Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation was a short-lived aircraft manufacturing business venture between the

Wright Company The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing o ...

(after Orville Wright sold the Wright Company and divested himself from it) and Glenn L. Martin.

History

Company officials merged their respective organizations, the

and the Glenn L. Martin Company, in 1916. The company continued and escalated the

Wright brothers patent war The Wright brothers patent war centers on the patent they received for their method of airplane flight control. The Wright brothers were two Americans who are widely credited with inventing and building the world's first flyable airplane and mak ...

with other aircraft manufacturers, until its resolution—under duress from the government, in 1917, at the start of U.S. involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

—by the

cross-licensing A cross-licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties. Patent law In patent law, a cross-licensing agreement is an agreement according to which two ...

agreement developed and managed through the Manufacturers Aircraft Association.Roland, Alex (foreword by

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

)
Chapter 2: "War Business: A Laboratory and Licensing; Committees and Engines, 1915-1918"
in ''Model Research'' - Volume 1, SP-4103

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...

, retrieved December 4, 2017 A license-built version of the

Hispano-Suiza 8 The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza ...

was manufactured by the company under the engineering leadership of

Henry M. Crane Henry Middlebrook Crane (June 16, 1874 – January 21, 1956) was an American engineer and pioneer in the automobile industry.Gardner, Lester D. (1922)''Who's Who in American Aeronautics''.New York: The Gardner, Moffit, Co. p. 37 – via Hat ...

. It was used by Vought VE-7, VE-8, Boeing NB-2, and

Loening M-8 The Loening M-8 was a 1910s American fighter monoplane designed by Grover Loening and built by his Loening Aeronautical Engineering Company. An order of 5000 for the United States Army Air Corps was canceled when the First World War ended. Deve ...

. By 1918, the company had a factory in

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

, New York. Martin soon resigned, dissolving the Wright-Martin joint enterprise within a year. The company was renamed

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 ...

in 1919, and shifted from manufacturing aircraft to manufacturing aircraft engines, developing the pivotal

Wright Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to incl ...

engines which changed aviation dramatically. Glenn Martin continued development of his Glenn L. Martin Company, which remained a major aircraft manufacturer until the 1950s and early 1960s when it also began developing rockets, missiles, and spacecraft. In 1961 the company merged with the

American-Marietta Corporation The American-Marietta Corporation was an American industrial conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois, with numerous subsidiary companies across the Continental United States. It specialized in construction materials and industrial chemicals such ...

to become industrial conglomerate (and continued aerospace manufacturer)

Martin-Marietta The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. History Martin M ...

which, in 1995, merged with Lockheed to become today's

Lockheed-Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, military, arms, defense, information security, and Technology company, technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the Horizontal integrati ...

, one of the United States' three remaining major large aircraft manufacturers (along with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

and

Northrop-Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

).Harwood, William B., book: '' aise Heaven and Earth: The Story of Martin Marietta'' Simon & Schuster; (1993)

Aircraft

References

External links

* World War I advertisement for the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation - ''FIGHT or Join the Industrial Aircraft Service'', ''

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

'' monthly, December 1918
page 91
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States . Wright brothers Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of the United States American companies established in 1916 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1916 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1919 American companies disestablished in 1919 {{aero-company-stub