Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company factory floor in Ithaca, New York in 1915

The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, until it was taken over by the

Consolidated Aircraft Corporation The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 in aviation, 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the ...

in 1929.

History

Founded in 1910 by English immigrants

William T. Thomas William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

and his brother Oliver W. Thomas as Thomas Brothers Company in

Hammondsport, New York Hammondsport is a village at the south end of Keuka Lake, in Steuben County, one of the Finger Lakes of New York, United States. The Village of Hammondsport is in the Town of Urbana and is northeast of Bath. History Lazarus Hammond founded ...

,Aerofiles:Thomas
retrieved 8/4/2008 the company moved to

Hornell, New York Hornell is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early set ...

, and moved again to

Bath, New York Bath is a town in Steuben County, New York, United States, with an area of 96.3 square miles (249 km2) and a population of 11,426 in 2020. Its largest settlement is the Village of Bath, which has an area of 2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2) and a population ...

, the same year. At the Livingston County Picnic in 1912 The Thomas Brothers Hydro-aeroplane was scheduled to fly the first Hydro-aeroplane in Livingston County but later reported the winds prevented the flight. During 1913, the company operated the affiliated Thomas Brothers School of Aviation at Conesus Lake, McPherson Point in Livingston County,

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

(taking a page from

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...

, who did much the same at Keuka Lake). In 1913, the name became Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company and based in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

. On December 7, 1914, the company moved to Ithaca. In 1915, Thomas Brothers built ''T-2''

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

s (designed by Benjamin D. Thomas, no relation to the brothers and also an Englishman, formerly of

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, Sopwith, and

Curtiss Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decade ...

, and later the company's chief designer) for the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

Donald, David, ed. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'' (Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997), p.875, "Thomas Brothers and Thomas-Morse aircraft". and (fitted with

float Float may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * ''Float'' (Aesop Rock album), 2000 * ''Float'' (Flogging Molly album), 2008 * ''Float'' (Styles P album), 2013 Songs * "Float" (Tim and the Glory Boys song), 2022 * "Float", by Bush ...

s in place of wheels)Donald, p.875. for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as the ''SH-4''. They received an order for 24 T-2's from the British, for use in the European war. Because the Curtiss OX engines weren't available, they founded an engine subsidiary, the Thomas Aeromotor Company, which would stress their finances. In 1916, the company won a contract from the

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

for two aircraft for evaluation, the ''D-5''. In January 1917, financial difficulties led to the company merge with Morse Chain Company (headed by Frank L. Morse), who was backed financially by H T Westinghouse, becoming Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation, still based in Ithaca. The company then made an attempt at selling training biplanes to the United States Army and was successful with the ''S-4'' trainer (which included a handful of ''S-5''

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s and a single ''S-4E'') and MB series of fighters. The last company design was the O-19 observation biplane. In 1929 the company was taken over by the

, becoming the Thomas-Morse Division, and ceased business in 1934.

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Donald, David, ed. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', p. 854, "Standard aircraft". Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997. * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing, 1985, p. 3000.

External links

{{Authority control Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state) American companies established in 1910 Manufacturing companies established in 1910 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1929 1910 establishments in New York (state) 1929 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 1929