
Martin B-57, and several other U.S. fighter planes. Subsequent derivative engines were late and did not find substantial markets.
For a brief time, Curtiss-Wright licensed rights to the
Wankel rotary engine
The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. ...
from
NSU in 1958 as a possible aircraft power plant. For this major innovative engineering project, Curtiss-Wright relied extensively on the design leadership of NSU-Wankel engineer
Max Bentele.
Flight simulators
In 1954, United Airlines bought four Curtiss-Wright flight simulators at a cost of $3 million. These simulators were like earlier ones produced in the late 1940s for airliners with the addition of visuals, sound, and movement. They were the first of today's modern flight simulators for commercial aircraft.
![curtiss travel air cw-12q g-aaok arp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Curtiss_travel_air_cw-12q_g-aaok_arp.jpg)
Business diversification
In 1956, financially strapped automaker
Studebaker-Packard Corporation entered into a management agreement with Curtiss-Wright as a means for the nation's fifth-largest automobile manufacturer to avoid insolvency. The relationship lasted until 1959 at which time Curtiss-Wright withdrew from the agreement. The shift of civilian aircraft to jets left the company with little of its old business, and during the 1960s it shifted to components for aircraft and other types of equipment, such as nuclear
submarines, a business that is still being conducted today.
In 2002, Curtiss-Wright acquired Penny & Giles, a supplier of black boxes and sensing devices (Hybrid linear, hybrid rotary, and VRVT sensors).
In 2003, Curtiss-Wright acquired Systran Corporation, a supplier of highly specialized, high-performance data communications products for real-time systems, primarily for the aerospace and defense, industrial automation and medical image markets. The acquisition also reintroduced Curtiss-Wright to Dayton, Ohio.
In 2010, Curtiss-Wright acquired
Hybricon Corporation for $19 million in cash. Hybricon is a supplier of electronic packaging for the aerospace, defense and commercial markets, and provides electronic subsystem integration.
In 2011, Curtiss-Wright acquired Ireland-based Acra Control for $61 million in cash. Acra Control is a supplier of data acquisition systems and networks, data recorders and telemetry ground stations for both defense and commercial aerospace markets.
At the beginning of 2013, Curtiss-Wright acquired Exlar Corporation for $85 million in cash. Exlar, a private company, is a designer and manufacturer of highly engineered electric actuators used in motion control solutions in industrial and military markets. The acquired business will operate within Curtiss-Wright's Motion Control segment. In October 2013, Curtiss-Wright completed the acquisition of the Parvus Corporation, a business unit of
Eurotech S.p.A., for $38 million. Parvus is a leading designer and manufacturer of rugged small form factor computers and communications subsystems for the aerospace, defense, homeland security and industrial markets.
Curtiss-Wright acquired military communications equipment supplier Pacific Star Communications for 400 million, on November 2, 2020.
Multinational divisions
As of 31 December 2012, the firm had several divisions:
*Curtiss Wright Controls (UK) Ltd, United Kingdom
*Curtiss-Wright Antriebstechnik GmbH, Switzerland
*Curtiss-Wright Controls Electronic Systems Inc., California
*Curtiss-Wright Controls Integrated Sensing Inc., Delaware
*Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc., Delaware
*Curtiss-Wright Electro-Mechanical Corporation, Delaware
*Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Company Canada, Nova Scotia
*Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corporation, New York
*Dy4 Inc, Delaware
*Dy4 Systems Inc., Ontario : a manufacturer of electronic circuit boards acquired in 2003
*Indal Technologies Inc., Canada
*Metal Improvement Company LLC, Delaware
*Novatronics Inc., Ontario
*Peerless Instrument Co. Inc., New York
*Penny & Giles Controls Limited, United Kingdom
*Primagraphics (Holdings) Limited, United Kingdom
*Tapco International Inc, Delaware
Products
Aircraft
Curtiss Electric propellers
As well as manufacturing engines, a range of electrically actuated
constant speed three- and four-bladed propellers were manufactured under the name ''Curtiss Electric''.
Albert Kahn
Albert Kahn Associates
Albert Kahn Associates is an architectural design firm in Detroit, Michigan with a second office located in Miami, Florida. It was established in 1895 and is still active. Recent work includes being awarded third place in thVirtual Modeling ...
designed several industrial buildings for the Curtiss Wright Corporation,
including plants in Beaver, PA; Buffalo, NY; Caldwell, NJ; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN; Kenmore, NY; Louisville, KY and St. Louis, MO.
Albert Kahn's personal working library, th
Albert Kahn Library Collection is housed at
Lawrence Technological University in
Southfield, Michigan.
See also
*''
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.
''United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.'', 299 U.S. 304 (1936), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the foreign affairs powers of the President of the United States. It held that the President, as the nation's "sole ...
'', a 1936
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case about the role of the
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
in
foreign relations
A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through m ...
.
*
George Conrad Westervelt
*
Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute
The Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute was an early professional trade school operated by the Curtiss-Wright corporation for aircraft maintenance training. Director Major C. C. Moseley was one of only three school directors selected across Ameri ...
in
Glendale, California
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Bowers, Peter M. ''Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947''. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1979. .
*Eltscher, Louis R. and Young, Edward M. ''Curtiss-WrightGreatness and Decline''. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1998. .
*
External links
*
Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions websiteCurtiss-Wright Flow Control websiteCurtiss-Wright Industrial websiteCurtiss-Wright Sensors & Controls websiteCurtiss-Wright Surface Technologies website*
ttp://buffaloah.com/h/aero/aero.html History of the Aerospace Industry in Buffalo, NYbr>
1940 Curtiss Wright Buffalo NY Handbook – Internet Archive
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