Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
5/5
()
About this ebook
Katrina Pescador
For more than 40 years, the San Diego Air and Space Museum has preserved the nation�s aerospace history and technology. In this unique publication, head archivist Katrina Pescador and historian Mark Aldrich selected photographs from the museum�s extensive collection to highlight the story of this major aircraft company and the people who contributed to its success.
Read more from Katrina Pescador
Aviation in San Diego Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSan Diego's North Island: 1911-1941 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
Related ebooks
Fairchild Aircraft Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelaware Aviation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPicture History of World War II American Aircraft Production Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Airplane Manufacturing in Farmingdale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong Island Aircraft Manufacturers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lockheed Constellation: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paine Field Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichigan Aircraft Manufacturers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNaval Air Station Norfolk Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCleveland's National Air Races Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorthrop Flying Wings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Boeing Field Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bird Farm: Carrier Aviation and Naval Aviators?A History and Celebration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConsolidated B-24 Liberator Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Floyd Bennett Field Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5B-29 Superfortress: Giant Bomber of World War Two and Korea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5World War 2 In Review No. 39: Consolidated's Coronado Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Airports of Chicago Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trash Haulers: The Story of the C-130 Hercules Troop Carrier/Tactical Airlift Mission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoeing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Massachusetts Aviation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Catapult Aircraft: Seaplanes That Flew From Ships Without Flight Decks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Douglas DC-3: The Airliner that Revolutionised Air Transport Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDallas Aviation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDouglas A-4 Skyhawk: Attack & Close-Support Fighter Bomber Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jets at Sea: Naval Aviation in Transition, 1945–55 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cleveland's Legacy of Flight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAirplane Stories and Histories: Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsP-51 Mustang Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Corporate & Business History For You
The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Secret History of Brands: The Dark and Twisted Beginnings of the Brand Names We Know and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Levi's Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job But Gave Me My Voice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thalhimers Department Stores Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Theory of Money and Credit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Should Guys Have All the Fun?: An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Running a Billion Dollar Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGuaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America, September 3, 1929–September 3, 1939 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starting Up Silicon Valley: How ROLM Became a Cultural Icon and Fortune 500 Company Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good To Great And The Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Corporation That Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harvests of Joy: How the Good Life Became Great Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: The All-Time Wall Street Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDriven: The Race to Create the Autonomous Car Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Secret Formula: The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known Brand in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Consolidated Aircraft Corporation - Katrina Pescador
heritage.
INTRODUCTION
Founded by Maj. Reuben H. Fleet in 1923, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) became one of the most significant aircraft manufacturers in American history.
By 1933, beset by weather and labor problems in the Northeast, Fleet and his board of directors were contemplating a move to the West Coast. Offers were made by various cities in Los Angeles County and by San Diego. Attracted by the mild climate of San Diego; proximity to a year-round flying boat harbor, a major naval air station, a first-class airport; and favorable financial terms; Fleet decided to move Consolidated Aircraft Corporation from New York to California in 1933. In less than two years, Fleet had moved all of the equipment, tools, and materials to San Diego by rail, and the new plant was ready for its dedication on Sunday, October 20, 1935. Moving with him were approximately 200 corporate officers, key personnel, and their families. For roughly the next 60 years, this prolific company and its products were synonymous with San Diego.
Except for the U.S. Navy, Major Fleet’s company was the largest single employer in the county, employing in excess of 45,000 people in San Diego at one time. The impact on the community was profound and long-lasting. Whole communities sprang up just to house the influx of workers and their families. The city’s infrastructure benefited from huge increases in the tax base with dozens of new schools, street improvements, and other civic benefits. In the meantime, the contribution to the war effort was immense. In the month of January 1944 alone, the San Diego plant turned out 328 B-24s, PBYs, and PB2Ys, an average of over 10 planes a day.
Consolidated was responsible for building some of the most important aircraft in aviation history, including the PBY Catalina, B-24 Liberator, F-102 Delta Dagger, and F-106 Delta Dart, as well as the reliable Atlas launch vehicle, which was vital in sending America into space. Some of the most influential designs also came from the imaginations of the company’s designers. Aircraft like the XF-92, XFY-1 Pogo, and R3Y Tradewind have all had a long-term impact on aircraft and engine development. Before production of aircraft finally ceased in 1964, Consolidated/Convair would deliver 12,747 complete aircraft.
With the cold war and the space race, Convair focused on the Atlas and other launch vehicles. The Atlas launched the first man into space and led to the first man on the moon. After 37 years of producing, integrating, and testing launch vehicles, the General Dynamics Space System Division was sold to Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver.
The photographs in this publication showcase many of the people and projects that made Consolidated/Convair such an important aerospace company.
One
REUBEN H. FLEET
Reuben Hollis Fleet was born on March 6, 1887, in Montesano, Washington. Graduating from the Culver Military Academy in 1906, he went on to form a real estate business and became the youngest member of the state legislature in 1915. Just days before the United States entered the First World War, Fleet volunteered for pilot training with the U.S. Army’s Signal Corps Aviation Section, thus beginning his long career in aviation.
Fleet joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps on March 29, 1917, attending flight training at the army’s aviation school at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. Seen here is Fleet posing in front of one of Rockwell’s Curtiss Jenny trainers.
Here is the sixth 1917 Junior Military Aviator (JMA) class of San Diego, California. From left to right are Captain Wright, Lieutenant Furlow, Lieutenant Shields, Lieutenant Colonel Turner (USMC), Lieutenant Smith, Captain Fleet, Captain Stroup, and Lieutenant Scheleen. Upon receiving his pilot wings as military aviator No. 74, Fleet was assigned to the Army Air Service, headquartered in Washington, D.C., to plan and supervise aircrew training. Under his direction, the program trained over 11,000 army pilots in less than two years.
On May 15, 1918, the Post Office Department began scheduled airmail service between New York and Washington, D.C., utilizing army planes and pilots. Seen here on that day is Reuben Fleet. He was appointed officer-in-charge of the Aerial Mail Service by Henry Hap
Arnold, the assistant Air Corps chief and future commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces.
In 1919, Fleet was reassigned to McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, at the U.S. Army Flight Test Center, where he made contacts with U.S. aircraft contractors and manufacturers. Fleet left the Signal Corps as a major in 1922 to begin his distinguished career as an aviation industrialist. He turned down executive positions with Boeing and Curtiss before joining the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation as vice president and general manager until the company folded. Acquiring the assets and engineering talents of Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation and the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, Fleet combined the two into a new firm, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation, on May 29, 1923.
Located in the Gallaudet aircraft factory in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, the newly formed company picked up the Gallaudet contracts for 20 TW-3 trainers as well as the services of Col. Virginius Clark, designer of the trainer. Fleet originally met Clark at McCook Field. Clark had been the chief aeronautical engineer for the U.S. Army, leaving in 1920 to join the