The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 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 subsidiary was being closed by its parent corporation, General Motors.[1] Consolidated became famous, during the 1920s and 1930s, for its line of flying boats. The most successful of the Consolidated patrol boats was the PBY Catalina, which was produced throughout World War II and used extensively by the Allies. Equally famous was the B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber which, like the Catalina, saw action in both the Pacific and European theaters.
Tourists with a Consolidated Commodore flying boat used by Pan Am to fly routes in the Caribbean in the 1930s.
Consolidated Aircraft (and later Convair) had their headquarters in San Diego, California, on the border of Lindbergh Field (KSAN).
Consolidated's first design was one of those purchased by Fleet from Dayton-Wright, the TW-3 primary trainer, sold to the U.S. Army as the PT-1 Trusty. In September 1924 the company moved from the Gallaudet plant in Connecticut to new facilities in Buffalo, New York, and in the same year won a U.S. Navy contract for a naval version of the PT-1 designated the NY-1.[1]
Lawrence D. Bell served as the Operating Head at Consolidated from 1929 to 1934. When the company relocated to San Diego, Bell decided to stay behind to start up his own company, the Bell Aircraft Corporation, in the former Consolidated plant.[2]
A Consolidated Aircraft hydraulic mechanic greasing the landing gear of a transport
In September 1935 Consolidated moved across the country to its new "Building 1", a 247,000-square-foot (22,900m2) continuous flow factory in San Diego, California. The first production PBY Catalina was launched in San Diego Bay in 1936,[3] and the first XPB2Y-1 Coronado test aircraft made its first flight in 1937.[4] Consolidated vice president Edgar Gott was responsible for securing the company's contract to design and build the B-24 Liberator bomber.[5] The XB-24 Liberator prototype made its first flight in December 1939, and the first production order was from the French in 1940, just days before their surrender to Germany; six of these YB-24 Liberators were designated LB-30A and ferried to Britain.[6]
In 1940, Consolidated bought Hall-Aluminum Aircraft Corporation and dissolved the company. Archibald M. Hall was President of the company at the time and later became an executive of Consolidated. Several other Hall-Aluminum engineers and technical people were added to the Consolidated staff to meet defense production needs.[7] By the fall of 1941, Consolidated was San Diego's largest employer with 25,000 employees, which eventually expanded to 45,000 by the following year.[8][9]
In November 1941, Fleet sold his 34.26% interest in Consolidated for $10.9 million to Victor Emanuel, the president of AVCO, with the idea that Consolidated would be merged with AVCO's Vultee subsidiary.[6]
Consolidated Aircraft patch during WWII
To meet the needs of the military during World War II, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold decided to open a regular air transport service between the U.S. mainland and the Southwest Pacific in April 1942. The Ferry Command chose Consolidated as the operating agency, forming Consolidated Airways, Inc., also known as Consairways. The airlines carried personnel, cargo and delivered aircraft to the Pacific Theatre. It was reported to have carried more than 101 million tons of cargo and had flown more than 299 million passenger miles when it closed in 1945.[10]
In March 1953, General Dynamics purchased a majority interest in Convair, where it continued to produce aircraft or aircraft components until being sold to McDonnell Douglas in 1994. McDonnell Douglas shut down the division after just two years of operations in 1996.
Unbuilt four engine monoplane flying boat patrol bomber
Related Research Articles
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters. Bell also developed the Reaction Control System for the Mercury Spacecraft, North American X-15, and Bell Rocket Belt. The company was purchased in 1960 by Textron, and lives on as Bell Textron.
Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it was purchased by General Dynamics, and operated as their Convair Division for most of its corporate history.
The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina, is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In US Army service it was designated the OA-10, in Canadian service as the Canso and it later received the NATO reporting name Mop. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. The last military PBYs served until the 1980s. As of 2021, 86 years after its first flight, the aircraft continues to fly as a waterbomber in aerial firefighting operations in some parts of the world.
The Convair XF-92 was an American, delta wing, first-generation jet prototype. Originally conceived as a point-defence interceptor, the design was later used purely for experimental purposes and only one was built. However, it led Convair to use the delta-wing on a number of designs, including the F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart, B-58 Hustler, the US Navy's F2Y Sea Dart as well as the VTOL FY Pogo.
San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. SDASM was established by articles of incorporation on October 12, 1961, and opened to the public on February 15, 1963.
Vultee Aircraft, Inc., was an aircraft manufacturer founded in 1939 in Los Angeles County, California, when the Vultee Aircraft Division of the aviation holding company AVCO was reorganized as an independent company. It had limited success before merging with the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation on March 17–18, 1943, to form the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation − or Convair.
Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron, which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming.
The Yanks Air Museum is an aviation museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California.
The Consolidated PT-1 Trusty was a biplane primary trainer used by the United States Army Air Service (USAAS).
The Douglas XP3D was a prototype American patrol flying boat of the 1930s. A twin-engined high-winged monoplane, the P3D was produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company to equip the US Navy's Patrol squadrons, but despite meeting the Navy's requirements, the rival Consolidated PBY was preferred owing to a lower price.
Reuben Hollis Fleet was an American aviation pioneer, industrialist and army officer. Fleet founded and led several corporations, including Consolidated Aircraft.
Isaac Machlin Laddon was an American aeronautical engineer and designer.
The Convair Model 118 ConvAirCar was a prototype flying car of which two were built. Intended for mainstream consumers, two prototypes were built and flown. The first prototype was lost in an accident due to fuel exhaustion. Subsequently, the second prototype was rebuilt from the damaged aircraft and flown. By that time, little enthusiasm remained for the project and the program ended shortly thereafter.
Vance Breese (1904–1973) was an American aviation engineer and test pilot.
Air Force Plant 4 is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility in Fort Worth, Texas, currently owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. It is home to the F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft. Military aircraft have been manufactured at the plant since 1942. Plant 4 is adjacent to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, formerly Carswell Air Force Base.
Consairway was an American civilian wartime airline created in late 1941 as a subsidiary of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Consolidated.
Footnotes
↑ Only assets purchased, no direct organizational connection
↑ Only design rights purchased, not entire company
↑ Herman, Arthur. Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, pp. 219–34, 242–3, Random House, New York, NY. ISBN978-1-4000-6964-4.
↑ Pescador, Katrina; Renga, Alan (2007). Aviation in San Diego. Arcadia Publishing. p.95. ISBN978-0-7385-4759-6.
Bibliography
Yenne, Bill. Convair Deltas from SeaDart to Hustler. Specialty Press: North Branch, MN, 2009. ISBN978-1-58007-118-5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
