| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Thompson Products |
| Title: | Thompson Products Aviation Photographs, Series II |
| Dates: | 1903-1947 |
| Extent: | 0.80 linear feet (2 containers) |
| Abstract: | Thompson Products Inc. was established in 1900, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland Cap Screw Company. It began producing automotive parts and underwent several reorganizations, becoming the Electric Welding Products Company (1908), the Steel Products Company (1915), and Thompson Products Inc. (1926). It expanded to include branch plants and the production of aircraft parts, and fostered a company union, the Automotive and Aircraft Workers Alliance (later the Aircraft Workers Alliance). It grew during World War II due to defense contracts. After the war it entered the jet and aerospace industries. It merged in 1958 with Ramo Wooldridge Corporation to become TRW Inc. Outside activities include the National Air Races and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The collection consists of views of aircraft, personalities, famous flights, and miscellaneous images documenting aviation history in the first half of the 20th century. The images were acquired by Thompson Products from the Dearborn Library-Henry Ford Museum and were used as a supplement to Thompson Products' existing aviation photographic reference library. Included are numerous images of early Wright and Curtiss aircraft, as well as World War I aircraft. The collection also contains many images of aircraft and equipment representing the rapid advances made in aviation technology during the inter-war years. |
| PG Number | PG 445 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
TRW Inc. was established in 1900 in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland Cap Screw Company. Initially involved in the production of machine screws, the company joined the growing automotive parts industry by developing an improved method for the production of automobile engine valves in 1904. Because of the changing nature of the company's business and ownership, it underwent several reorganizations during its first three decades - becoming the Electric Welding Products Company in 1908, the Steel Products Company in 1915, and Thompson Products Incorporated in 1926.
By the end of World War I, the company was well established as the leading manufacturer of automotive and aircraft engine valves. Its initial growth was directed in large part by charles E. Thompson. Thompson began his career with Cleveland Cap Screw as a welder. His expertise was responsible for the technology that made possible the company's preeminence in the automotive parts industry and Thompson became general manager of the company in 1905, and its president in 1915.
At the time of Thompson's death in 1933, the company had markedly expanded its operations, having added its original plant on Clarkwood Avenue in Cleveland, acquired a plant in Detroit, Michigan, in 1916, and one in St. Catherine, Ontario, in 1931.
Thompson was succeeded as president by Frederick C. Crawford, who was first employed by the company as a millwright's helper in 1916. Crawford quickly advanced to various supervisory positions, eventually serving as manager of the company's Detroit plant prior to his election to the president's office.
As president of Thompson Products, Crawford continued to stress many of the sales and promotional fields first opened by Charles Thompson. In particular, he strove to make Thompson Products a leading parts supplier to the growing aviation industry, and to this end, strengthened the company's role in the sponsorship of various aeronautical events, including, most importantly, the annual Thompson Trophy Air Race.
Crawford, moreover, was primarily responsible for Thompson Products' innovative program of labor relations, fostering the establishment of a company union (the Aircraft Workers Alliance and the Automotive and Aircraft Workers Alliance), a company newspaper (the Friendly Forum), and frequent meetings with and reports to the employees. Crawford's personal involvement in these programs, particularly in meeting with employees, engendered a high degree of worker loyalty to the company and to him personally.
Thompson Products' activities in the aviation field placed it in an excellent position for growth during World War II. Prior to the involvement of the Untied States in the conflict, the company received a large number of orders for the British and French air forces. In anticipation of American entry into the conflict, the company joined with the United States Defense Plant Corporation in the construction of a new 1,100,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Euclid, Ohio. Completed in December 1941 and expanded in 1942, the Tapco (Thompson Aircraft Products Company) facility enabled the company to expand production of a product value of $135,000,000 by 1944. After the war, the company purchased the plant facilities from the federal government.
The war years not only saw the remarkable growth of Thompson Products, but tested the strength of its labor relations policies. In particular, the CIO tried to organize Thompson Products' employees a number of times during the war. Each attempt, however, failed as the workers voted in favor of their company union at a number of elections which were supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. Union attempts to broach the paternalistic policies of the company continued after the war but failed to unseat the company unions at TRW's Cleveland plants.
