The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation filed as a corporation on December 5, 1929 and was soon operating out of a small converted automobile garage in Baldwin, New York. With ever increasing business, the need for a larger facility was paramount. On November 4, 1931 Grumman relocated to Curtiss Airport in Valley Stream. There they set up shop in a vacant Naval Reserve hangar, however in short order the company outgrew this facility as well and a search was on for yet another location.

That search ended in November 1932 when a lease was secured to occupy a building with adjoining manufacturing space located along Conklin Street in Farmingdale, New York. Previously used as a manufacturing facility (the Fulton Truck Company was housed there) the facility was taken over by Fairchild Aircraft in the 1920s. Fairchild constructed a grass airfield directly across the street, and two additional structures were constructed to the east. One of these housed the fledgling Seversky Aircraft Company (later Republic Aviation Corporation) and the Ranger Engine Company occupied the other.

In 1936, after leasing the various building to several airplane manufacturers, Fairchild was interested in selling the entire tract, which then included the Grumman and Ranger buildings as well as the airfield, to Seversky. Having occupied this site for several years, Grumman was once again feeling growing pains, and the timing could not have been better, so the search was on again for manufacturing space and further growth. This time instead of leasing another a site, 120 acres was purchased just a few miles west of Farmingdale. By April of 1937 the move to Bethpage was completed, and as they say "the rest is history".

[Note small biplane on final approach]

Another notable, but sad, event at Farmingdale occurred in 1935 when test pilot Jimmy Collins was killed while testing the XF3F-1. This was the prototype for the soon to be successful line of F3F fighters for the Navy and Marine Corps, and the last series of biplane fighters Grumman ever produced. Collins crashed just yards away from the facility in a wooded area that is now the cemetery on the east side of New Highway.

Today the old Grumman site sits approximately opposite of Bellagio’s Brick Oven Pizza Restaurant, part of Airport Plaza.

This location map illustrates approximately where the site of the old Grumman factory was in relationship to the Republic Airport area of today. Route 110 is on the left, New Highway to the right. Conklin Street intersects both roads, with the LIRR running directly behind the site. Airport Plaza now sits directly across Conklin Street in front of the site. The American Airpower Museum is quite literally around the corner.

This photo was taken inside the facility on the production floor. Shown here is the very first fighter Grumman delivered to the US Navy, the FF-1, BuNo. 9351 on April 24, 1933. In those days it was customary for the contractor to deliver the aircraft painted in the markings of the squadron it was intended for. This aircraft is destined for the squadron commander of VF-5B, The Red Rippers, assigned to the USS Lexington. Today, the Red Rippers fly the F-14B Tomcat, Grumman’s last fighter.

This photo of the G-22 Gulfhawk was taken in 1936 or 1937. The Gulfhawk was a one-of-a-kind aircraft built for the Gulf Oil Company and flown by renowned aerobatic pilot Major Al Williams, USMC (ret.). Seen here in front of the Grumman factory, it sits across Conklin Street on the grass airfield. Other production aircraft at Farmingdale included: FF-1, SF-1, F2F-1, F3F-1, JF-1, J2F-1 Duck, and G-21 Goose.

In this view looking east we see the site as it appears today. Sometime after World War Two the building that once housed Grumman was demolished. The cube-like structure built at the end of the row of sheds was constructed on the northeast corner of the foundation slab of the old facility. The first two sheds were there when Grumman was, the others being added later. Most of the foundation is still there albeit covered with debris with grass growing through the cracks. That’s Conklin Street in the foreground.

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This is an example of the very first logo used by the Grumman Corporation. It originated in the early 1930s when the company was operating out of their first facility in Baldwin and carried through the Valley Stream and Farmingdale years. After the move to Bethpage, around 1940, the logo was changed to the beloved blue ball and eagle with "Grumman" appearing in script across it. (The final logo of a stylized eagle with "Grumman" appearing in block letters over it was introduced in 1970.)