Leroy Grumman

In 1929, Grumman set out to design new fighter and scout planes for the Navy and returned with an aircraft featuring retractable landing gear. The landing gear for the FF-1 Navy fighter plane allowed it to touch down on the deck of an aircraft carrier, and the JF-1 followed shortly after as a scout plane version of the FF-1. The JF-1 was equipped with a special floatation device for staying afloat in the water. Both planes became key naval aircraft during the 1930's.

Grumman once again returned to military applications with the design of the Wildcat. A single-seat, single-engine carrier-based strike fighter, the Wildcat featured a unique folding wing that increased storage capacity on aircraft carriers by 50 percent. The Wildcat also featured six machine guns, self-sealing fuel tanks and armor. Grumman then designed a single-engine torpedo bomber, the Avenger, which was used in tandem with the Wildcat. Twice the weight of the Wildcat, the Avenger was effective in bombing enemy submarines, low-altitude attacks and dive-bombing runs.

Grumman went on to produce one of the most successful warplanes of WWII, the Hellcat. The Hellcat was designed from pilot specifications for the expressed purpose of defeating the Japanese Zero. Flying 60 miles per hour faster than the Wildcat, 300 miles further without refueling and carrying more armament, the Hellcat quickly gained a reputation for outstanding performance and craftsmanship, with pilots of the Hellcat earning 4,947 of the 6,477 aerial victories claimed during the war

Far Electrograph Ultraviolet Camera
Satellite Servicing Techniques
Hydroaeroplane
Space Capsule Design
Retractable Landing Gear; Folding Wing
Rotor Control Mechanism for Rotary Aircraft
Altimeter
Link Trainer/Simulator
Ethyl Gasoline
Flying Wing plane; All-Metal High-Wing Monocoque Airplane (Vega)
Communications Satellite
Spin Stabilized Synchronous Communications Satellite
Turbo Jet
Jet Engine
Supercritical Wing
Small Fan-Jet Engine
Aircraft Propulsion System - Jet Engine