Leroy Randle Grumman (January 4, 1895 - October 4, 1982) was an American industrialist and aeronautical engineer. January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Business magnate. ... Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering concerning aircraft, spacecraft and related topics. ...

Born in Long Island, New York, he demonstrated an early interest in aviation. As a teenager, Grumman predicted that "the final perfection of the airplane will be one of the greatest triumphs that man has gained over matter." This article is about Long Island in New York State. ...

Still, it’s doubtful that young Grumman, ever reserved and self-effacing, allowed himself to dream that one day he’d form an aircraft company that would help his country win a great war and build a flying machine that would take mankind to and from the surface of the moon.

Early life

After graduating from Huntington High School, Grumman went on to receive a degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1916. Serving as an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve, he took advanced flight training in Pensacola, Florida, and eventually became a flight instructor. Later the Navy sent Grumman to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study the brand-new discipline of aeronautical engineering. Cornell redirects here. ... The United States Navy Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Navy. ... Nickname: The City of Five Flags Location of the city within the state of Florida Country United States State Florida County Escambia County, Florida Mayor John Fogg Area    - City 102. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is organized into five schools and one college, containing 34 academic departments and 53 interdisciplinary laboratories, centers and programs. ... Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering concerning aircraft, spacecraft and related topics. ...

Work

In 1919 the Navy sent Grumman to Loening Aircraft Engineering Corporation in New York City to supervise the firm’s construction of 50 monoplanes under contract with the Navy. The company was so impressed with Grumman that they hired him as general manager in 1920, a position he held until the company was sold in 1929 to Keystone Aircraft. Keystone closed the NYC factory and moved operations to Bristol, Pennsylvania. However, Grumman and fellow Loening employees Leon “Jake” Swirbul, and Bill Schwendler decided that, rather than move, they would quit and form their own company. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Nickname: Big Apple, City that never Sleeps Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... A monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. ... Bristol is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 23 miles (37 km) northeast of Philadelphia opposite Burlington, N.J. on the Delaware River. ...

Grumman Company

Grumman mortgaged his house and Swirbul's mother borrowed $6,000 to set up Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. Because both Grumman and Swirbul had grown up on Long Island and liked the region, they decided to locate the company there. They set-up shop with $64,325 in capital on January 2, 1930 in an abandoned auto showroom-garage in Baldwin that had once been the Cox-Klemin Aircraft Co. factory. The new company repaired damaged Loening amphibians, built aluminum pontoons, and produced aluminum truck bodies until receiving its first Navy production contract for a two-seater biplane. As the company expanded they moved to bigger quarters – to Valley Stream in 1931, Farmingdale in 1932, and finally Bethpage in 1937. The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... Mercator projection of Long Island Long Island is an island in New York, USA. It has an area of 1,377 square miles (3567 km²) and a population of 7. ... Valley Stream is a village located in Nassau County, New York in the United States. ... Farmingdale is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources. ...

WWII

On the eve of World War II the struggling company was hardly an industrial giant – in 1939 Grumman still managed to protect all of its property with the services of a single security guard. However, the next year brought significant change as the war in Europe prompted France and Britain to order F4F Wildcats, the 330-mph fighter planes that Grumman had first flown in 1937. Employment exploded from 700 in 1939 to 25,500 in 1943, as Grumman became the primary source for Navy fighter planes, first with the Wildcat and then with the F6F Hellcat. They also produced the largest single-engine aircraft of World War II, the TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger... Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat in tri-color camouflage The Grumman F6F Hellcat started development as an improved F4F Wildcat, but turned into a completely new design sharing a family resemblance to the Wildcat but with no shared parts. ... Grumman TBF Avengers in 1942 The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) was an American torpedo bomber, developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps and used by a large number of air forces around the world. ...

At the peak of production in March 1945, Grumman built a record 664 aircraft in one month, setting production records that have never been equaled. During World War II Grumman aircraft dominated U.S. Naval Aviation Forces and were responsible for 2/3 of all Japanese aircraft destroyed. 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

Post-war

Like its competitors, Grumman experienced severe post-war downsizing, dropping to 5,000 employees immediately after the cessation of hostilities. However, Leroy Grumman retained as many veteran employees as possible and successfully guided the company into finding new markets for new products. Among these was civilian airplanes, such as the Agcat crop-dusting biplane and the Gulfstream executive airplane. While continuing its tradition of aircraft production for Naval aviation, Grumman also began a space program that culminated in the Grumman design and production of the Apollo program’s Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) that landed astronauts on the moon in 1969. Gulfstream may refer to: Gulfstream Park Gulfstream Aerospace See also Gulf Stream for the ocean current This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Project Apollo was a series of human spaceflight missions undertaken by the United States of America (NASA) using the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn launch vehicle, conducted during the years 1961–1975. ... Description Role: Lunar landing Crew: 2; CDR, LM pilot Dimensions Height: 20. ...

Late in life

In 1966 Leroy Grumman retired as Chairman of the Board of Grumman Aircraft Co., although he remained as a Director until 1972. He continued to visit the company’s facilities until his health began to fail in the early 1980s. He continued to live on Long Island in Manhasset where he died on October 4, 1982, aged 87. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Mercator projection of Long Island Long Island is an island in New York, USA. It has an area of 1,377 square miles (3567 km²) and a population of 7. ... Manhasset is a hamlet (and census-designated place) located in Nassau County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 8,362. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Although he received many honors during his lifetime, one of the most recent was awarded posthumously in 2001 when Newsday announced that Leroy R. Grumman had won the "Long Islander of the Century" competition in the aviation category, beating national aviation hero Charles Lindbergh. Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. ...