Burgess Company
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The Burgess Company was a U.S. airplane manufacturer between 1910 and 1918.
In 1910 incorporated as the "Burgess Company and Curtis, Inc." (after W. Starling Burgess and Greeley S. Curtis), an offshoot of the W. Starling Burgess Shipyard, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Burgess was the first licensed aircraft manufacturer in the United States. On February 1, 1911, it a received license to build Wright aircraft in the United States. Burgess in 1912 fitted some Burgess Wright Model F planes with pontoons, which was contrary to the Wright's patent rules, which permitted only exact copies of their aircraft. The license agreement was terminated by mutual agreement in January 1914.
Also in January 1914 it became simply 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. Curtis was the company's financial and engineering adviser and Frank Russell managed the production operations. The Burgess Company was acquired on February 10,1914 by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. 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 airplane purchased by the U.S. Army was a Burgess H. In September 1913, a Burgess seaplane was delivered to the Signal Corps for use in the Philippines to establish a flying school. A Burgess-Wright biplane was used in December 1914 to demonstrate air-to-ground radio 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 B —(to the Army in 1916 as the BP trainer)
- Burgess F —(license-built Wright B, fifth airplane built for the Army)
- Burgess H —(5 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 Philippines)
- Burgess I-Scout —(one float-equipped plane to the Army and used in the Philippines)
- Burgess J Scout — (a modified Wright C with curved wings, one to Army)
- Burgess S —(6 "flying boat" biplanes to Navy)
- Burgess U —(6 to Army, 1917, last production before company went defunct)
The "Burgess-Dunne" was built by Burgess under license, one of which became Canada's first military aircraft. Burgess fitted a tailless biplane designed by John Dunne in England with central floats. The U.S. Navy purchased several as the AH-7 in 1914.
[edit] Sources
- Burgess Company description at Aerofiles. List of Burgess built planes.
- Centennial of Flight profile of early companies
