Leroy Grumman
gained aeronautical experience with the U.S. Navy and Loening
Aircraft. When Loening was sold to Keystone in 1929, Grumman
struck out on his own forming the Grumman Aircraft Engineering
Corp. in 1930.
Grumman's first contract with the Navy was to
produce a new amphibious float (model G-1)for floatplanes. The
unique method used to retract the landing-gear into the float was
duplicated in the company's first aircraft, the FF-1 fighter of
1931. The FF-1 marked the beginning of Grumman's dominance of
the U.S. naval fighter market until the rise of McDonnell Aircraft
in the mid-1950s.
Grumman did well in both the civil and military
markets after World War II, developing Gulfstream executive
aircraft, the F-14 Tomcat and the Apollo Lunar Lander.
In 1978, Grumman sold it's Gulfstream operations
to Gulfstream American.
By the early 1990's there was no place left for a
smaller successful aircraft aircraft and Grumman was acquired by
Northrop to form Northrop Grumman.
