Leroy Grumman
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Leroy Randle "Roy" Grumman (4 January 1895 – 4 October 1982) was an American
aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
,
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
, and
industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
. In 1929, he co-founded Grumman Aircraft Engineering Co., later renamed Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and now part of
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 ...
."The Embattled Farmers."
''Time'', 11 September 1944. Retrieved: 17 March 2009.


Early life

Grumman was born in
Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...
. His forebears had Connecticut roots and owned a brewery. When he was a child, his father, George Tyson Grumman, owned and operated a carriage shop, and later worked for the post office. Treadwell 1990, p. 19.Fetherston, Drew. "Raising Grumman: How Leroy Grumman and Jake Swirbul built a high-flying company from the ground up." ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
,'' 19 April 1998. Retrieved: 22 March 2009.
From an early age, "Red Mike" (a nickname he gained because of his red-blond hair) demonstrated an interest in aviation, and in his 20 June 1911 high school salutatory address at Huntington High School, Grumman predicted that " e final perfection of the aeroplane will be one of the greatest triumphs that man has ever gained over nature."Kessler 1985, p. 47. Grumman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
from
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 teach an ...
in 1916. His first job was in the engineering department of the
New York Telephone Company The New York Telephone Company (NYTel) was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the American Bell Telephone Company. Predecessor companies The Telephone Company of New York was formed under franchise in 1876. The princi ...
. After the United States entered World War I, he enlisted in the
U.S. Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
in June 1917 as a machinist's mate, 2nd class, and was sent to
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
for a course on "subchaser" engines. Thruelsen 1976, p. 19.


Aviation career

Although Grumman applied for flight training, he failed a medical evaluation when the examining board incorrectly diagnosed
flat feet Flat feet (also called pes planus or fallen arches) is a postural deformity in which the arches of the foot collapse, with the entire sole of the foot coming into complete or near-complete contact with the ground. Sometimes children are born ...
. A clerical error, however, had him report to a course in aircraft inspection for pilot trainees at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. Without revealing the error in classification, he entered primary flight training at
Naval Air Station Miami Coast Guard Air Station Miami is an Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located at Opa-locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. The station operates the HC-144 Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft and the MH-65 Dolphin helicop ...
and successfully completed advanced flight training in
Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...
, Florida, in September 1918. Raymond P. Applegate, his flight instructor, recalled several years later that his young charge "was very, very reticent. Most of the guys, after they earned tofly, they became tougher than hell. Grumman didn't." He was commissioned an ensign (as naval aviator No. 1216), eventually becoming a flight instructor, and assigned to a bombing squadron. After one tour of duty, the U.S. Navy sent him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study the brand new discipline of
aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: Aeronautics, aeronautical engineering and Astronautics, astronautical engineering. A ...
.Vosilla, John
"1930: Grumman takes flight."
''
Long Island Business News ''Long Island Business News'' (LIBN) is a weekly business journal based in Ronkonkoma, New York. Launched in 1953 as the Long Island Commercial Review, LIBN covers business, government, legal, nonprofit and health care issues in Long Island's two ...
'', 9 January 2004. Retrieved: 18 March 2009.
After the completion of the course, Grumman's first posting, along with a promotion to lieutenant, was at the League Island Naval Yard as an acceptance
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
for
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 Navy-built flying boats. In 1919, the U.S. Navy stationed Grumman at
Loening Aeronautical Engineering 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 engineer ...
Corporation in New York City as the project engineer to supervise the firm's construction of 52
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 ...
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
observation/fighter aircraft under contract to the Navy. His duties included test flying as well as serving as the production supervisor. Grover Loening, the company president, was so impressed with his work that he offered Grumman a position. After a reduction in rank to ensign in the peacetime U.S. Navy, Grumman resigned his Naval commission in October 1920, becoming a test pilot flying various types of Loening amphibians while doing some design and development on these aircraft. He quickly moved up in the Loening organization, becoming the factory manager and then general manager with responsibility over aircraft design, a position he held until the company was sold in 1929 on the eve of the Depression to
Keystone Aircraft 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, but its name was quickly ...
. Thruelsen 1976, pp. 23–24. Keystone closed their Manhattan factory and moved operations to
Bristol, Pennsylvania Bristol is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northeast of Center City Philadelphia, opposite Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware River. It antedates Philadelphia, being settled in 1681 and first incorporat ...
.


