Founded in Dayton, Ohio by Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Wright Company spent its early years fighting patent infringement cases, and despite gaining sizeable sums from royalties, soon found itself outclassed by its competitors. The company struggled until 1915 (three years after Wilbur Wright’s death), when Orville Wright sold it to a New York finance company and created the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The company swiftly became one of the most diverse in North America, expanding to include plants in upstate New York; Columbus, Ohio; St Louis, Missouri; and Louisville, Kentucky.

The Stock Market Crash and the subsequent dissolution of the United States threatened Curtiss-Wright’s survival, but the company soon bounced back with the a number of new aircraft designs in 1931. The J2 Fury quickly followed in 1932, the P2 Warhawk and the J3 Eagle in 1934. A new model, the J4 Crusader, is currently undergoing trials at Buffalo and is expected to enter service in 1938.

Curtiss-Wright’s multinational holdings pose a particular problem, with research and manufacturing sites spread across the Empire State, the ISA, Dixie and Appalachia. The mutually antagonistic relationships between these countries have prompted Curtiss-Wright to develop inventive shipping and management policies, and the company is legally headquartered in neutral Columbia. CEO Glenn Wagner has won concessions from the governments in whose territory his plants lie to allow free passage of Curtiss-Wright goods in exchange for favorable purchase deals. Ironically, the Fury has become a mainstay of pirate bands like the Black Swan’s and others, and is frequently used to attack Curtiss-Wright airships.