The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, until it was taken over by the

Consolidated Aircraft Corporation The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was b ...

in 1929.

History

Founded in 1910 by English immigrants William T. Thomas and his brother Oliver W. Thomas as Thomas Brothers Company in

Hammondsport, New York Hammondsport is a village in Steuben County, New York, United States. First settled in 1792 the village is located at the south end of Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. Beginning in the 1790s the village began to take form, which included a c ...

,Aerofiles:Thomas
retrieved 8/4/2008 the company moved to

Hornell, New York Hornell is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early settlers. The City ...

, and moved again to

Bath, New York Bath is a town in Steuben County, New York, United States, with an area of 96.3 square miles (249 km2) and a population of 11,426 in 2020. Its largest settlement is the Village of Bath, which has an area of 2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2) and a ...

, the same year. At the Livingston County Picnic in 1912 The Thomas Brothers Hydro-aeroplane was scheduled to fly the first Hydro-aeroplane in Livingston County but later reported the winds prevented the flight. During 1913, the company operated the affiliated Thomas Brothers School of Aviation at Conesus Lake, McPherson Point in Livingston County,

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

(taking a page from

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

, who did much the same at Keuka Lake). In 1913, the name became Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company and based in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

. On December 7, 1914, the company moved to Ithaca. In 1915, Thomas Brothers built ''T-2''

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

s (designed by

Benjamin D. Thomas Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

, no relation to the brothers and also an Englishman, formerly of

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, Sopwith, and

Curtiss The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first de ...

, and later the company's chief designer) for the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty (United Kingdom), Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British ...

Donald, David, ed. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'' (Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997), p.875, "Thomas Brothers and Thomas-Morse aircraft". and (fitted with floats in place of wheels)Donald, p.875. for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as the ''SH-4''. They received an order for 24 T-2's from the British, for use in the European war. Because the Curtiss OX engines weren't available, they founded an engine subsidiary, the Thomas Aeromotor Company, which would stress their finances. In 1916, the company won a contract from the

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing Military communications, communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was ...

for two aircraft for evaluation, the ''D-5''. In January 1917, financial difficulties led to the company merge with Morse Chain Company (headed by Frank L. Morse), who was backed financially by H T Westinghouse, becoming Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation, still based in Ithaca. The company then made an attempt at selling training biplanes to the United States Army and was successful with the ''S-4'' trainer (which included a handful of ''S-5''

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s and a single ''S-4E'') and MB series of fighters. The last company design was the O-19 observation biplane. In 1929 the company was taken over by the

, becoming the Thomas-Morse Division, and ceased business in 1934.

Aircraft

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Donald, David, ed. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', p. 854, "Standard aircraft". Etobicoke, Ontario: Prospero Books, 1997. * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing, 1985, p. 3000.

External links

{{Authority control Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state) American companies established in 1910 Manufacturing companies established in 1910 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1929 1910 establishments in New York (state) 1929 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies disestablished in 1929