Consolidated Aircraft

Consolidated Aircraft
Company typePublic company
IndustryAerospace
Predecessor
FoundedBuffalo, New York, United States, 1923; 101 years ago (1923)
FounderReuben H. Fleet
Defunct1943; 81 years ago (1943)
FateMerged with Vultee Aircraft
SuccessorConvair
Headquarters,
United States of America
Key people
Isaac M. Laddon
ParentAviation Corporation
(1941–1943)
SubsidiariesConsairway

The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was being closed by its parent corporation, General Motors.[1] Consolidated became famous, during the 1920s and 1930s, for its line of flying boats. The most successful of the Consolidated patrol boats was the PBY Catalina, which was produced throughout World War II and used extensively by the Allies. Equally famous was the B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber which, like the Catalina, saw action in both the Pacific and European theaters.

In 1943, Consolidated merged with Vultee Aircraft to form Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft, later known as Convair. The Los Angeles-based Consolidated Steel Corporation is not related.


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  1. ^ Yenne 2009, p. 15.