Following the war, Thompson Products became involved in manufacturing parts for the jet engine industry. In keeping abreast of aeronautical progress, it also became involved in the government's growing rocket and space program. To this end it merged, in 1958, with the Ramo Wooldridge Corporation of California, a prime developmental contractor for the missile program. After the merger, the company extended its involvement in the space program and entered the electronics field, all the while maintaining its original production programs for basic automotive parts. TRW Inc. was purchased by Northup Grumman in 2002, and its aeronautical systems division was sold to Goodrich Corporation that same year. In 2003, Northrup Grumman separated the TRW automotive business as a separate entity.
click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for TRW, Inc.
The Thompson Products Aviation Photographs, Series II, 1903-1947, consist of views of aircraft, personalities, famous flights, and miscellaneous images documenting aviation history in the first half of the 20th century. The images were acquired by Thompson Products from the Dearborn Library-Henry Ford Museum and were used as a supplement to Thompson Products' existing aviation photographic reference library. Included are numerous images of early Wright and Curtiss aircraft, as well as World War I aircraft. The collection also contains many images of aircraft and equipment representing the rapid advances made in aviation technology during the inter-war years.
The collection includes 580 black and white photographs of varying sizes.
This collection is an excellent photographic reference source for early aviation history (1903-1919) and for the "Golden Age of Aviation" (1920-1939). In it are numerous images of early Wright and Curtiss aircraft as well as Would War I machines. The collection also contains many images of aircraft and equipment representing the rapid advances that were made in aviation technology during the inter-war years.
None.
Related MaterialThe researcher should also consult PG 444 Thompson Products Aviation Photographs; MS 446 Thompson Products Aviation Photographs, Series III; PG 194 TRW Inc. Photographs; PG 305 TRW Inc. Photographs, Series II; and MS 3942 TRW Inc. Records.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 445 Thompson Products Aviation Photographs, Series II, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
The photographs in this collection were acquired by Thompson Products of Cleveland, Ohio from the Dearborn Library-Henry Ford Museum, the Wright Patterson Air Force Technical Museum, and from various aircraft and aviation related industries, including the Curtiss-Wright and Boeing corporations, and were used by Thompson Products as an aviation photographic reference source.
Gift to the Western Reserve Historical Society by TRW, Inc.
Series I: Aircraft 1903-1947 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Albatross, including images of B.11 aircraft 1914 1917 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Avro, including images of Avian aircraft 1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Barling 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Beavers 1910 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Bellanca 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Berliner-Joyce 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Bernard, including images of 'Yellow Bird" aircraft 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Bleroit 1915 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Boeing 1925-1933 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Burgess 1911 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Caudron 1917 1936 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Chester, including images of "Goon" aircraft 1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Columbia 1913 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Cox-Klemin, including images of X-A-1 aircraft 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Curtiss, including images of "Junebug," JN-4, NC-4, and F6C aircraft 1907-1930 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | DeHavilland, including images of DH-4 aircraft 1920-1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Dornier, Do-X aircraft 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Fairchild 1938 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Farmen 1916 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Focke Wulf, including images of "Duck Plane" aircraft 1909 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Fokker, including images of F-32 and Trimotor aircraft 1925-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Folkert, including images of "Jupiter" aircraft 1937 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Ford, including images of Trimotor aircraft 1909 1926-1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Goodyear, including images of FG-1 and FG-2 aircraft 1946-1947 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Gotha 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Granville Brothers, including images of "Super Sportster" aircraft 1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Handley-Page, including images of 0/400 aircraft 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Heinrich 1914 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Hisso-Stoddard 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Howard, including images of "Mister Muligan" and "Ike" aircraft 1932 1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Junkers, including images of J-38 aircraft 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Keystone 1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Laird 1931 1938 | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Langley 1903 | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Lockheed, including images of "Vega" aircraft 1929-1930 | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | Loening 1911 1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Macchi 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Martin, including images of MB-2 and MS-1 aircraft 1920 1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | McCurdy 1911 | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Mercury 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | Moisant 1912 | |||||||||
