Manufacturers
16 legendary aircraft manufacturers
Bell Aircraft
Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 through Mach 1 in 1947. Twenty years later, Bell UH-1 Hueys became the soundtrack of Viet...
Boeing
Boeing built the heavy bombers that won WWII, the jetliners that democratized air travel, and continues as one of two ma...
Boeing Vertol
Originally Piasecki Helicopter, the company was acquired by Boeing in 1960. The Chinook remains in production today, a t...
Consolidated Aircraft
More B-24 Liberators were built than any other American military aircraft in history. The PBY Catalina saved thousands o...
Curtiss-Wright
The P-40 wasn't the best fighter of WWII, but it was available when America needed aircraft. The Flying Tigers made it f...
Douglas Aircraft Company
Douglas built the aircraft that transformed aviation from a novelty into an industry. The DC-3/C-47 is arguably the most...
Grumman
Grumman aircraft earned their Iron Works nickname by bringing Navy pilots home when other manufacturers' planes fell apa...
Hughes Helicopters
Hughes Helicopters emerged from the Hughes Aircraft Company's rotorcraft work. The compact, agile OH-6 Cayuse earned the...
Lockheed
Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works became synonymous with breakthrough aviation technology. The P-38 Lightning, Constellation, ...
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas fighters served in every American conflict from Vietnam through Desert Storm and beyond. The F-4 alone...
NASA
NASA didn't build spacecraft — North American, Grumman, Boeing, and others did that. But NASA defined what was possible ...
North American Aviation
North American's legacy includes the most iconic American fighter of WWII, the first supersonic bomber, and the spacecra...
Republic Aviation
Republic's philosophy was simple: build it big, build it powerful, build it tough. The P-47 Jug could absorb damage that...
Ryan Aeronautical
Ryan Airlines started as a small operation flying passengers between San Diego and Los Angeles. When Lindbergh needed a ...
Sikorsky Aircraft
Igor Sikorsky was already famous for building the world's first four-engine aircraft in Russia before emigrating to Amer...
Vought
The Corsair was initially rejected by the Navy for carrier operations, so the Marines took it. They made it legendary. P...