Northrop Corporation: Difference between revisions

| logo = Northrop logo.jpgpng

| fate = Merged with [[Grumman|Grumman Corporation]]

| defunct = {{StartEnd date and age|1994}}

'''Northrop Corporation''' was an American [[aircraft]] manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with [[Grumman]] to form [[Northrop Grumman]]. The company is known for its development of the [[flying wing]] design, most successfully the [[B-2 Spirit]] stealth bomber.<ref name="Parker93">Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 93-106, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref>

[[Jack Northrop]] founded 3 companies using his name. The first was the '''Avion Corporation''' in 1928, which was absorbed in 1929 by the [[United Aircraft and Transport Corporation]]<ref name="avion">{{cite encyclopedia |title=John Knudsen Northrup |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Avion-Corporation |date=1998 |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |accessdateaccess-date=16 November 2017}}</ref> as a subsidiary named "Northrop AviationAircraft Corporation" (and later acquiredbecame bypart of [[Boeing]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Northrop Grumman Corporation {{!}} American company |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northrop-Grumman-Corporation |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=21 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref> The parent company moved its operations to [[Kansas]] in 1931, and so Jack, along with [[Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.|Donald Douglas]], established a "Northrop Corporation" located in [[El Segundo, California]], which produced several successful designs, including the [[Northrop Gamma]] and [[Northrop Delta]]. However, labor difficulties led to the dissolution of the corporation by Douglas in 1937, and the plant became the El Segundo Division of [[Douglas Aircraft]].<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 25, 93, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref>

Northrop still sought his own company, and so in 1939 he established the "Northrop Corporation" in nearby [[Hawthorne, California]], a site located by co-founder [[Moye Stephens]]. The corporation ranked 100th among United States corporations in the value of [[World War II]] military production contracts.<ref>[[Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)|Peck, Merton J.]] & [[Frederic M. Scherer|Scherer, Frederic M.]] ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) [[Harvard Business School]] p.619</ref> It was there that the [[Northrop P-61 Black Widow|P-61 Black Widow]] [[night fighter]], the [[Northrop YB-35|B-35]] and [[Northrop YB-49|YB-49]] experimental [[flying wing]] bombers, the [[Northrop F-89 Scorpion|F-89 Scorpion]] [[Interceptor aircraft|interceptor]], the [[SM-62 Snark]] intercontinental [[cruise missile]], and the [[Northrop F-5|F-5 Freedom Fighter]] economical jet fighter (and its derivative, the successful [[Northrop T-38 Talon|T-38 Talon]] trainer) were developed and built.<ref>Parker, Dananame="Parker93" T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 93-106, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref>

The F-5 was so successful that Northrop spent much of the 1970s and 1980s attempting to duplicate its success with similar lightweight designs. Their first attempt to improve the F-5 was the [[Northrop YF-17#Background|N-300]], which featured much more powerful engines and moved the wing to a higher position to allow for increased ordnance that the higher power allowed. The N-300 was further developed into the [[Northrop YF-17#Background|P-530]] with even larger engines, this time featuring a small amount of "bypass" ([[turbofan]]) to improve cooling and allow the engine bay to be lighter, as well as much more wing surface. The P-530 also included radar and other systems considered necessary on modern aircraft. When the [[Light Weight Fighter]] program was announced, the P-530 was stripped of much of its equipment to become the P-600, and eventually the [[Northrop YF-17 Cobra|YF-17 Cobra]], which lost the competition to the [[General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon]].

In 1985, Northrop bought northrop.com, the sixth [[.com]] domain created.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwhois.com/oldest/ |title=100 oldest .com domains |publisher=iWhois.com |accessdateaccess-date=2012-03-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014053612/http://www.iwhois.com/oldest/ |archivedatearchive-date=October 14, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1994, partly due to the loss of the [[Advanced Tactical Fighter]] contract to [[Lockheed MartinCorporation]] and the removal of their proposal from consideration for the [[Joint Strike Fighter Program|Joint Strike Fighter competition]], the company bought [[Grumman]] to form [[Northrop Grumman]].

|align=left| Single piston -engine transport

|align=left| Single piston -engine sport airplane

|align=center| 3213

|align=left| Single piston -engine transport, 19 additional aircraft built by [[Canadian Vickers]]

|align=left| Prototype single piston enginenaval fighter

|align=left| Single piston engine diveDive bomber

|align=left| Experimental twin piston engine flying wing

|align=left| Single piston engine floatplaneFloatplane patrol bomber

|align=left| Twin piston engine nightNight fighter

|align=left| Experimental twin piston enginescale flying wing proof of concept for B-35

|align=left| Prototype single piston enginetailless fighter

|align=left| TwinReconnaissance pistonaircraft enginebased reconnaissanceon airplaneP-61

|align=left| Prototype twin jet engine flying wing fighter

|align=left| Prototype four piston engine strategic bomber

|align=left| Prototype eight -jet -engine strategic bomber

|align=left| Twin jet engine interceptor fighterInterceptor

|align=left| Experimental twintrans-sonic jet enginetailless aircraft

|align=left| [[Northrop YC-125 Raider]]<!--N-32-->

|align=left| Three piston engineTrimotor transport

|align=left| [[Northrop TF-38 Talon5]]<!--N-156-->

|align=center| 12,146246

|align=left| TwinLightweight jet engine advanced trainerfighter

|align=left| [[Northrop FT-538 Talon]]<!--N-205-->

|align=center| 21,246146

|align=left| TwinAdvanced jet engine light fightertrainer

|align=left| [[Northrop X-21]]<!--N-250-->

|align=left| Experimental twinboundary jetlayer enginecontrol aircraft

|align=left| Experimental single rocket enginepowered lifting body aircraft

|align=left| Experimental single rocket engine lifting body aircraft

|align=left| Experimental single rocket engine lifting body aircraft

|align=left| Prototype twin jet engine attack airplaneaircraft

|align=left| Prototype twinfighter, jetled engineto fighterF/A-18

|align=left| Experimental twin jet enginestealth aircraft

|align=left| Prototype singlelightweight jetfighter enginederived fighterfrom F-5

|align=left| TwinStrategic jet engine strategicstealth bomber

|align=left| Prototype twin jet enginestealth fighter

*Northrop N-60 (ASW aircraft; lost to [[Grumman S-2 Tracker]])<ref>Buttler, Tony (2010). American Secret Projects: Bombers, Attack and Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945 to 1974. Hinckley, England: Midland Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-85780-331-0}}.</ref>

*Northrop N-63 (rival tailsitting VTOL design to [[Lockheed XFV-1]] and [[Convair XFY-1]])<ref>Zichek, J., 2015. ''Northrop N-63 Convoy Fighter: The Naval VTOL Turboprop Tailsitter Project of 1950.'' Retromechanix Productions.</ref>

*Northrop N-285 (USN advanced jet trainer design; lost to T-45 Goshawk)

*Northrop N-321/P610 (LWFLight-Weight designFighter)

[[Category:Defunct manufacturingtechnology companies ofbased thein United StatesCalifornia]]