Keystone Aircraft
A crop-dusting pioneer became the US Army’s bomber maker of the late 1920s, and when Curtiss-Wright closed its New York plant the workers who refused to move founded Grumman.
Keystone Aircraft: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Crop dusters to bombers
Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland founded Ogdensburg Aeroway in 1920, soon renaming it Huff-Daland. Based in Bristol, Pennsylvania, it made its name with agricultural aircraft and then with Army bombers. From 1924 its chief designer was a young James McDonnell. Huff left in 1926, the bankers Hayden, Stone and Co. bought in with a million dollars of capital, and the company became Keystone.
The last biplane bombers
Keystone’s twin-engined biplanes, the LB-5, LB-6 and B-3 to B-6, were the US Army’s standard bombers around 1930: about 200 of the family were built, and the B-3A served until 1940. They were the last biplane bombers the Army flew, made obsolete within a few years by all-metal monoplanes. A 1932 monoplane bomber proposal was withdrawn, and Martin’s B-10 took the contract. Tragedy struck in 1927, when the Keystone Pathfinder American Legion crashed days before an Orteig Prize transatlantic attempt, killing Noel Davis and Stanton Wooster.
The men who stayed behind
In 1928 Keystone merged with Loening, and in 1929 Curtiss-Wright took it over and closed the Loening plant on New York’s East River. Leroy Grumman, Jake Swirbul and William Schwendler would not move to Pennsylvania and founded Grumman instead. Keystone stopped production in 1932, and Fleetwings bought the plant in 1934.
Keystone Aircraft in numbers
La empresa
- En breve
- Founded 1920
- Founded as Ogdensburg Aeroway by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland
- Renamed Huff-Daland, then Keystone from 1926–1927
- Merged with Loening 1928; Curtiss-Wright from 1929
Producción
- Más conocido por
- Keystone B-3, B-4
- About 200 LB-5 to B-6 bombers
- Trainers, flying boats and airliners
- Chief designer James McDonnell from 1924
Hoy
- Ahora
- Merged into Curtiss-Wright
- Production ended 1932; plant sold to Fleetwings 1934
Los números
- Keystone bombers built (LB-5 to B-6)
- about 194
- Capital after 1926 buyout
- 1 million US dollars
Every notable Keystone Aircraft aircraft
| Aeronave | Role | Primer vuelo | Construido | Estado | Nota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huff-Daland TW-5 | Entrenador | 26 | Jubilado | ||
| Huff-Daland XB-1 | Bomber prototype | 1927 | 1 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone PK | Patrol flying boat (licence) | 18 | Jubilado | Naval Aircraft Factory PN design | |
| Keystone LB-5 | Bombardeo | 1927 | 36 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone LB-6 | Bombardeo | 1927 | 18 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone K-47 Pathfinder | Trimotor airliner | 1927 | 2 | Jubilado | American Legion crashed in 1927 |
| Keystone-Loening K-85 Air Yacht | hidroavión | 1928 | 4 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone NK | Naval trainer | 1928 | 20 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone K-78 Patrician | Trimotor airliner | 1929 | 3 | Jubilado | |
| Keystone B-3A | Bombardeo | 1930 | 36 | Jubilado | Last family of US Army biplane bombers |
| Keystone B-4 | Bombardeo | 30 | Jubilado | ||
| Keystone B-5A | Bombardeo | 27–30 | Jubilado | Sources differ: 27 (B-3 article) or 30 | |
| Keystone B-6 | Bombardeo | 44 | Jubilado |
Where Keystone Aircraft built, who led it, what it achieved
Fábricas
- Bristol works · Bristol, Pennsylvania — Sold to Fleetwings in 1934
- Keystone-Loening East River plant · New York City — Closed by Curtiss-Wright in 1929
Gente
- Thomas Huff · co-founder — Left in 1926
- James McDonnell · chief designer from 1924
- Leroy Grumman · Loening manager — Left rather than move to Bristol; founded Grumman in 1930
Keystone Aircraft, year by year
Ogdensburg Aeroway founded, soon renamed Huff-Daland
James McDonnell becomes chief designer
Huff leaves; Hayden, Stone buys in; renamed Keystone
Pathfinder American Legion crash kills Davis and Wooster
Merger with Loening
Taken over by Curtiss-Wright; East River plant closed
First B-3A delivered
Production ends
Plant bought by Fleetwings
Last B-3As retired
Before and after Keystone Aircraft
Everything people ask about Keystone Aircraft
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Around Keystone Aircraft
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Verificado el 3 de octubre de 2026.