History of Curtis Wright Aeronautical Company

8/14/2019 History of Curtis Wright Aeronautical Company

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HISIDRY AND OllGANIZATIONOF

liRIGHT UlION,w'![CAL DIVISIONCURTIS5-liRIGHT CORPORATION


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Wright Aeronautical Divisional the Curtiss-Wright Corporation traces its origlns back to the bicycle shop of Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio. Withthe military acceptance of the airplane the Wright brothers formed a company in1909 with $1, 000, 000 capltali l.ation. That company which was issued the first patentfor "an alleged approvement in flying machines" was the direct forerunner of theWright Aeronautical Division.

Man's First Powered FUghtOrville Wright is at the controls in this flight from Kill Devil Hill,

Kitty Hawk, N.C., on December 17, 1903.

Aircraft power is power of a special kind--a fact that Wilbur and Orville Wrightdiscovered when they built the plane that made the first successful powered Ulghtin December, 1903. They needed a compact, dependable, light-we ight engine fortheir flimsy craft, and they were forced to build i t themselves. From that day onward, the building of aircraft engines has been a job for speCialists.

The Wright brothers bullt their own engines until about the time of World War I,when the Wright Company and the Glenn L. Martin interest were temporarily mergedto form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company in New Brunswick, which built thousands of engines for allied warplanes. Alter the Armistice the company split toform Wright Aeronautical and th e Glenn L. Martin Company of Baltimore.

Wright Aeronauticalcontinued to build Uquid-cooled engines after it establisheditself in comparatively small quarters in Paterson, but meanwhile the company'Bdesigners were working on an air-cooled engine which promised great results inhighpower, light weight, and reliability. Charles L. Lawrence, a brilliant young engineer who had been working independently on the air-cooled engine, joined the company during this period and brought the conclusions of hi s experiments to add towhat Wright engineers had discovered about the new type power plant.

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In the decade following the founding of Wright Aeronautical, aviation began togrow up. Trailblazers such as Lindbergh, Byrd, Chamberlin, and Kingsford-Smith,flying planes powered by the new Wright Whirlwind engines, explored the Crontiersof the sky in nights that will stand forever as milestones in aviation progress.

Charles Lindbergh examining the Wright J-5 "Whirlwind"on his plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis".

The 1930's, despite aworldwidedepression, were the years when the air trans-port industry established itseU as an important part of the world's commerce. Theintroduction of the famous Curtiss-Wright Cyclone series during this time madepossible the operation of aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3, which became thestandard equipment for almost every airUne. The "G100" nine-cylinder Cyclonethat powered a majority of theDe-3's of this period was the first aircraft engine toproduce 1000 horsepower.

The Cyclone 14 made it s appearance during the 1930' s and was installed in theBoeing 314 clippers of Pan American Airways. These planes, considered giants inthose days, established the first regularly scheduled transatlantic and transpacificpassenger service and played an important part in intercontinental military transport during World Wa:r n.

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As the 1930's drew to a close, Wright Aeronautical engineers, working underclose military security, designed and made preliminary tests of a new engine whichlater overshadowed anything yet attempted in aircraft power plants. This new engine made possible long-range strategic bombing during World War II. The enginedeveloped into the Cyclone 18, with it s present basic configuration of two rows ofnine cylinders each. The Air Force believed the engine so promising that it orderedWright to put its development program on a round-the-clock schedule. After flighttime had been accumulated on the Consolidated Flying Boat and the Douglas B-19,the Cyclone 18 became the power for the famous B-29, first of the big bombers.Gen. H. H. Arnold, later referred to the B-17, the "big" bomber of the early waryears, as "the last of the small bombers".

By the time World War II began, Wright engineers had raised the horsepowerof the Cyclone 18 from it s original 1700 to nearly 2000. Although i t was not yetready for production, other models were. Late-model Whirlwind, Cyclone 9 andCyclone 14 engines were in ever-increasing production for the fighting aircraft ofthe French, British, and United states Air Forces, such as the B-17 "F lying Fortress", A-20 Havoc, 8-25 Mitchell, FM-2 Wildcat, SB2C Helldiver and SBD Dauntless.

The demands of war production brought about tremendous expansion in thephysical facilities of Wright Aeronautical. In the Paterson area, three new plantswere acquired. The largest aircraft engine plant in the world was built near Cincinnati by the government for operation by Wright Aeronautical, and the presentplant in Wood-Ridge was started in 1942, to be operated in the same manner.