Company founding

Unwilling to leave Long Island to continue working for Keystone, Grumman joined fellow Loening employees
Jake Swirbul Leon Albert "Jake" "The Bullfrog" Swirbul (March 18, 1898 – June 28, 1960), was an aviation pioneer and co-founder of Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Biography Swirbul was born in the Yorkville section of Manhattan. His parents Freder ...
and William Schwendler in resolving that their best option was to quit and form their own company. Thruelsen 1976, p. 25. Grumman mortgaged his house for $16,950 and Swirbul's mother borrowed $6,000 from her employers to help set up Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. Thruelsen 1976, p. 34. The co-founders were soon joined by Ed Poor, Grover Loening's business manager, and E. Clinton Towl, who had recently come from Wall Street. These five men formed the company's inner circle of management for the next 50 years. Loening and his brother, Albert P. Loening, also became investors. The company was named after its largest stockholder and first president. On 2 January 1930, the company took possession of an abandoned auto showroom garage in Baldwin, New York that had once been the Cox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory. Initially, the new company, with only 18 people on salary, had contracts to repair damaged Loening amphibians (surplus parts had been bought from the Loening works) and traded on its expertise in working with aluminum by building aluminum floats and producing aluminum truck bodies. The first project of the new company involved Grumman and Swirbul, as president and vice-president, on hands and knees, sorting out and matching nuts and bolts, prior to assembling Loening floats. Swirbul and Grumman oversaw the day-to-day operations of the company. While the employees in the plant felt comfortable calling the outgoing Swirbul "Jake," no one ever called Grumman anything but "Mr. Grumman" out of deference to his reserved manner and respect for his skill as an engineer and designer. Dick Hutton, Grumman engineer and later senior vice-president of engineering described him as a "great engineer, respected by many ..." Treadwell 1990, p. 21. To family and close friends, he was invariably known as "Roy". Having been told of the U.S. Navy's desire for retractable landing gear, Leroy Grumman was awarded , ''Retractable Landing Gear for Airplanes'' in 1932, based on an earlier design that he had developed for the Loening Air Yacht. Thruelsen 1976, p. 36. The innovative, manually operated landing gear which progressed from a heavy and unreliable design to a more sturdy version helped his company win contracts from the U.S. Navy. When the Grumman Company received its first U.S. Navy production contract for a two-seater biplane fighter, the FF-1, it featured Grumman's trademark "splayed out" landing gear. Grumman's ability as an engineer and designer was characterized by a Grumman Company engineer as that of "'a master of the educated hunch' who could foresee technical problems and their solutions." He single-handedly invented the famous ''"Sto-Wing"'' wing-panel folding system that revolutionized carrier aircraft storage and handling, pioneered on the F4F-4 Wildcat subtype. He worked out the solution by sticking paper clips into a soap eraser to find the pivot point that made the ''Sto-Wing'' possible. Thruelsen 1976, p. 126. Although Grumman realized the importance of his close relationship with the U.S. Navy, by the mid-1930s, he began to design aircraft for the commercial market with the development of the G-21 "Goose" amphibian and the G-22 "Gulfhawk", civil version of the
Grumman F3F The Grumman F3F was a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid-1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F, it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any Ameri ...
carrier-based fighter.


Expansion

As the company expanded, it moved to bigger quarters – to
Valley Stream Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census. The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of Hempstead, a ...
in 1931, Farmingdale in 1932, and finally Bethpage in 1937. In 1934, a company legend grew up around the number "250" which marked the zenith for expansion in Grumman's mind. He reasoned that if there were more than 250 employees, "it's going to be too big and we're going to lose control of it. That's where we ought to stop." Skurla and Gregory 2004, p. 25. Company accountant Towl was eventually deputized to tell Grumman that the payroll was already at 256. Although Grumman resisted the "expansionist" efforts that Swirbul advocated, employment grew from 700 in 1939 to 25,500 in 1943, with the company known as the "Grumman Iron Works" (a name derived from their product line's rugged structure and a design philosophy espoused by both Swirbul and Grumman) becoming the primary source for U.S. Navy aircraft.


Management style

Despite his innate shyness, Grumman's management style included a "hands-on" approach where he could talk comfortably with both executives and factory floor workers. Skurla and Gregory 2004, pp. 24–25. His relationship with Swirbul was unusual. They resolved early in their partnership to work out of one office; both men further pledged that any problems or conflicts that arose between them would not fester, and that neither man would leave the office until they came to an understanding. During an unusually hectic period in the summer of 1944, Grumman sought a release from tension in a unique manner. Seeking out company test pilot Selden "Connie" Converse, he asked for a check out in a "hot ship": the front line F6F Hellcat. After a 10-minute cockpit check, Grumman waved Converse away, started the engine and was soon taxiing down the runway and into the air on a half-hour joy ride. Even though he hadn't flown for years, like he had in the past, when things built up, he would "take his troubles upstairs and leave them there." Tillman 2001, p. 24. The factory test pilots observed that Grumman had the flaps down as he taxied back to the flight line, and insisted that he pay the standard $1.00 fine for a flight infraction. Grumman stuffed a five-dollar bill into the party fund container, confiding that it was to make up "for things he'd done in the air that they hadn't seen."


