Burgess Company
Encyclopedia
History
The business was incorporated in 1910 as the "Burgess Company and Curtis, Inc." (after W. Starling Burgess and Greeley S. Curtis). The company was an offshoot of the W. Starling Burgess Shipyard, of Marblehead, MassachusettsMarblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,808 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and Devereux Beach...
.
Burgess was the first licensed aircraft manufacturer in the United States. On February 1, 1911, it received a license to build Wright
Wright Company
The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them in 1909 in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on their invention of the practical airplane. It maintained a...
aircraft from the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
, who held several key aeronautical patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s. In 1912 Burgess fitted some of its Wright Model F airplanes with pontoons, contrary to the Wright Company's licensing provisions, which permitted only exact copies of their designs. The license agreement was terminated by mutual consent in January 1914.
In the same month, January 1914, the organization became the Burgess Company, a name change to avoid confusion with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Engine Company. Greeley S. Curtis continued as Treasurer and its major shareholder. Starling Burgess designed and flight tested most of the models that were designed, developed and sold from two plants in Marblehead. Greeley S. Curtis was the company's financial and engineering adviser and Frank H. Russell, formerly the manager of the Wright Company
Wright Company
The Wright Company was the commercial aviation business venture of the Wright Brothers, established by them in 1909 in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on their invention of the practical airplane. It maintained a...
's Dayton factory, managed their production operations. The Burgess Company was acquired on February 10, 1914 by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer that went public in 1916 with Glenn Hammond Curtiss as president. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States...
. The Burgess Company then operated as a manufacturing subsidiary producing Curtiss's naval training aircraft in late 1916 and continued to produce these aircraft under the Burgess name during World War I until its main production facility was totally destroyed by fire on November 8, 1918.
The company provided seaplanes and other aircraft to the military. The first tractor configuration
Tractor configuration
thumb|right|[[Evektor-Aerotechnik|Aerotechnik EV97A Eurostar]], a tractor configuration aircraft, being pulled into position by its pilot for refuelling....
airplane purchased by the U.S. Army was a Burgess H
Burgess H
-See also:...
(S.C. No. 9) in August 1912. In September 1913, a Burgess seaplane based on a modified Wright Model B
Wright Model B
|-See also:-References:* * * * * * -External links:* *...
design with pontoons, was delivered to the Signal Corps
Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps
The Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps was the world's first heavier-than-air military aviation organization and the progenitor of the United States Air Force. A component of the U.S...
for use in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to maintain a flying school. The same aircraft (S.C. No. 17) in December 1914 was the first in the Army to demonstrate two-way air-to-ground radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
communications.
The company manufactured a number of models for the U.S. military, including an extensive production run of the Curtiss N-9 under contract for its parent company in 1916, building 681 for the Navy. Other models built by Burgess include:
- Herring-Burgess A —controls and propulsion by Augustus Herring.
- Burgess Model B —to the Army in 1916 as the BP trainer.
- Burgess Model DCurtiss Model D|-See also:-External links:...
—Curtiss Model D built under license. - Burgess Model EGrahame-White Baby|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography*Lewis, P. British Aircraft 1809-1914 London, Putnam 1962*Taylor M.J. H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation.London: Studio Editions, 1989* Flugsport 1911*...
—Grahame-White Baby built under license. - Burgess Model FWright Model B|-See also:-References:* * * * * * -External links:* *...
—license-built Wright B, fifth airplane built for the Army. - Burgess Model G —never built, modified Wright Model B.
- Burgess Model H —Six to Army and one flying boat to Navy as trainers.
- Burgess HT-2 Speed Scout —one to Navy.
- Burgess HT-1 Scout —one to the Army and used in the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. - Burgess Model IBurgess Model I|-References:* Hennessey, Juliette A. . The United States Army Air Arm, April 1861 to April 1917, Air Force Historical Study No. 98. Air Force History Research Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.-See also:...
—one float-equipped coast defense seaplane to the Army (S.C. No. 17) and used in the Philippines. - Burgess J ScoutWright Model C|-References:*], Dr. Richard Stimson, The Wright Stories...
—a modified Wright C with curved wings, one to Army (S.C. No. 18). - Burgess Model S —6 "flying boat" biplanes to Navy.
- Burgess Model U —6 to Army, 1917, last production before company went defunct.
- Burgess-Dunne —built by Burgess under license, one of which became CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's first military aircraft. Burgess fitted a tailless biplane designed by John DunneJohn William DunneJohn William Dunne FRAeS was an Anglo-Irish aeronautical engineer and author. In the field of parapsychology, he achieved a preeminence through his theories on dreams and authoring books preoccupied with the question of the nature of time...
in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with central floats. The U.S. Navy purchased several as the AH-7 in 1914, and the Army one in December 1914 (S.C. No. 36) to replace a Curtiss flying boat lost in 1913.
See also
- Glenn CurtissGlenn CurtissGlenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...
- John William DunneJohn William DunneJohn William Dunne FRAeS was an Anglo-Irish aeronautical engineer and author. In the field of parapsychology, he achieved a preeminence through his theories on dreams and authoring books preoccupied with the question of the nature of time...
- W. Starling BurgessWilliam Starling BurgessWilliam Starling Burgess was a yacht designer, aviation pioneer, and naval architect.-Biography:William Starling Burgess was born in Boston. He was the son of Edward Burgess who died when Starling was 12. Starling attended Milton Academy and Harvard University. He was a partner in Burgess &...
Sources
- Burgess Company description at Aerofiles. List of Burgess built planes.
- Centennial of Flight profile of early companies