In spite of this large expansion program, Wright Aeronautical had to licensesix manufacturers to build Cyclone and Whirlwind engines.The highest priority was assigned the Wood-Ridge plant which turned out 750Cyclone 18 engines per month.At the end of thewar, Wright Aeronauticalpurchased the Wood-Ridge plant fromthe government and the company-owned plants in Paterson were sold and others wereturned back to the government.With the return to peace, Wright Aeronautical Lmmediately began a broad program of development and test on gas turbines, ram jets, and the Turbo Compoundengine. At the same time, development of reciprocating engines for commercialand military craft was continued at a high pace.This broad engineering program was adopted with recognition of the long-term

needs of all types of aviation. The war had proved the dependability and usefulnessof the reciprocating engine, but it had also demonstrated that new types of powerplants such as the turbo jet and ram jet were to have lmportant military missions.The airlines of the world began a period of great expansion immediately afterthe war. Their equipment, which had seen extremely hard usage during the conflict, needed extensive replacements. One transport plane developed fo r the military (the Lockheed Constellation) promised new speed and efficiency for handlingthe millions of passengers and tons of freight which the lines were being called onto carry.

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By the end of World War ll , Wright Aeronautical had increased the rating ofits CIS engine to 2500 horsepower, which meant proportionately larger airframesbecame practical. Lockheed came up with a new series of Constellations -- theL-649 and L-749 -- which se t new highs of luxury fo r transcontinental and intercontinenta l flight.

The Curtiss-Wrightpowerplantand the Lockheed airframe proved to be a combination which permitted large growth potentials. Wright Aeronautical engineerscame up with an entirely new type aircraft power plant, which they called the TurboCompound. Introduced shortly after World War n on both military and commercial aircraft, the Turbo Compound provided the best characteristics of speed,range and fuel economy ever developed in an aircraft engine.

Today the Curtiss-Wright Turbo Compound, rated 3700 horsepower for military operations and at 3400 horsepower for commercial operations, has been selectedto power fleets of Super Constellations and Douglas DC-7's of 36 of the world'sleading airlines. The Turbo Compound continues to be foremost in commercial airtransportation with orders for Turbo Compound powered aircraft booked through1958.

Cutaway view of Curtiss-Wright Turbo Compound engine withCurtiss Electric propeller.

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Douglas DC-7C "Seven Seas" transport powered by fourCurtiss-Wright Turbo Compound engines.

The TC18 engine developed by Wright Aeronautical is a unique combination ofpiston engine and turbine. The turbine recovers exhaust gases which are usuallywasted and give the engine 20 pe r cent more power with no increase in iuel consumption. The Turbo Compound is the most eiftcient engine ever put in production.

Curtiss-Wright TC18EAl Turbo Compound Engine5


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Curtiss- Wright Turbo Compound Engine Assembly Line

Because of it s unmatched dependability and long range, the Turbo Compoundhas been chosen by the Air Force and Navy to power their early warning and antisubmarine patrol aircraft.The first installation of the new Turbo Compound was in the Lockheed P2VNep

tune patrol bomber of the U. S. Navy, a long range anti-submarine plane which isalso now in use by Australian and British coastal patrol groups. In addition i t isinstalled in the Martin P5M Marlin patrol flying boat, and Lockheed RC-121 andR7V-l, and the Fairchild C-119 transports of the Air Force.

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Lockheed P2V-7 "Neptune" patrol bomber powered by twoCurtiss-Wright R3350-32W engines.

The Wright Engineering Department was also busy during this time with de velopment of ram je t engines for guided missiles. This program, which has beenshrouded in secrecy since its beginning, has been one of the most successful everundertaken here. The world's first controlled supersonic flight of a ram je t onMay 7. 1952 is credited to Curtiss-Wright. The largest privately-operated highaltitude. supersonic ram jet laboratory, capable of simulating speeds up to 3500miles per hour and altitudes above 18 miles has been constructed at the Wood-Ridgeplant. The new $7.7 million plant stands next to an earlier ra m jet lab constructedin 1949.The ra m je t is essentially a supersonic powerplant which functions most ef fiCiently at speeds from Mach 2 to Mach 5 and 100.000 feet altitude, It is basically

a simple engine; no mOving parts are required in the actual generation of thrust,but it requires highly compact and accurate mechanisms to control its flight. Because it depends on high speed for the compression of air, the ram jet must get anassist before it can start. either by drop from a fast-fiying plane or by rocketboosters.

