Professional Pilot, May 2019

OUTER MARKER INBOUND From biplanes to the moon The incredible story of Leroy Grumman By David Bjellos ATP Helo Gulfstream IV Sikorsky S76 Bell 407 Pro Pilot Senior Contributor F ew engineers and even fewer airmen have prospered in name and reputation for over half a century and only a tiny handful of those have seen the progression from wood and fabric aircraft to landing on the moon Here is the story of Leroy Grumman and his remarkable journey literally through time and space and whose namesake company has been around since the dawn of aviation Grumman earned his Navy wings at Pensacola in 1918 and was sent to Boston to study at MIT and learn the new discipline of aeronautical engineering His fi rst posting was at League Island Naval Yard just north of Philadelphia Airport where he tested and accepted fl ying boats for the US Navy His airmanship and engineering expertise prompted the US Navy to send Grumman to the Loening Aeronautical Corporation then based on the East River in Manhattan to oversee trainer aircraft fabrication and completion He served there as test pilot and production supervisor and drew the attention and admiration of the company founder Grover Loening who was taught to fl y by Orville Wright By 1920 post WWI peacetime required a reduction in force of all branches of the military and Loening offered Grumman a job He eventually became Loening Aeronautical Corps general manager The Great Depression of 1929 caused Loening to sell his NYC operation and production was moved to Bristol PA Grumman chose not to remain with the new company 76 PROFESSIONAL PILOT May 2019 F6F Hellcat and Mitsubishi A6M Zero replica fl y side by side during an airshow Keystone Instead along with 2 other key employees from Loening he formed his own company named Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Company based in Baldwin NY His initial work consisted primarily of repairing the Loening M 8 monoplane produced for the US Navy as a trainer the same ones he oversaw as GM His engineers were expert aluminum fabricators from their experience at automobile construction and Leroy Grumman had all the work he could handle from bent and broken seaplanes twisted at the hands of young naval aviators Grover Loening and his brother Albert wisely became investors in Grummans new venture During his time at Loening Grumman had helped develop and perfect amphibious landing gear He was awarded a patent for this design and was rewarded with US Navy contracts for amphibious aircraft and eventually the commercial market He also invented the famous stow wing folding system for carrier based aircraft which have become standard for nearly all purpose built carrier aircraft today As WWII approached Grummans profi ciencies and manufacturing strengths resulted in the US Navy ordering the famous F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat The TBF Avenger Tigercat and Bearcat quickly followed Britain and France along with a host of smaller nations ordered the Wildcat Each of the navy types performed well and were rugged perfect for ship board operations In later years his civilian aircraft were affectionately referred to as being built at the Grumman iron works by fl ightcrews and technicians alike due to their strength and reliability One of the fi rst jets to join the carrier based fl eet was the F9F 5 Panther shown here with VF 111 aboard CVA 39 USS Lake Champlain Eventually the A 6 Intruder and F 14 Tomcat would join carrier ops from the Grumman stable Note the folding hinged wing design Leroy Grumman invented the concept and it has been adopted for nearly every single carrier based aircraft built since Always the airman fi rst Leroy Randle Grumman remained an active aviator well into his career Diabetes began to rob him of his sight in his early 40s and although he gave up the cockpit he remained an integral part of his company into his 70s and was instrumental in many crucial decisions regarding aircraft design and confi guration