![Northrop Grumman - X-47B UCAS First Low Speed Taxi [720p]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110427165340im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pUDDvbK0wuY/0.jpg "Northrop Grumman - X-47B UCAS First Low Speed Taxi [720p]")
| Coordinates | 29°57′53″N90°4′14″N |
|---|---|
| Company name | Grumman Corporation |
| Company logo | |
| Fate | Merged with Northrop |
| Successor | Northrop Grumman |
| Foundation | 1929 |
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Location | Bethpage, New York |
| Industry | Aircraft; aircraft parts and equipment; data processing and preparation; search and navigation equipment; truck and bus bodies; electrical equipment and supplies |
| Products | F4F Wildcat; F6F Hellcat; TBF Avenger; A-6 Intruder; F-14 Tomcat; Apollo Lunar Module |
| Num employees | 23,000 (1986) |
| Subsid | Grumman Aerospace Corp.; Grumman Allied Industries, Inc.; Grumman Data Systems Corp. |
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman with Jake Swirbul and William Schwendler, its independent existence ended in 1994 when it was acquired by Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.
The company filed as a business on 5 December 1929, and opened its doors on 2 January 1930. Keeping busy by welding aluminum tubing for truck frames, the company eagerly pursued contracts with the US Navy. Grumman designed the first practical floats with a retractable landing gear for the Navy, and this launched Grumman into the aviation market. The first Grumman aircraft was also for the Navy, the Grumman FF-1, a biplane with retractable landing gear. This was followed by a number of other successful designs.
In 1969 the company changed its name to Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and in 1978 it sold the Grumman-American Division to Gulfstream Aerospace. The company built the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV), a light transport mail truck designed for and used by the United States Postal Service. The LLV entered service in 1986.
For much of the Cold War period Grumman was the largest corporate employer on Long Island. Grumman's products were considered so reliable and ruggedly built that the company was often referred to as the "Grumman Iron Works".
As the company grew, it moved to Valley Stream, New York, then Farmingdale, New York, finally to Bethpage, New York, with the testing and final assembly at the Naval Weapons Station in Calverton, New York, all located on Long Island. At its peak in 1986 it employed 23,000 people on Long Island and occupied in structures on it leased from the U.S. Navy in Bethpage.
The end of the Cold War, at the beginning of the 1990s, the reduced need for defense spending led to a wave of mergers as aerospace companies shrank in number; in 1994 Northrop bought Grumman for $2.1 billion to form Northrop Grumman,
The new company closed almost all of its facilities on Long Island with the Bethpage plant being converted to a residential and office complex (with its headquarters at 1111 Stewart Avenue becoming the corporate headquarters for Cablevision) and the Calverton plant being turned into an airport that is being developed by Riverhead (town), New York. A portion of the airport property has been used for the Grumman Memorial Park. The company still occupies several buildings within the Bethpage campus and employs around 2,000 people.
Category:Airports on Long Island Category:Companies established in 1929 Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Category:Companies disestablished in 1994 Category:Defunct companies based in New York Category:Companies based in Nassau County, New York
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