McCauley Propeller Systems is an American aircraft propeller manufacturer, founded in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

in 1938 by

Ernest G. McCauley Ernest Gilbert McCauley (1889 – 1969) was an American aviation pioneerArtifact note"McCauley Industrial Corp. Propeller, fixed-pitch, two-blade, metal," NASM inventory number A19580112000, ''National Air and Space Museum'' (NASM), retrieved ...

.Artifact note
"McCauley Industrial Corp. Propeller, fixed-pitch, two-blade, metal,"
NASM inventory number A19580112000, '' National Air and Space Museum'' (NASM), retrieved March 31, 2021 At its peak, it was reportedly the world's largest aircraft propeller manufacturer,Sator, Darwin
"7 Key officials to retire early at McCauley,"
December 10, 1982 , ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 5 ...

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved March 31, 2021 or at least the largest manufacturer of

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...

propellers."Dussault, Deinzer: McCauley Names 2 to Top Posts,"
March 21, 1967, ''

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved March 31, 2021"Cessna Names Dussault Manager of McCauley,"
March 22, 1967, ''

Dayton Journal Herald The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved March 31, 2021 For most of its existence, McCauley was headquartered in or near Dayton."Save McCauley group looks at Kansas pluses,"
April 21, 1976, ''

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved March 31, 2021 In the 21st century, its headquarters were moved to then-parent-company

Textron Aviation Textron Aviation Inc. is the general aviation business unit of the conglomerate Textron that was formed in March 2014 following the acquisition of Beech Holdings which included the Beechcraft and Hawker Aircraft businesses. The new business uni ...

's headquarters in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 84. BAI Communications. "Company" page
McCauley corporate website,

website, retrieved March 31, 2021 Originally called the McCauley Aviation Corporation, it was promptly renamed the McCauley Steel Propeller Company when incorporated in 1939. Subsequently, it was renamed the McCauley Industrial Corporation, and, later the McCauley Industrial Division (or the McCauley Industrial Accessory Division) of Cessna Aircraft, who acquired McCauley in 1960. In 1992, Cessna was acquired by

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engine ...

Corporation, which subsequently absorbed Cessna into

. In September 1996, McCauley was renamed "McCauley Propeller Systems."

History

The company began in 1928 in a small shop on Howell Street, in West Dayton, Ohio, with about 18 workers. During the 1930s and 1940s, McCauley produced wooden propellers. The company is noted for having invented the ground-adjustable, solid-steel propeller in 1941. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, McCauley manufactured 20,000 ground-adjustable solid-steel propellers. In 1946, the company invented the forged aluminum propeller. In 1947, McCauley developed the first all-metal propeller for light aircraft (such as single-engine Cessnas and Piper Cubs) — a fixed-pitch prop using the trade name "MET-L-PROP." By 1967, in addition to propellers, the company was also producing

propeller spinner A spinner is an aircraft component, a streamlined fairing fitted over a propeller hub or at the centre of a turbofan engine. Spinners both make the aircraft overall more streamlined, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag, and also smooth the airflow ...

s and

propeller governor In aeronautics, a variable-pitch propeller is a type of propeller (airscrew) with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change the blade pitch. A controllable-pitch propeller is one where the pitch is controlled manually by the ...

s. It was operating in a Dayton factory, employing 230 workers, with an annual sales volume of about US$5 million. Between 1976 and 1978, Cessna planned replacing the McCauley factory with one twice the size. Initial hopes were to move the factory from West Dayton (citing thefts and staff harassment), to the

Dayton International Airport Dayton International Airport (officially James M. Cox Dayton International Airport), formerly Dayton Municipal Airport and James M. Cox-Dayton Municipal Airport, is 10 miles north of downtown Dayton, in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. ...

— or, alternatively, to the

area (Cessna's home and prior hometown of McCauley chief Dussault). Dayton city leaders, trying to retain this key employer, struggled to overcome two

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

advantages: its anti-union "

right-to-work law In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute t ...

s", and its legal options for local governments to grant tax breaks to employers. However, McCauley ultimately settled into a new site at

."Propeller,"
, April 19, 1992, ''

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved March 31, 2021"McCauley Propeller Takes Off,"
, ''

'' of

, archived at Newspapers.com, retrieved April 2, 2021 By 1982, in addition to propellers, spinners and governors, the company was also producing wheels, brakes, and other accessories for aircraft. In 1986, owing to product-liability lawsuits, Cessna, McCauley's parent company and principal customer, stopped producing propeller-driven aircraft (except for the

Cessna Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...

) and McCauley's sales fell."Quality-control issues usher in new managers,"
January 12, 2000, ''

'', retrieved April 1, 2021 In February, 1992, McCauley parent company, Cessna Aircraft, was sold by its parent company,

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Un ...

, to Textron, Inc.

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

Company News; Textron to sell a division of its Cessna unit,"
August 27, 1993, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' retrieved April 2, 2021 In August, 1993, Textron, Cessna's new parent company, announced plans to sell the McCauley Accessory division. However, ultimately, the company remained within the Cessna/Textron family. In 1996, after Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the General Aviation Revitalization Act, which limited aircraft manufacturers' product liability, Cessna resumed production of propeller-driven aircraft, using McCauley propellers, boosting McCauley sales. In December 1999, Cessna halted production of the

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, Monoplane#High, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

when defects in McCauley propellers were discovered during production. Though McCauley production continued, Cessna replaced McCauley's general manager and quality manager the next month.

Key personnel

Founder

, "a foremost pioneer in the aircraft propeller industry," according to the National Air and Space Museum, held numerous patents on controllable propellers, and was rewarded for the outstanding service which he provided to the United States government from 1918 to 1950. However, by the mid-1940s, a large board of directors, recruited by McCauley, voted him out of power.Williams, Geoff
Chapter 3: "A New Hospital,"
in ''Patients and Patience: Celebrating the History of Grandview Hospital,'' 2006, The Grandview Foundation, Orange Frazer Press, Wilmington, Ohio, ISBN 1-933197-01-3, retrieved April 2, 2021 McCauley died in 1969. In 1954, shop superintendent Vernon W. Deinzer was promoted to vice president for manufacturing, and three years later became vice president and general manager. When Cessna acquired McCauley in 1960, Deinzer remained as general manager of Cessna's "McCauley Industrial division." In March, 1967, Cessna re-assigned Deinzer, to vice president and general manager of Cessna's Aircraft Radio division at Boonton, New Jersey, replacing him at McCauley with engineer and executive trainee John C. Dussault, (previously the technical services manager for commercial aircraft engineering at Cessna's

headquarters). In December, 1982, during the

early 1980s recession The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1983. It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II. A key event leading ...

, Dussault was among seven top McCauley division officials who accepted an early retirement offer from Cessna. He was replaced by McCauley chief engineer Walter Voisard, a mechanical engineer and licensed pilot, who, prior to Cessna's 1960 acquisition of McCauley, had been vice president and chief engineer of McCauley Industrial Corp. for nine years. In January 2000, McCauley vice president and general manager, James W. Simiister, was replaced, along with McCauley's quality manager, when defects were discovered in McCauley propellers received at the Cessna aircraft factory. Cessna's director of operations administration, Keith Kerschen, took control of McCauley, pending a permanent replacement.

References

External links

* {{Textron 1938 establishments in Ohio Aerospace companies of the United States Aircraft propeller manufacturers Companies based in Wichita, Kansas Manufacturing companies established in 1938 American companies established in 1938 Companies based in Dayton, Ohio

History

Key personnel

See also

References

External links