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37-600: The Lewis & Vought Corporation was formed just months after the U.S. entered World War I, with the intention of servicing war needs. The company's trainer was patterned after successful European designs; for instance, the engine was a Wright Hispano Suiza of the type used by the French Spads . In practice, the VE-7's performance was much better than usual for a trainer, and the Army ordered 1,000 of an improved design called

74-527: A Hilton Garden Inn hotel on the building's lower floors, while the upper floors were made into residential apartments. With reference to the building's history and previous tenants, the apartments were dubbed the LTV Tower Apartments. The building's new owners used the letters of the name to create a promotional tagline for the property: "Love The View". LTV spent its later years in Dallas in

111-454: A 340hp Wright-Hispano H engine, reduced overall dimensions, increased wing area, a shorter faired cabane , and two Vickers guns. Two were completed. Flight test results were disappointing, the aircraft was overweight, with heavy controls, inadequate stability and sluggish performance. The VE-9 variant, first delivered to the Navy on 24 June 1922, was essentially an improved VE-7, with most of

148-423: A hostile takeover . The new company became Ling-Temco-Vought . With low interest rates allowing the company to borrow huge sums, Ling built one of the major 1960s conglomerates. As long as the target company's earnings exceeded the interest on the loan (or corporate bond ), or the company's price/earnings ratio was less than that of Ling-Temco-Vought's stock, the conglomerate became more profitable overall. Given

185-632: A conglomerate dubbed Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). Vought Aeronautics and Vought Missiles and Space continued to develop and produce for the Air Force and Navy under the umbrella of LTV Aerospace. The first of two decades of reorganizations began in 1972 with the creation of Vought Systems by the merging of the Vought Missiles and Space and Aeronautics divisions. All of LTV Aerospace was renamed the Vought Corporation in 1976, but by 1983

222-541: A few years later became United Aircraft Corporation ; this was the first of many reorganizations and buyouts. During the 1920s and 1930s, Vought Aircraft and Chance Vought specialized in carrier-based aircraft for the United States Navy , by far its biggest customer. Chance Vought produced thousands of planes during World War II , including the F4U Corsair . Vought became independent again in 1954, and

259-524: A single-seater, the front cockpit being faired over and a .30 in (7.62 mm) Vickers machine gun mounted over it on the left side and synchronized to fire through the propeller. Some planes, designated VE-7SF, had flotation gear consisting of inflatable bags stowed away, available to help keep the plane afloat when ditching at sea. The Bluebird won the 1918 Army competition for advanced training machines. The VE-8 variant completed in July 1919 had

296-565: The American Stock Exchange . In 1968, Ling-Temco-Vought added Greatamerica Corporation, Troy Post 's holding company for Braniff International Airways and National Car Rental , and J & L Steel . In addition, it acquired resorts in Acapulco and Guerrero, Mexico , and Steamboat Springs, Colorado . By 1969, LTV had purchased 33 companies, employed 29,000 workers, and offered 15,000 separate products and services, and

333-777: The International Steel Group . Some of the railroad subsidiaries – Chicago Short Line Railway , Cuyahoga Valley Railway , and River Terminal Railway – went to ISG Railways , while the Ohio Central Railroad System acquired Aliquippa and Southern Railroad and Mahoning Valley Railway . The former Monongahela Connecting Railroad is now operated by the Allegheny Valley Railroad . In 2002, Lombard Metals Corp, located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania , purchased all

370-640: The Triumph Group . In 1917, the Lewis and Vought Corporation was founded by Lewis, an early aviator, and Vought, a former chief engineer of the Wright Company . They sought to take advantage of the growing field of military and civilian aviation after World War I . Operations began in Astoria, New York ; in 1919, they moved to Long Island City, New York . After Lewis retired in 1922, it was renamed

407-982: The 1984 merger of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company subsidiary with Republic Steel Corporation , the company continued to exist primarily as a steel producer, renaming itself LTV Steel , and moved its headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio , in 1993. LTV did not leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection until June 28, 1993, in what was described in 1999 as one of the longest and most complicated bankruptcies in US history. In 1999, LTV acquired Pittsburgh -based Copperweld Corporation from Imétal S.A. of France. LTV Steel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection , on December 29, 2000. The company subsequently dissolved on December 18, 2001. Its assets were acquired in February 2002 by Wilbur Ross and merged with Weirton Steel to form

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444-733: The Aerostructures Corp., owned by the Carlyle Group and based in Nashville, Tennessee , merged with Vought. Vought's Nashville site supplies wing components for Airbus A319 , A320 , A330 , and A340 . Boeing announced in July 2009 that it had agreed to acquire the North Charleston, South Carolina, facility of Vought Aircraft Industries, where Vought builds sections 47 and 48 of the aft fuselage for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Boeing agreed to pay $ 580 million for

