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Leroy Grumman, a famous pilot, aeronautical engineer, business magnate and aviation pioneer was born on January the 4th, 1895. Showing an interest in aviation from his early years, Grumman studied mechanical engineering and an unexplored field of  aeronautical engineering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the same period of late 1910s he completed his flight training and became a flight instructor in the U.S. Navy. In 1919 Grumman was employed by Loening Aeronautical Engineering company. He worked on new models as a project engineer and tested some of them as the company’s test pilot.

In 1929 Grumman, joined by two other Loening employees Jake Swirbul and William Schwendler, decided to establish a new aeronautical company, that quickly became one of the U.S. Navy air force main suppliers. Grumman’s personal ability to “foresee technical problems and their solutions” led the company to leadership through introduction of many innovative features like retractable landing gear and the Sto-Wing design. During World War II Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation grew exponentially, being the U.S. Navy main source of new fighter and torpedo bomber aircraft such as F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, TBF Avenger.

After the War Grumman Corporation created many jet powered attack and interceptor aircraft models for the U.S. Navy as well as exploring the new field of space technologies. It was the Grumman Corporation that created the Apollo Lunar Module. In 1994 the company has been purchased by Northrop to form the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

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