Curtiss-Wright history

The Cyclone Engine powered the venerable Douglas DC-3 transport, a potent combination that opened up the United States Airline Transportation System before World War II. In 1934, Curtiss-Wright was chosen to build the 9 cylinder radial engines for the four-engine Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

In January 1935, the Justice Department indicted the Curtiss‐Wright Corporation for selling machine guns in violation of the embargo.

In 1937, the company developed the P-36 fighter aircraft, resulting in the largest peacetime aircraft order ever given by the Army Air Corps.

See photo of P-40 Hawks being assembled early 1940' s urtiss-Wright Plant (Genesee St)

A search began for a location for a new plant and in February 1941, the War Department announced that a site had been chosen – a farm in Borough (now Vanport) Township near Beaver, Pa.

In May 1942, the United States government assigned Curtiss-Wright a defense production factory for wartime aircraft construction at Louisville, Kentucky, to produce the C-76 Caravan cargo plane, which was constructed mostly of wood, a non-priority war material.

1943 monthly employee numbers, start of production at plant Feb.

1945 By September 1945 the 40,000 people working at Curtiss-Wright has been reduced to 5,500 and the ripple is felt throughout the whole economy.

1946 In early 1946, after the war, Curtiss-Wright announces that it is closing almost all of its Buffalo operations.

The final nail in the coffin was the choice of the Northrop F-89 Scorpion over the XF-87 Blackhawk; after the F-87 was cancelled October 10, 1948, Curtiss-Wright shut down its entire Aeroplane Division and sold the assets to North American Aviation.

With the approaching twilight of the big piston aircraft engine, Curtiss-Wright needed new design inspiration. in 1950, Curtiss-Wright licensed the Sapphire jet engine from Armstrong Siddeley in the U.K and manufactured it as the Wright J65.

1951: Lead by Roy Hurley, CWC begins massive diversification drive.

In 1954, United Airlines bought four Curtiss-Wright flight simulators at a cost of $3 million.

By the end of 1955, Hurley’s diversification drive had helped propel Curtiss-Wright’s annual sales from $475 million a year to more than $500 million, with commercial sales generating about 40 percent of the company’s income.

In 1956, financially strapped automaker Studebaker-Packard Corporation entered into a management agreement with Curtiss-Wright as a means for the nation's fifth-largest automobile manufacturer to avoid insolvency.

By 1957, about two-thirds of Curtiss-Wright’s sales were from government contracts and about two-thirds of its profits stemmed from nonmilitary sales.

For a brief time, Curtiss-Wright licensed rights to the Wankel rotary engine from NSU in 1958 as a possible aircraft power plant.

The relationship lasted until 1959 at which time Curtiss-Wright withdrew from the agreement.

In April 1960 Hurley was confronted by a hostile crowd at the firm’s annual meeting and faced criticism over falling earnings, reduced dividends, high officer compensation, and in-sufficient information regarding the company’s experimental developments.

With the acquisition of Target Rock Corporation in 1961, the Company laid the foundation of what is now our industrial valves business.

In 1962, the company received a Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) contract to study compressor, turbine, and computer technologies for supersonic transport jet engines and began competing for a major government contract to develop and produce a supersonic commercial airliner engine.

1967: CWC drops jet engine business in favor of flap actuation systems and metal treatment.

In 1968, Curtiss-Wright began an expansion program at its Buffalo extrusion facility, adding new forging and machining equipment for building aircraft and aerospace components.

In 1969, Curtiss-Wright acquired a majority interest in Dorr-Oliver Inc., an engineering firm that made mechanized equipment for airline cargo terminals; CurtissWright eventually acquired complete control of Dorr-Oliver.

In 1970, General Motors Corporation paid $50 million to acquire a five-year nonexclusive license to develop and manufacture the rotary combustion engine in North America.

In 1972, Curtiss-Wright granted Wankel development licenses to Brunswick Corporation, a manufacturer of the Mercury line of outboard motors, and Ingersoll-Rand Company, for use in that firm’s compressor, pump, and electric generator assemblies.

The following year, American Motors Corporation became Curtiss-Wright’s seventh Wankel licensee, about the same time that GM announced it would introduce the rotary engine in its 1975 Vega model.

During this time, Teledyne Inc., a diversified firm with interests in electronic and aviation control systems and insurance, began acquiring Curtiss-Wright stock, and, by mid-1976, it held a 12-percent stake.

My Dad went on to a successful 34-year airline career (with Colonial and Eastern) and was inducted into the NJ Aviation HOF at Teterboro Airport in 1977.

Lasky had been with the company 38 years; Benante had joined in 1978.

Through its Target Rock subsidiary, a supplier of valves for nuclear applications in the United States Navy and the commercial nuclear power industry, Curtiss-Wright entered the commercial fossil power market in 1980 for similar critical steam valve applications.

Curtiss-Wright’s sale of Cenco—resulting in $9.8 million in earnings—along with a $52 million gain from the sale of Dorr-Oliver and Kennecott shares helped push Curtiss-Wright’s 1981 earnings to $85 million.

However, this investment proved unsuccessful; Curtiss-Wright lost $42 million on the company, and as its 1984 total earnings plunged to $1.9 million—down from $18.5 million a year earlier—the company sold its stake in Western Union.

In 1986, Curtiss-Wright received an Air Force contract in excess of $40 million to provide wing-flap actuators for the F-16, leading to ongoing F-16 actuator business.

In March 1990, Berner died and was succeeded by Shirley D. Brinsfield, an outside director and former chairperson of Cenco who pledged to focus Curtiss-Wright’s operations on manufacturing rather than investments.

In July 1991, Ehinger resigned as president and Brinsfield assumed the duties of president.

The future of Curtiss-Wright, which abandoned the sale of its subsidiaries in 1993 in favor of optimum shareholder value, appeared contingent on both the economics of the company’s traditional markets and the company’s success in broaching new markets.

Curtiss-Wright entered 1994 seeking expanded commercial markets in the area of pollution control, for which its electronic control valves were well suited.

A European subsidiary, Curtiss-Wright Flight Systems/Europe, opened in 1995.

Overseas business, growing significantly, accounted for 18 percent of sales and 34 percent of profits in 1996.

Boeing announced a slowdown in production in late 1998.

Annual sales, at $293 million, were up 18 percent in 1999.

David Lasky retired in April 2000 and was succeeded by Martin R. Benante as CEO and chairman.

In 2002, Curtiss-Wright acquired Penny & Giles, a supplier of black boxes and sensing devices (Hybrid linear, hybrid rotary, and VRVT sensors).

In 2003, Curtiss-Wright acquired Systran Corporation, a supplier of highly specialized, high-performance data communications products for real-time systems, primarily for the aerospace and defense, industrial automation and medical image markets.

In 2010, Curtiss-Wright acquired Hybricon Corporation for $19 million in cash.

In 2011, Curtiss-Wright acquired Ireland-based Acra Control for $61 million in cash.

At the beginning of 2013, Curtiss-Wright acquired Exlar Corporation for $85 million in cash.

With $75 million in capital (equivalent to $11.3 billion in 2020), it became the largest aviation company in the United States.