Northrop Grumman

Grumman Aircraft Company was founded in 1930 by Leroy Grumman, Jake Swirbul, Ed Poor, et al., and in 1994 was acquired by with Northrop. Ed Poor was the company's first treasurer.

As World War II approached, Swirbul's contacts in the US Navy kept Grumman's production lines running, and his scalable management style is credited with Grumman's ability to ramp up production faster than any other company when war broke out and to maintain higher profit margins than any other aircraft company throughout the war. [1]

Swirbul devised a management style that was uncommonly successful in creating a profitable and smooth-running corporation. As competitors soon discovered, his style was easy to admire but very hard to emulate. His system wasn't hierarchical; questions did not have to go to the top of the executive pyramid to get answers. If someone saw something that had to be done, he or she did it. [[2]]

Grumman was the first company to produce a military aircraft with retractable landing gear, a feature which reduced air friction enough to enable the FF-I biplane to reach 198 MPH. [3]