Curtiss-Wright Ramjet Engine

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Within three years of the end of the war, Wright Aeronautical had a turbopropengine flying in its experimental test plane.The economy and power of the turboprop engine has reawakened interest in

this type power plant fo r military and commercial application. Recent test flightsof the Curtiss-Wright T-49 turboprop engine on the XB-47D has also stimulated anawareness of turboprop potentialities. Alurboleclric propeller for turboprop engineshas been developed by the Propeller Division, Curtlss-Wright Corporation, atCaldwell. Indications are that extremely efficient turboprop operations a t speeds upto 1000 miles per hour is posslble in the near future. The Curtiss- Wright De-RatedTurboprop, which uses only two-thirds of the engine's maximum output, representsthe Urst time in aviation history that an engine offers surplus power fo r commercialairline use. Prior to the De-Rated Turboprop, aircraft designers have been obligedto use the maximum output of every new engine to fuUm the requirements fo r largerand faster planes.

Boeing XB-47D "flying testbed" equipped with two Curtiss- WrightT-49 turboprop engines and Turbolectric propellers.

At the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950 Wright Aeronautical began to expandto meet a sizable backlog of peacetime military and commercial orders.In the autumn of that year, the company announced that i t had signed a long termengineering production agreement with Armstrong-Siddeley Motors of Great Britain

for manufacture of the Sapphire turbojet engine in this country. Shortly afterwar


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Douglas A4D-l "Skyhawk", holder of the SOD-kilometer closed-course speedrecord, is powered by a Curtiss-Wright J65-W-4 turbojet engine .

Republic F-84F "Thunderslreak" powered by a Curtiss-WrightJ65-W-3 turbojet engine.

The J65 powers seven high-speed operational military aircraft. They are Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, RF-84F Thundernash, Martin B-57B Canberra,Douglas A4D Skyhawk, North American FJ3 and FJ4 Furies and the GrummanFl l -F- l Tiger .

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Curtiss-Wright J65-W-6 Turbojet EngIne with Afterburner

Grumman F-l lF "Tiger" powered by a Curtiss-WrightJ65-W-6 turbojet engine.

With engines such as the J65 and the Turbo Compound in production, WrightAeronautical Division is forging ahead in ultimates of aircraft power plant development. The ground-breaking at Curtiss-Wright' s new Research and DevelopmentCenter at Quehanna, Pa., late in 1955, provided Wright Aeronautical Division withfacilities for developing and testing jet engtnes in the 100,000 pound thrust class.With a history behind i t that is synonomous with the history of aviation, WrightAeronautical Division today is looking forward to even greater achievements in airpower.

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CURTISS - lIRIGHT CORPORATIONwright Aeronautical DiVisionDate , June 1, 1957

THE E N G I N E E R I N G O R G A N I Z A T I O N

I hardly need to s t ress to you the importance ot the Fngl.neering Departmentin esuring our future in the aircraft engine business . A great deal of manageasnt ertort has been applied to the proper organization ot this depart:nent.I t operates i t s OW l machine shop, i t s own 8.fIsembly and tes t faci l i t ies, i t s

own financial. and administrative controls , a ll in acid.J. t icn to the design anddevelopment ACtivities normally associated with engineering . Engineering hasi t s own contracts with commercial and military customere . These include theProduct I!lprov81lent Contracts which supply fWlds fo r the conhnued developmentot production engines and the Rese3rCh and Development Contracts for the develop.ment or new engines . tomorroW" 5 production 18 truly dependent upon Engineering' 8abil i ty to improve today ' s engines and to develop new engines to lIleet changingcustomer requirements .

There are over four thousand people performing jobs in Engineering} e ~ c h contributing special ta len t toward tu l t l l laent of th e over a l l objective. Over800 engineers are engaged in a ll phases of engine deslgn and developmentJ some600 eaployees fabricate experimental parts as the configurations are taken tromthe drawing boards ot th e )0 0 draftSiAen. 'nlree hundred are engaged in scb.edulingand procuring parts ; 1 ,0 write operation sheets and design tools Others , ski l ledin Tarioue technical occupations such as metallurgy, engine test1ng g and engineeringorder writing proTide 1rAportant services that complement the 'WOrk of the designengineer.

