Thomas-Morse Aircraft

Picture - D-2

The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, until it was taken over by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1929.

Founded by English expatriates William T. and his brother Oliver W. Thomas [1] in 1910 as Thomas Brothers Company in Hammondsport, New York, New York, the company moved to Hornell, New York, New York and later Bath, New York, New York, the same year, remaining in Bath until 1915, During 1912 and 1913, the company operated the affiliated Thomas School of Aviation in Cayuga Lake, New York, New York (taking a page from Glenn Curtiss, who did much the same). In 1913, the name became Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company, the home Ithaca, New York, New York, and in 1915, Thomas Aeromotor Company was added. The firm merged with the Morse Chain Company (headed by Frank L. Morse), and recapitalized, in 1917, becoming Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation, still based in Ithaca. It became the Thomas-Morse Division of Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1929, and ceased business in 1934.

Picture - HS

In 1915, Thomas Brothers built T-2 tractor biplanes (designed by Benjamin D. Thomas, no relation to the brothers and also an Englishman, formerly of Vickers, Sopwith, and Curtiss, [2] and later the company's chief designer) for the Royal Naval Air Service. and (fitted with floats in place of wheels) to the United States Navy as the SH-4. In 1916, the company won a contract from the United States Army Signal Corps for two aircraft for evaluation, the D-5.

In January 1917, the company merged with the Morse-Chain Company and was renamed the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation. 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 floatplanes 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 Consolidated Aircraft Corporation.

Aircraft

Picture - MB-3

Thomas Brothers D-2
Thomas Brothers D-5
Thomas Brothers HS
Thomas Brothers T-2
Thomas Brothers S-4
Thomas Brothers SH-4
Thomas-Morse MB-1
Thomas-Morse MB-2
Thomas-Morse MB-3
Thomas-Morse MB-6
Thomas-Morse MB-7
Thomas-Morse MB-9
Thomas-Morse MB-10
Thomas-Morse O-19
Thomas-Morse XP-13

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.

Thomas-Morse Aircraft Pictures and Thomas-Morse Aircraft for Sale.

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia