The Curtiss-Wright Corporation began in 1929 when the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company merged with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and six other smaller firms. During World War I, the Curtiss company had produced more aircraft than any other American manufacturer and became the largest aircraft and aircraft engine producer in the world.

In 1940 President Franklin Roosevelt asked the firm to expand and to undertake war production. Supported by government funding, the company responded by building new plants in Cincinnati, Buffalo, St. Louis, and Columbus. In January 1941 construction in Columbus began. Within eleven months contractors built a 1.2 million square-foot- plant with a bomb proof basement and the capacity to be completely blacked out during air raids. Within a few months more than 13,000 employees were building Navy SB2C Helldivers, and navy scout, or observation, planes. The Helldiver was also adapted by the army, under the designation A-25, and were produced in St. Louis. During the war, production at all of the firm's factories nationwide totaled 28,473 aircraft of eighteen different types. In November 1944, the Columbus Curtiss-Wright factory received an army-navy E award for excellence in production efficiency. At that time the firm was 12 months ahead of schedule on Helldiver production. In 1945, it won a second award.

Despite this huge contribution to the war effort, the sudden end of the war had far-reaching effects on Curtiss-Wright. The firm found itself without a coordinated postwar corporate plan. In addition the company failed to recognize the importance of the jet engine to aviation's future and fell behind other firms such as Lockheed, Republic, and North American. Pushed to capacity during the war, the firm failed to design an airplane to replace the P-40. In addition, after the war Curtiss-Wright paid huge dividends to its stockholders rather than investing in engineering to develop new models during the postwar period. By 1947 the Curtiss-Wright Corporation had shut down 16 of its 19 factories nationwide. The Columbus facility survived by doing overhaul and subcontracting work until 1949, when the plant was sold to the Lustron Corporation. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation, one of the major manufacturers of aviation products for decades, became an investment firm and a supplier of components to the industry.

An SB2C Navy Helldiver is shown during an inspection flight over Columbus during the World War II era.

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