| 1 | 42 | Moreau 1912 | |||||||||
| 1 | 43 | Naval Aircraft Factory 1925-1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 44 | Ne Plus, including images of "Ultra" aircraft 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 45 | Nieuport 1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 46 | Northrop, including images of "Flying Wing" aircraft 1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 47 | Pitcairn 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 48 | Savoia-Marchetti, including images of S-55 aircraft 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 49 | Short, including images of "Singapore" aircraft 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 50 | Sikorsky 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 51 | Spad, including images of S.XI and S.XIII aircraft 1916-1917 | |||||||||
| 1 | 52 | Supermarine, including images of S-6 aircraft 1927 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 53 | Thomas Morse, including images of S-4E aircraft 1926 | |||||||||
| 1 | 54 | Travel Air 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 55 | Vought, including images of of "Corsair" aircraft 1925-1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 56 | Walden 1911 | |||||||||
| 1 | 57 | Weddell-Williams 1930-1933 | |||||||||
| 1 | 58 | Wright Brothers 1903-1913 | |||||||||
| 1 | 59 | Gliders ca. 1920-1935 | |||||||||
| 1 | 60 | Miscellaneous, including images of Bonney "Gull" aircraft ca. 1490 1908-1930 | |||||||||
Series II: Personalities dates vary |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 61 | A - B, including images of Lincoln Beachy and Richard Byrd dates vary | |||||||||
| 1 | 62 | C - F, including images of Glenn Curtiss and Arthur Chester dates vary | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 63 | G- K, including images of Harry Houdini, Frank Hawks, and Tex Johnson dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 64 | L - M, including images of Raoul Luftbury, Samuel Langley, Charles Lindbergh, and William Mitchell dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 65 | N - S, including images of Fracesco DePinede dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 66 | T- Z, including images of Roscoe Turner, James Weddell, and Orville Wright dates vary | |||||||||
Series III: Famous Flights 1925-1927 dates vary |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 67 | Alaskan, including images of United States Navy 1926 | |||||||||
| 2 | 68 | Pan American, including images of United States Army 1926-1927 | |||||||||
| 2 | 69 | Polar, including images of Wilkens and Hearst dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 70 | Schneider Cup Race 1926 | |||||||||
| 2 | 71 | Trans Atlantic, including images of Chamberlin, Ferrarin and DelPrete, DePinedo, Assolant and Schreiber, Coste and LeBrix, "Bremen," Kingsford-Smith, Byrd, and Lindbergh dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 72 | Trans Continental, including images of Macready and Kelly dates vary | |||||||||
| 2 | 73 | Trans Pacific, including images of Kingsford-Smith, Maitland and Hegenburger, and the United States Navy, 1925, and the Dole Race, 1927 1925-1927 | |||||||||
| 2 | 74 | Miscellaneous, including images of "Green Flash," New York to Rome, and Brock and Schlee, around the world dates vary | |||||||||
Series IV: Miscellaneous ca. 1905-1930 |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 75 | Aerial photography, including images of Mexico City ca. 1915-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 76 | Agricultural aviation, including images of crop dusting ca. 1920-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 77 | Airfields ca. 1920-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 78 | Airmail ca. 1920-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 79 | Airships, including images of "Graf Zepplin" ca. 1915-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 80 | Balloons ca. 1700-1925 | |||||||||
| 2 | 81 | Communications ca. 1925 | |||||||||
| 2 | 82 | Engines, including images of the Menasco "Buccaneer" 1934 | |||||||||
| 2 | 83 | Equipment, including images of early radio navigation and landing aids ca. 1925-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 84 | Exhibitions, including images of the first Paris Air Show and the Ford Reliability Tour ca. 1905-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 85 | Parachutes, including images of early military airborne operations ca. 1790-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 86 | Testing, including images of early wind tunnels ca. 1920-1930 | |||||||||
| 2 | 87 | Miscellaneous, including images of smoke screens and the Wright Brothers' house ca. 1920-1930 | |||||||||