481-856: The Chance Vought Corporation. Vought made history in 1922 when the Vought VE-7 trainer made the first takeoff from the deck of the USS Langley , the first American aircraft carrier. Later came the VE-11 naval fighter and the Vought O2U Corsair , the first of the Corsair aircraft. In 1928, the company was acquired by the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation , but stayed its own separate division among

518-546: The Navy in 1957; it was one of the Navy's first supersonic fighters and its last all-gun fighter. The same basic design was later heavily revised and shortened to produce Vought's A-7 Corsair II , a carrier-borne close-air-support and attack plane. Entering service in 1965, the Corsair II was heavily engaged in a close support and strike missions during the Vietnam War , beginning in 1967. The A-7 also participated in

555-959: The Navy's frontline fighters for several years, with three still assigned to the Langley in 1927; all were retired the following year. No survivors remain, however a replica Bluebird was completed in early 2007 by volunteers of the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation. It is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola , Florida . Data from Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War I by Michael John Haddrick Taylor (Random House Group Ltd. 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, 2001, ISBN   1-85170-347-0 ), 320 pp. General characteristics Performance Armament Lewis %26 Vought Corporation Vought

592-402: The U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983; a punitive raid on Syrian missile sites in 1983; reprisal raids against Libya during Operation El Dorado Canyon in 1986; strikes against Iranian coastal platforms and naval forces during Operation Praying Mantis in 1988; support of the 1989 invasion of Panama; and throughout operations during Desert Storm in 1991. The A-7A, A-7B, A-7C and A-7E served with

629-622: The US Navy while the A-7D was purchased by the US Air Force and Air National Guard. Two-seat models known as TA-7C/Es served with the U.S. Navy while the US Air Force purchased the TA-7K. The A-7 served in limited numbers with three foreign air forces, including Greece ( A-7H/TA-7H ), Portugal ( A-7P/TA-7P ) and Thailand (ex-USN A-7E/TA-7E). IN 1962, Vought was bought by James Ling , who formed

666-573: The VE-8. However, the contract was cancelled due to the end of the war. However, the Navy was very interested in the VE-7, and received the first machine in May 1920. Production orders soon followed, and in accordance to Navy policy at the time, examples were also built by the Naval Aircraft Factory . In all, 128 VE-7s were built. The fighter version of the VE-7 was designated VE-7S. It was

703-659: The Vought company was again split along aeronautic and missile lines under LTV Aerospace and Defense. By the early 1980s, LTV was struggling, and Vought laid off many employees. In 1992, LTV sold Vought to Northrop and the Carlyle Group , each owning roughly half of the company. It sold the missile division to the Loral Corporation , part of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control . Northrop Grumman ,

740-593: The XF4U, recognized by its distinctive inverted gull wings . After its first flight, in 1940, thousands of F4U Corsairs were produced for the Navy and Marines in World War II . By the end of its production in 1952, Vought, Goodyear , and Brewster had all produced the Corsair fighters. Vought was reestablished as a separate division in United Aircraft in 1942. In postwar 1949, Vought moved operations to

777-746: The company moved its operations to East Hartford, Connecticut . Under the Air Mail Act of 1934, United Aircraft and Transportation Corp. was forced by law to divide its businesses, resulting in Boeing Aircraft, United Airlines , and the United Aircraft Corp, of which Vought was a part. In 1939, United Aircraft moved Vought to Stratford, Connecticut , where it merged with the Sikorsky division to become Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft. Chief engineer Rex Beisel began in 1938 to develop

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814-515: The facility. In June 2010, the Carlyle Group sold Vought to the Triumph Group , an aerospace component manufacturer. The Vought acquisitions now operate as Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division. The Dallas/Grand Prairie facility was closed; operations moved to a new facility in Red Oak, Texas . Ling-Temco-Vought Ling-Temco-Vought ( LTV ) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2001. At its peak, it

851-455: The fairly unsophisticated stock research of the era, the company appeared to be growing without bound, and its share price rose. In 1964, Ling turned Ling-Temco-Vought into a holding company and established three public companies as subsidiaries , LTV Aerospace, LTV Ling Altec, and LTV Electrosystems. LTV Aerospace received assets for Vought and a large part of Temco Aircraft. LTV Ling Altec contained Altec Electronics and other properties, and

888-593: The former North American Aviation "B" plant in Dallas, Texas . The move was pushed by the Navy, who believed that having both of its main aircraft suppliers on the East Coast was an unnecessary risk. Vought moved 27 million pounds of equipment and 1,300 employees in 14 months, a record-breaking industrial move at the time. In 1954, the company separated from United Aircraft and became the independent Chance Vought Aircraft Inc. Vought began making its F-8 Crusader for

925-402: The improvements in the fuel system area. Four of the 21 ordered by the U.S. Navy were unarmed observation float seaplanes for battleship catapult use. The VE-7s equipped the Navy's first two fighter squadrons VF-1 and VF-2 . A VE-7 flown by Lieutenant Virgil C. Griffin made history on October 17, 1922, when it took off from the deck of the newly commissioned carrier Langley . The VE-7s were