In 1956, the to tal .aount spent on Engineering development and productionengina improvement exceeded $60 million . Here are eoae ot the major accomplishments to r 19561

1 . lppron.ate1y 11 , 000 hours ot tu l l .scale engme test ing.2. Jpprox1llately 30, 000 hours of component te.t ing .3. l lmost 10, 000 "lngineering Orders ot .:11 types released.u. ReTised or developed over 10 , CX>O Bi l l ot Material sheete .5. Releed 18 , 000 nev drawings and 17 , 000 cbanged drawing 6 . Prepared 150 . a jor technical reports to r custoaers .1bere were 170 active engines during th e year . these were run on twenty-onetu l l- scale fac111t7 instal lat ions , an d OTer eighty additional t es t faci l i t ies wereuti l ized to bandl.e r ig and component. testing . Il.JIost eight adl l ion gallons ofaviation gasoline an d je t fuel were used, and. 900, 000 equare yarde of blueprint

paper vas used .


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Development of a new engine model takes alruost five years from the time theidea i s born . In the beginning, specific ations of engine character is t ics andperfonnance must be written and coordinated with the mili tary or the C . A. A. _depending upon 1 ts u l a s t e use .. Once established . they become the target towhich a l l engine development is directed .. '5 each specification requirement ismet through performance t e s t 1 n g ~ the engine moves closer to the day i t car; ">ereleased to production.. 'lhis span ot time fo r an engine development program canbe broken into rather dist inct phases as shown by the f i r s t chart at tached .

Development 'WOrk extends over a period ot some four or f:l. va years and takesmany dollars and t e s t hours t.o accomplish . Th.e four major phases of enginedevelopl'llent are:10 Design and In i t i a l Development2. Qualification and Substantiation3.. Product Improvement and Prod\\clbil i ty4.. Service Fix ald Refinement

During the l a t e r development l i f e of an engine model, cer ta in model changesare also developed for specific airplane needs, to increase the engine ra t ings, orprovide growth.. U l functional groups ot the Ingineering organization are gearedto th is development process a t the appropriate t i m e s The reC81.pt o a contractinitiates a chain o activi ty which spans specification writ ing and coordinationwith customers, engine and component design , release and procurement of experimentalengines, component, fu l l=scal.e 3ld f l ight testing , release of the Production Bi l l ofKaterial , and necessary re=engineering as indicated by production and service engineexperience. The bottom of the f i r s t char t shows a typical engine development programrelat ing current WAD developmEnt and service engine programs to the four developmentph8B8S jus t described... It is important to have engines in a l l stages of the develop_ment cycle to assure the continuing avalleblllty- of salable production e n g 1 n e s ~

The second char t shows the Engineering organization through the Division leveland shows the fu l l range of functions carried out and thel.r in terrelat ion. Thosegroups which perform technical 'WOrk or "engineering" of the engine and i t s componentsreport to the Chief Technical Engineer and Chief' Development frlgineer. The Administ ra tor provides the physical services , hardware, fac i l i t i e s and administrativecontrols necessary to accomplish the technical pr'"ogram... The Engineering Controller1s responsible for the funding and financial control of the entire departmentaloperationo

The development cycle covers the major engine activit ies performed. byEngineering . 'lhe organization structure establ ished to accomplish th is task i sheaded by Jack Charshafian, Vice President and Director of Engineering. Thereare four departments reporting to the Director .. the Chief Technical F.cgineer l sDepartment, with Dr. Walker as Chief Engineer, the Chief Development Engineer'sDepart:mmt with Jack Charshafian temporarily acting as Chief' E'Jlgineer, the En .gineering Administrator Department, headed by Frank Wiegan:l, and the EngineeringController Department , under Herb Stel l jes .

'nle \tlole Engineering organization effor t below the department level i s se t upon a product basis with specialized. services supporting the product, or projectgroups.


