Keystone Aircraft Corporation was an early American airplane manufacturer.

History

Headquartered in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the company was formed as "Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp" in 1920 by Thomas Huff and

Elliot Daland Elliot (also spelled Eliot, Elliotte, Elliott, Eliott and Elyot) is a personal name which can serve as either a surname or a given name. Although the given name has historically been given to males, females have increasingly been given the name ...

, but its name was quickly changed to "

Huff-Daland Aero Corp Huff-Daland was an American aircraft manufacturer. Formed as Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp in 1920 in Ogdensburg, New York by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, its name was quickly changed to Huff-Daland Aero Corp and then in 1925 it was changed again t ...

", then to "Huff-Daland Aero Company". The company made a name for itself in agricultural aircraft, and then in the United States Army Air Corps' early bomber aircraft. From 1924, James McDonnell was the chief designer. In 1926, Huff left the company, and it was soon purchased by Hayden, Stone & Co., who increased capital to $1 million (United States) and renamed it Keystone. In 1928, it merged with

Loening Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation was founded 1917 by Grover Loening and Henry M. Crane produced early aircraft and amphibious aircraft beginning in 1917. When it merged with Keystone Aircraft Corporation in 1928, some of its engineers ...

and was known as Keystone–Loening. In 1929, it was taken over by Curtiss-Wright. Also in 1929, the Keystone–Loening plant on the East River in New York City was closed by Curtis-Wright and the operation was moved to the Bristol, Pennsylvania. Keystone plant. A small band of the top Loening management, design and shop workers (all New Yorkers) did not want to go to Bristol. They instead started their own aircraft company in a small rented shop in Baldwin, NY in Jan. 1930. The principal players were Leroy R. Grumman, Leon "Jake" Swirbul and William Schwendler. Grumman Aircraft went on to stellar heights with some of the best aircraft in US Navy history. Grumman also designed and built the

Lunar Excursion Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

(LEM) that landed US astronauts on the moon. In 1932 the Army Air Corps issued a Circular design proposal for an advanced new heavy bomber which Ford, Martin, Boeing, Fokker, Douglas and Keystone submitted designs. The Keystone entry was for an all metal low winged monoplane bomber with retractable landing gear. The bomber would be powered by two Curtiss V-1570 geared Conqueror engines. With a crew of 5 it was armed with up to 3 x .30 caliber machine guns and could carry 2,000 lbs (907 kg) of bombs on external racks. A mock-up of the aircraft was inspected by the Air Corps in April and was withdrawn by Keystone after it was determined it could not meet the requirements. The contract was ultimately won by Martin for their Model 139, known as the B-10 Bomber. This was to be the last design submitted to the military by Keystone. Keystone itself became a manufacturing division of Curtiss-Wright and ceased production in 1932. The former Keystone plant was purchased by

Fleetwings Fleetwings, later Kaiser-Fleetwings, was an American aircraft company of the 1930s and 1940s. History Fleetwings started in 1926 (under a different name) as a business based on a patented mechanical timing device, which proved particularly suit ...

in 1934. Lieut. Comdr. Noel Davis and Lieut. Stanton H. Wooster were killed in their

Keystone Pathfinder The Keystone K-47 Pathfinder was an airliner developed in the United States in the late 1920s, built only in prototype form. Design and development The Pathfinder was an attempt by the Keystone Aircraft Corporation to develop a civil transport v ...

''American Legion'' while conducting a test flight, just days before they were to attempt a

trans-Atlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing a ...

for the Orteig Prize.

Aircraft

References

External links

Aerofiles
{{Keystone aircraft Companies based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1932 American companies established in 1920 Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies established in 1920 1929 mergers and acquisitions 1920 establishments in Pennsylvania 1932 disestablishments in Pennsylvania