962-564: The lines of Pratt & Whitney and Boeing . Vought died from sepsis in 1930, having seen his company produce a variety of fighters , trainers , flying boats , and surveillance aircraft for the United States Navy and the United States Army Air Service . Despite the Great Depression , Vought continued to design and manufacture aircraft at a growing pace. Soon after Chance Vought's death in 1930,

999-419: The outside inventory totaling 224,000,000 lb of steel from 58 locations throughout the country. A new office building was built at 1600 Pacific Avenue in downtown Dallas to house the operations of LTV, as well as a bank and other offices. The building opened in 1964. After LTV departed its offices there in the 1980s, the building went to other owners and various tenants before being repurposed in 2015 with

1036-636: The rear of the shop. After incorporating and taking the company public in 1955, Ling found innovative ways to market the stock, including selling door-to-door and from a booth at the State Fair of Texas . In 1956, Ling bought L.M. Electronics, and in 1959, added Altec Electronics , a maker of stereo systems and speakers. In 1960, Ling merged the company with Temco Aircraft , best known for its missile work. In 1961, using additional funding from insurance businessman Troy Post and Texas oil baron David Harold Byrd , they acquired Chance Vought aerospace in

1073-472: The rest went to LTV Electrosystems. The intention was to make the sum of the parts appear to be worth more than the whole. Ling used this technique to raise capital and buy more companies. Portions of LTV Electrosystems were later spun off to E-Systems , then part of Raytheon IIS, and since 2002, part of L-3 Communications -Integrated Systems (L-3/IS). In 1965, Ling added the wire and cable company Okonite . In 1967, they took over Wilson and Company , which

1110-584: The successor to Northrop and Grumman , bought the Carlyle Group's Vought interest for $ 130 million in 1994. In 2000, Carlyle Group established Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. It is primarily an aerostructures subcontractor. Vought is heavily involved in the Boeing 747 , Boeing 787 aircraft as well as supplying parts for the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II and the V-22 Osprey . In July 2003,

1147-600: Was filed that year. Eventually, the board of directors demoted James Ling in 1970, and he left the company, to be replaced by former Ling-Temco-Vought executive Paul Thayer . As part of a 1971 antitrust settlement, the company sold its Braniff and Okonite components, and Thayer changed the company name from Ling-Temco-Vought to LTV Corporation . Thayer was succeeded by former Xerox executive Raymond Hay. In July 1986, LTV Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . With $ 6.14 billion ($ 17.1 billion today) in total assets and $ 4.59 billion in debt, it

Vought VE-7 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-471: Was involved in aerospace , airlines , electronics , steel manufacturing , sporting goods , meat packing , car rentals , and pharmaceuticals , among other businesses. It began in 1947 as Ling Electric Company , later named Ling-Temco-Vought , followed by LTV Corporation and eventually LTV Steel until its end in 2001. In 1947, entrepreneur James Ling founded an electrical-contracting business, Ling Electric Company, in Dallas , Texas. He lived in

1221-436: Was one of the 40 biggest industrial corporations. Ling-Temco-Vought had a combined sales of $ 3.6 billion in 1969 ($ 29.9 billion today), but investors found that the conglomerates were not growing any faster than the individual companies had before they were bought out. Share prices plummeted, sparking a bear market , and a general feeling arose that conglomerates were to blame for the market woes. An antitrust lawsuit

1258-480: Was purchased by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) in 1961. The company designed and produced a variety of planes and missiles throughout the Cold War . Vought was sold from LTV and owned in various degrees by the Carlyle Group and Northrop Grumman in the early 1990s. It was then fully bought by Carlyle, renamed Vought Aircraft Industries, with headquarters in Dallas , Texas . In June 2010, the Carlyle Group sold Vought to

1295-480: Was the largest bankruptcy in US history to that point. The company went into a series of divestitures , most notably the entire LTV Aerospace division; the aerospace component retained the legacy Vought name as the independent Vought Corporation, while the missile component later became part of Loral Corporation and later became the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division. After

1332-450: Was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation , Chance Vought , Vought-Sikorsky , LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought ), Vought Aircraft Companies , and Vought Aircraft Industries . The first incarnation of Vought was established by Chance M. Vought and Birdseye Lewis in 1917. In 1928, it was acquired by United Aircraft and Transport Corporation , which

1369-464: Was twice the size of Ling-Temco-Vought. Wilson was a diverse company involved in meat packing, sporting goods, and pharmaceuticals. Wilson's president Roscoe Haynie was not aware of the takeover scheme until two weeks before the takeover was complete. Ling later split Wilson into three parts (meat packing, sporting goods ( Wilson Sporting Goods ), and pharmaceuticals ( Wilson Pharmaceutical and Chemical ), and spun them off into separate companies traded on

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