World War II

By 1939, as World War II began, Grumman's struggling company could hardly be considered an industrial giant, with all of its property relying on the services of a single security guard, yet the company was obtaining important civil and military contracts. However, the next year saw dramatic changes in the company's fortunes as the war in Europe prompted France and Britain to order
F4F Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atla ...
s, Grumman's first monoplane fighter design, still bearing his original signature design element, the retractable undercarriage that had been created in 1932. Beginning with the Wildcat and then with the
F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...
fighters, Grumman and Swirbul remained the key figures in the design office. As the war progressed, the pair continued to advance new projects, including the largest single-engine aircraft of World War II, the
TBF Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and nav ...
torpedo bomber and
F7F Tigercat The Grumman F7F Tigercat is a heavy fighter aircraft that served with the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) from late in World War II until 1954. It was the first twin-engine fighter to be deployed by the USN. While ...
and
F8F Bearcat The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II. It served during the mid-20th century in the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the air forces of other na ...
fighter aircraft. Near the end of the war, Grumman was given a
penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...
injection to combat
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, resulting in a severe reaction that affected his eyesight. Barron 1982, p. 825. Although he was not entirely blind, his vision was greatly affected; Grumman began to "become less visible" in the company. Skurla and Gregory 2004, p. 17.


Postwar

By March 1945, Grumman oversaw a production effort where all types reached a record 664 aircraft manufactured in one month, although Swirbul had "farmed out" production to a vast chain of subsidiary and licensed manufacturing plants. Like its competitors, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation experienced severe postwar downsizing, dropping from 20,500 to 5,400 employees immediately after the cessation of hostilities. It was an extremely hard decision because the company had been careful to cultivate a positive workplace culture;Deagan, Brian. ''www.tanzanitegem.com'', Alpha Imports NY Inc., 2005. Retrieved: 23 March 2009. when a canvass was made of employees who wanted to "move on" at war's end, only 126 came forward. Thruelsen 1976, p. 218. Swirbul realized his wartime expansion would have to be abandoned, and together with Grumman made the momentous call for a complete layoff of all staff. However, Grumman personally retained as many veteran employees as possible, calling back the most proficient and experienced "hands", predominantly those who had 10 years of service. Thruelsen 1976, pp. 219–220. Grumman stepped down from the role of company president in 1946, but continued to play an active role in management. Building with the core group, Swirbul and Grumman restructured the company, first solidifying its long-term contracts with the U.S. Navy, beginning a continuous line of new combat aircraft. Grumman's first venture into
jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...
, the
F9F Panther The Grumman F9F Panther is one of the United States Navy's first successful carrier-based jet fighters, as well as Grumman’s first jet fighter. A single-engined, straight-winged day fighter, it was armed with four cannons and could carry a ...
, became operational in 1949, although the company's most significant postwar successes came in the 1960s with the
A-6 Intruder The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was designed in response to a 1957 ...
and in the 1970s with the
F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...
. Although the relationship that Grumman had established with the U.S. Navy was the hallmark of the company's success, a set of new projects were initiated with the development of an engineering department, set up in much the same way that he had started out, with a small core of eight engineers given the mandate to explore new technology. Treadwell 1990, p. 122. With Swirbul's death on 28 June 1960, Grumman lost not only a close friend but his "right hand" during a time when he was faced with critical decisions as to the company's future. He successfully guided the company into finding new markets for new products. In the move to diversification, he again entered the commercial civil aviation market, introducing landmark designs such as the Ag Cat aerial application and crop-dusting biplane and the Gulfstream I,
Gulfstream II The Gulfstream II (G-II) is an American twin engine business jet designed and built by Grumman and then in succession, Grumman American and finally Gulfstream American. Its Grumman model number is G-1159 and its US military designation is C-11A. ...
,
Gulfstream III The Gulfstream III, a business jet produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, is an improved variant of the Grumman Gulfstream II. Design and development The Gulfstream III was built at Savannah, Georgia, in the United States and was designed as an im ...
and
Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United State ...
series of executive turboprop and jet transport aircraft. Although his role as chairman became reduced, Grumman's counsel was paramount and when the Gulfstream project was launched, two models of a high-wing and low-wing configuration were set up outside his office. Grumman personally made the decision to go with "the low wing". Treadwell 1990, p. 128. While continuing the company tradition of aircraft production for naval aviation, Grumman pushed for a shift in priorities resulting in the Space Steering Group, a space program that culminated in the design and production of the Apollo program's
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 s ...
(LEM) that landed astronauts on the moon in 1969. Treadwell 1990, p. 176. During that same year, the company was rebranded as
Grumman Aerospace Corporation The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...
. Throughout this period, Grumman's eyesight continued to fail, and he "took to wearing dark glasses" which further limited his mobility.