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'!he f ive major classes of ai rcraf t engines in various stages of developmentare hatdled by tour specialized. project engineering groups at the assistantdepartment level. Turbo-Jet and Turbo- Fan de'Yelopment are directed by George' (eUer; Dual Cycle DeveloprAE!Ilt by &d Heaton; Ram Je t Development is handled byGeorge Browo The fourth grotlp9 \mder BUI Eicbberg , htmdles the continuin.g

job or reciprocating and J6, service engine development .. 'n1ese groups providedevelopment continuity to r their respective engine models and direct the teclmical.effort necessary to obtain f inal approval of the engine .. Hal Francis is responsiblefor controls an d accessories fo r a l l engine models .. In th i s manner, a special izedgroup is established to handle the peculiar problems associated with their developtlent to r a l l engines .. the project groups are responsible not only for the technicaldevelopment of their engines, but to r getting the jo b done on tim.e and wi thin theamount ot money allocated o'Jhe Project Icgineering groups cal l upon various technical and service groupswithin Engineering to r assistance . Brold Pierce, the aasistant chief engineer ofPreliminary Design j Don Clark, the assistant chief engineer of Component Development and Gus Constantino , the assistant chief engineer of Technical Data are

responsible to r generating and analyzing data pertaining to engine components,tor matching these components il tor developing model specifications and studyingp r e l 1 m 1 n ~ and adT8nced design problems in aero and t h e ~ o d y n a m 1 c s and combustion_ . in general preparing an engine to r the development stage and aiding the projectengineer in his specialized. development problems . Advanced Manufacturing Methods,\Ulder Hem Hmink studies and proposes new manufacturing techniques keeping theproject engineer abreast of the la test processing techniques and materials .spec! .fications . Norton Jamieson, Experimental Facil i t ies , coordinates faci l i t iesrequirements for teeting with the project groups and other affected organizatione.Problems in design, stress l! and vibrations are investigated by the assistant chiefengineer - Design, under VincEIlt Moore . Final drawings are detailed from layoutsby this organization. Metallurgyil uncler Andy Slachta, 'With i t s laborator, faci l i t iesand technical persomel ll provides vi ta l data on I1aterlals il processes and part con ..figuration8 used in experimental and production eng1neso

'!he Controller operates a comp1ete financial s8T"vice including priclngil contractadministration il financial forecasts il operatic( b u d g e t ~ , faci l i ty uti l izat ion studies,and f'lmct.ional audits - which m.easure the effectiv8u\:16S ot project groups. One otthe most useful by- products of this important activity is a very detailed monthlyfinancial analysis of Engineering Department accomplishments . This report servesto pinpoint and anticipate problem areas for correct17e action by responsiblesupervision .

The Works Manager, Quality Manageril Assistant Chief Engineer for Flight Test,;md the Assistant Chief Engineer for Experimental Facil i t ies report in the l ineorganization to the Engineering Adm1nistratoro Crucial to the maintenance ofcontinued growth in the Filgineering Deparment 1s the acquisition ot necessarym.anpower skUls . Monroe Brown, Personnel Administration, i s responsible formanpower planning , recruitment , and personnel development. Other ac t iv i t i eareporting to the Engineering Administrator are Systems and Procedures and Security.


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Once the project has moved f ro . tID idea to the hardware stage}) EngineeringWorks M a n a g e r Bob Llebendorterg pt"OrtJies the parts and .faci l i t i e s to r t e s t i n gUnder his cognizance are the procurements! fabricatioD , as sembling and t estingoperations . Experimental Quality, under Chuck Holopi gl an, maintains surveil l anceover the ent i re operation to assure adequate qual! ty 11'1 maintained durin g theprocurement }) fabrication and test ing cyelel!lo As developlien t continues , pro blemsassociated with installation and operation in air craft are investigated in flightoperations conducted a t Edwards Air Force Base , Cal1.!om ia . Frank Lary i s theJ.aaistant Chief Engineer for Yllght Operations q

lhen the engine is tin ally r ~ l e a e e d to Production the responsibility forcontinued development and improvement i s Tested with Product Engineering underBil l Elcbberg o This group continuea the developmEilt of service engine models an dprovides l iaison with other departments during the production and service l i f e ofthe angine .

I t i s in terest ing to note that in terms of four major tunctional act ivi t iesp e ~ o r m e d by the Engineering Department, the percentage of to ta l manpower assignedto each has remained quite stable over the years o Thirty- five per cent of. a llmanpower ut i l ized by the organization i s to r Engineering and Design ~ r k , 9 f if teenper cent i s expended in Production .J.ssistanee ,9 th i r ty per cent is engaged inExperimental Procurement and Manufacturing , and the remaining twenty per centin ExperiJaental Testing .

I hope this brief description of the Engineering organization provides abet ter understanding of the role it plays 1n maintaining and furthering theexcellent reputation of WAD products in the aircraft industry .

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History of Curtis Wright Aeronautical Company