Robert Norris Hartzell (born June 3, 1896 in Ohio, died December 11, 1968) was an American entrepreneur who started Hartzell Propeller in 1917, a company that produces aircraft propellers. [1] [2]
Romert N. Hartzell studied to be an engineer at the University of Cincinnati, but quit his studies in 1917 to help his father in his lumber business. [3]
An embargo enforced by the First World War made access to goods problematic, and the firm had to improvise. They changed production to rifle flasks, while also delivering lumber to companies that produced plane propellers. Orville Wright, who lived nearby, and knew of Hartzell's interest in planes and flying, suggested that the company started producing plane propellers themselves. Hartzell started doing this, and received an order from the US Navy for propellers for Liberty engines, the most common plane motor of the time.
The war ended, and orders dried up. Hartzell began production of its first plane, the FC-1. The plywood plane participated in a race in 1923 which it won. An improved model, the FC-2, won a second race the following year. However, Hartzell found it problematic to compete against his own customers, and to combine production of propellers with aircraft.
From the 1920s, the company again explored alternative ways of making money. He had heard that there was money in ceiling fans, and founded the Hartzell Propeller Fan Company. The company also made cabinets for radios and record players, and car wheels. At the same time, the company received orders from the Navy for propellers for the airships Macon and Shenandoah.
With the Second World War came new opportunities and orders from the defence forces. Hartzell moved over from walnut propellers to metal for Curtiss-Wright and Hamilton Standard. After the war, he became the market leader in propellers with variable pitch made from aluminium, while also creating propeller blades from composite materials. In 1949 he patented the composite Hartzite.
Thought to be lightweight and low cost, Harzell's propeller was the market leader in the 60s and 70s, with a market share of over 90% of two-engined small planes.
Hartzell died in 1968.
In 2015 he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors.
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is an American, global diversified product manufacturer and service provider, incorporated in Delaware with headquarters in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, which supplies the commercial, industrial, defense, and energy markets. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and various supplier companies, by the end of World War II it was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States, supplying whole aircraft in large numbers to the U.S. Armed Forces. It has since evolved away from the final assembly of finished aircraft, becoming a component manufacturer specializing in actuators, aircraft controls, valves, and surface-treatment services. It also is a supplier to commercial nuclear power, nuclear navy systems, industrial vehicles and to the oil and gas industries. It has an integrated supply chain and an extensive worldwide service network and is one of the largest diversified market players in the aerospace sector.
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships. In 1908, Curtiss joined the Aerial Experiment Association, a pioneering research group, founded by Alexander Graham Bell at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, to build flying machines.
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer formed in 1916 by Glenn Hammond Curtiss. After significant commercial success in the 'teens and 20s, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical in 1929 to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
An airplane or aeroplane is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The Republic RC-3 Seabee is an all-metal amphibious sports aircraft designed by Percival Spencer and manufactured by the Republic Aircraft Corporation.
The PZL M28 Skytruck is a Polish STOL light cargo and passenger plane, produced by PZL Mielec, as a development of license-built Antonov An-28s. Early licence-built planes were designated PZL An-28. The maritime patrol and reconnaissance variants are named PZL M28B Bryza.
The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single-engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier DA20 by Diamond Aircraft Industries.
Ratier-Figeac is an aircraft components manufacturer in Figeac, France.
The Curtiss Models F made up a family of early flying boats developed in the United States in the years leading up to World War I. Widely produced, Model Fs saw service with the United States Navy under the designations C-2 through C-5, later reclassified to AB-2 through AB-5. Several examples were exported to Russia, and the type was built under license in Italy.
The Naval Aircraft Factory PN was a series of open cockpit American flying boats of the 1920s and 1930s. A development of the Felixstowe F5L flying boat of the First World War, variants of the PN were built for the United States Navy by Douglas, Keystone Aircraft and Martin.
The Curtiss T-32 Condor II was a 1930s American biplane airliner and bomber aircraft built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. It was used by the United States Army Air Corps as an executive transport.
The Utva Lasta 95 is a light military trainer aircraft produced by Utva Aviation Industry. It is a tandem two-seater low-wing trainer with a metal airframe. The aircraft is capable of basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument and tactical flying, as well as basic training in use of weapons. The first prototype of Lasta 1 flew on 2 September 1985, while the first prototype of the current version, Lasta 3, flew on February 26, 2009. Lasta is the Serbian word for barn swallow.
The General Aeroplane Company was Detroit's first commercial airplane builder. GAC built three types of aircraft during the First World War and operated a flying school. The aircraft were the Verville Flying Boat, the Gamma S biplane with floats (floatplane), and the Gamma L biplane with wheels. All had engine installations driving pusher propellers.
Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced the Ford Trimotor. At the height of the Depression, Ford closed the aircraft design and production division in 1936, temporarily re-entering the aviation market with the production of the B-24, at the Willow Run aircraft factory during World War II.
The Socata TB is a series of light single engine piston aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company SOCATA. The letters TB within the designation stands for Tarbes, the French city where the aircraft is manufactured. The TB series planes have come to be known as the "Caribbean Planes", due to the island naming convention adopted for the various models, though they are not often seen flown in that region.
Hartzell Propeller was founded in 1917 by Robert N. Hartzell as the Hartzell Walnut Propeller Company. It is an American manufacturer of composite and aluminum propellers for certified, homebuilt, and ultralight aircraft. The company is headquartered in Piqua, Ohio.
Dwane Leon Wallace was an American aviation businessman and aircraft designer. He served as the President and/or chairman of the board of the Cessna Aircraft Company from 1935 until the 1970s, having then continued on the board as a director and consultant into the 1980s. He is generally credited with leading the company from a minor role in the aviation industry to overwhelming dominance—ultimately the world's largest and most diverse general aviation manufacturer with the highest volume of aircraft production. Wallace later became known as the "Quiet Giant of Aviation", and was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2012. He was included in the Flying Magazine list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation", placing at number 11.
The Lancair Sentry is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed and produced by Lancair of Redmond, Oregon, introduced in 2002. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction, although it was also intended as a production military trainer aircraft. First flown in September 2001, only two were ever completed.