Later life

On 19 May 1966, Grumman retired as chairman of Grumman, but was elected honorary chairman for his lifetime, remaining as a director until 15 June 1972. He continued to visit the company's facilities until his health began to fail in the early 1980s, as diabetes robbed him of the last "vestiges of his eyesight." Grumman and his family retained their 8,299 sq ft, 2.5 acre waterfront estate at 77 Bayview Road in
Plandome Manor Plandome Manor is a Village (New York), village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The majority of the village is considered part o ...
on Long Island where, after a long illness, he died at the North Shore University Hospital in nearby
Manhasset Manhasset is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 at the 2020 United States ce ...
on 4 October 1982, aged 87.


Honors and tributes

A number of honors have been bestowed on Grumman including the
Medal for Merit The Medal for Merit was, during the period it was awarded, the highest civilian decoration of the United States. It was awarded by the President of the United States to civilians who "distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious conduct i ...
from the
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
(1948),"Founder, First President of Aerospace Firm." ''
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'', 5 October 1982. Retrieved: 20 March 2009.
an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree by
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...
in 1950, the
Daniel Guggenheim Medal The Daniel Guggenheim Medal is an American engineering award, established by Daniel and Harry Guggenheim. The medal is considered to be one of the greatest honors that can be presented for a lifetime of work in aeronautics. Recipients have include ...
for aeronautics pioneering, and the
NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering The NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering, also known as the J.C. Hunsaker Award in Aeronautical Engineering, is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for excellence in the field of aeronautical engineering." Established by Jerome C. ...
(1968) from the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
. In 1972, Grumman was inducted in the
National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...
, the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Sin ...
in 1973, and the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame in 2002. The USNS ''Leroy Grumman'' (T-AO-195), a
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 ...
fleet replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...
, christened by his three daughters, was launched in 1988 and delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1989. In January 2011, a Civil Air Patrol Squadron from Northport, Long Island, New York, was renamed in his honor: the former Suffolk County Cadet Squadron VII now calls itself the Leroy R. Grumman Cadet Squadron. In 1953, Grumman was elected to the board of trustees of his alma mater, Cornell University, and donated $110,000 for a new
squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
building"Grumman Gives Cornell $110,000." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 6 July 1953, p. 15. Retrieved: 20 March 2009.
which now bears his name, as does an office and lab space on the campus.


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Barron, James. "Leroy Grumman, The Builder of Aeronautics Giant, Dies." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
,'' 5 October 1982, p. D25. Retrieved: 20 March 2009.
* Ferguson, Robert G. "One Thousand Planes a Day: Ford, Grumman, General Motors and the Arsenal of Democracy." ''History and Technology'', Volume 21, Issue 2, 2005. * Fetherston, Drew
"Pioneers on the Runway: Raising Grumman."
''LI History.com'', Grumman Park. Retrieved: 18 March 2009. * Kessler, Pamela. "Leroy Grumman, Sky King." ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
(Weekend)'', 11 October 1985. * O'Leary, Michael, ed. "Leroy Grumman." ''Air Classics'', Volume 19, no. 2, February 1983, pp. 27–29. * Skurla, George M. and William H. Gregory. ''Inside the Iron Works: How Grumman's Glory Days Faded''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. . * Tillman, Barrett. ''Hellcat: The F6F in World War II''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001. . * Thruelsen, Richard. ''The Grumman Story''. New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc., 1976. . * Treadwell, Terry. ''Ironworks: Grumman's Fighting Aeroplanes''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishers, 1990. .


External links


Cradle of Aviation Museum site: includes two photographs of Leroy Grumman

Leroy Grumman at Find a Grave

Biography of Leroy Grumman from Grumman Corporation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grumman, Roy 1895 births 1982 deaths People from Huntington, New York American aerospace engineers Aircraft designers American test pilots Aviators from New York (state) Burials at Locust Valley Cemetery Businesspeople in aviation Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Medal for Merit recipients National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees United States Navy officers People from Plandome Manor, New York Engineers from New York (state) Military personnel from New York (state) 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors