Burgess Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Burgess Company was a U.S. airplane manufacturer between 1910 and 1918.
In 1910 incorporated as the "Burgess Company and Curtis, Inc." (after Greely 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 received license to build Wright aircraft in the United States. Burgess fitted some Wright planes with pontoons, which was contrtary to the Wright's patent rules, which permitted only exact copies of their aircraft.
In 1913 it became The Burgess Company when Curtis withdrew his interest, under which most of its models were developed and sold, and in 1916 was acquired by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Burgess operated as a sales and maintenance company for Curtiss until its site was totally destroyed by fire in 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 C, 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.
