Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Aircraft Industries.
Vought became independent again in 1954, and was purchased by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) in 1961. The company designed and produced a variety of planes and missiles throughout the Cold War. Vought was sold from LTV and owned in various degrees by the Carlyle Group and Northrop Grumman in the early 1990s. It was then fully bought by Carlyle, renamed Vought Aircraft Industries, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas. In June 2010, the Carlyle Group sold Vought to the Triumph Group.
History
Chance Vought years 1917–1928
USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) equipped with a trapeze and a Vought biplane (UO-1), probably a VE-7 Bluebird, for parasite fighter tests
In 1917, the Lewis and Vought Corporation was founded by Lewis, an early aviator, and Vought, a former chief engineer of the Wright Company. They sought to take advantage of the growing field of military and civilian aviation after World War I. Operations began in Astoria, New York; in 1919, they moved to Long Island City, New York. After Lewis retired in 1922, it was renamed the Chance Vought Corporation.
Vought made history in 1922 when the Vought VE-7 trainer made the first takeoff from the deck of the USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier. Later came the VE-11 naval fighter and the Vought O2U Corsair, the first of the Corsair aircraft.
Despite the Great Depression, Vought continued to design and manufacture aircraft at a growing pace. Soon after Chance Vought's death in 1930, the company moved its operations to East Hartford, Connecticut. Under the Air Mail Act of 1934, United Aircraft and Transportation Corp. was forced by law to divide its businesses, resulting in Boeing Aircraft, United Airlines, and the United Aircraft Corp, of which Vought was a part. In 1939, United Aircraft moved Vought to Stratford, Connecticut, where it merged with the Sikorsky division to become Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft.
A formation of British Corsairs in 1944
Chief engineer Rex Beisel began in 1938 to develop the XF4U, recognized by its distinctive inverted gull wings. After its first flight, in 1940, thousands of F4U Corsairs were produced for the Navy and Marines in World War II. By the end of its production in 1952, Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster had all produced the Corsair fighters. Vought was reestablished as a separate division in United Aircraft in 1942.
In postwar 1949, Vought moved operations to the former North American Aviation "B" plant in Dallas, Texas. The move was pushed by the Navy, who believed that having both of its main aircraft suppliers on the East Coast was an unnecessary risk. Vought moved 27 million pounds of equipment and 1,300 employees in 14 months, a record-breaking industrial move at the time.
In 1954, the company separated from United Aircraft and became the independent Chance Vought Aircraft Inc.
Vought began making its F-8 Crusader for the Navy in 1957; it was one of the Navy's first supersonic fighters and its last all-gun fighter. The same basic design was later heavily revised and shortened to produce Vought's A-7 Corsair II, a carrier-borne close-air-support and attack plane. Entering service in 1965, the Corsair II was heavily engaged in a close support and strike missions during the Vietnam War, beginning in 1967. The A-7 also participated in the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983; a punitive raid on Syrian missile sites in 1983; reprisal raids against Libya during Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986; strikes against Iranian coastal platforms and naval forces during Operation Praying Mantis in 1988; support of the 1989 invasion of Panama; and throughout operations during Desert Storm in 1991. The A-7A, A-7B, A-7C and A-7E served with the US Navy while the A-7D was purchased by the US Air Force and Air National Guard. Two-seat models known as TA-7C/Es served with the U.S. Navy while the US Air Force purchased the TA-7K. The A-7 served in limited numbers with three foreign air forces, including Greece (A-7H/TA-7H), Portugal (A-7P/TA-7P) and Thailand (ex-USN A-7E/TA-7E).
IN 1962, Vought was bought by James Ling, who formed a conglomerate dubbed Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). Vought Aeronautics and Vought Missiles and Space continued to develop and produce for the Air Force and Navy under the umbrella of LTV Aerospace.
The first of two decades of reorganizations began in 1972 with the creation of Vought Systems by the merging of the Vought Missiles and Space and Aeronautics divisions. All of LTV Aerospace was renamed the Vought Corporation in 1976, but by 1983 the Vought company was again split along aeronautic and missile lines under LTV Aerospace and Defense.
By the early 1980s, LTV was struggling, and Vought laid off many employees.
Boeing announced in July 2009 that it had agreed to acquire the North Charleston, South Carolina, facility of Vought Aircraft Industries, where Vought builds sections 47 and 48 of the aft fuselage for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Boeing agreed to pay $580 million for the facility.[3]
In June 2010, the Carlyle Group sold Vought to the Triumph Group, an aerospace component manufacturer.[4] The Vought acquisitions now operate as Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division.[5] The Dallas/Grand Prairie facility was closed; operations moved to a new facility in Red Oak, Texas.
Airbus A330 and A340-200/-300 (mid- and outer-leading edge assemblies, mid-rear spars, center spar assembly, flaps, fairings and upper panel assemblies )
Airbus A340-500/-600 (mid- and outer-leading edge assemblies, mid-rear spars, center spar assembly, upper panels and stringers)
The LTV A-7 Corsair II is an American carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV).
Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2001. At its peak, it was involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, among other businesses.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. is an American manufacturer of aerostructures for commercial airplanes, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. The company produces fuselage sections for Boeing's 737 and 787 aircraft, as well as the flight deck sections for a majority of Boeing airliners. Spirit also supplies Airbus with fuselage sections and front wing spars for the A350 and wings for the A220. Spirit's primary competitors in the aerostructures market include Collins Aerospace, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Leonardo, and Triumph Group.
Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc. is a state-owned arms company in Turkey.
The Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company (TEMCO), also known as Temco Aircraft Corporation, was a U.S.-based manufacturing company located in Dallas, Texas, USA. It is best known for eventually forming part of the conglomerate Ling-Temco-Vought.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) is one of the four core business areas for American company Lockheed Martin.
The Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) XC-142 is a tiltwing experimental aircraft designed to investigate the operational suitability of vertical/short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) transports. An XC-142A first flew conventionally on 29 September 1964, and completed its first transitional flight on 11 January 1965 by taking off vertically, changing to forward flight, and finally landing vertically. Its service sponsors pulled out of the program one by one, and it eventually ended due to a lack of interest after demonstrating its capabilities successfully.
The Hellenic Air Force Museum was founded in 1986 and since 1992 has been located on Dekelia Air Base in Acharnes north of Athens. In opposition to the War Museum of Athens it displays air force history and is active in restoring and presenting old aircraft. Most aircraft in the collection come from the Hellenic Air Force; some were exchanged with other European aircraft museums.
Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) is an Indian aerospace manufacturing, military engineering and defense technology company. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, a holding company for the Tata Group.
The Vought YA-7F "Strikefighter" is a prototype transonic attack aircraft based on the subsonic A-7 Corsair II. Two prototypes were converted from A-7Ds. The YA-7F was not ordered into production, its intended role being filled by the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
The Vought/General Dynamics Model 1600 series was a fighter aircraft proposal for the United States Navy's Navy Air Combat Fighter (NACF) program. The Model 1600 was a carrier-based derivative of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, but lost to the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.
Premium AEROTEC is a German aerospace manufacturing business, headquartered in Augsburg in Germany. It is a subsidiary of Airbus.
The Air Force Flight Test Museum is an aviation museum located at Edwards Air Force Base near Rosamond, California focused on the history of the Air Force Flight Test Center.
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.
