, Florida, 1942–43 Originally a
carriage builder,
Brewster & Co.'s involvement in aviation began in the aftermath of
World War I, when it started manufacturing hulls for
Loening amphibians. By 1928, it was building floats for the
Vought O2U Corsair. In 1932, James Work, an aeronautical engineer, bought the division for () and created the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation. Brewster started out making
seaplane floats and wing panels, but with the hire of chief engineer Dayton Brown it embarked on its own designs. It operated three aircraft plants, at the
Brewster Building in
Long Island City, New York,
Newark, New Jersey, and, in 1941, in
Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, which was then known as
NAS Johnsville. Brown's first design, in 1934, was a two-seat scout-bomber, the
Brewster SBA, which first flew in 1936; subsequently the
Naval Aircraft Factory built them, with the designation SBN-1. The
Brewster SB2A Buccaneer was a follow-on design that first flew in 1941 and was also ordered by the
Royal Air Force, who named it the Bermuda. A design in 1936 for a carrier-capable
monoplane fighter resulted in the
Brewster F2A (named Buffalo by the British), which was chosen over an early version of the
Grumman F4F Wildcat. The F2A prototype handled well in 1938 tests, and the Navy ordered 54. However, production was slow, at least partly due to the inefficient factory in the Brewster Building. The Navy ended up ordering Wildcats, which by 1938 had been greatly improved. Buffalos were exported to
Finland starting in 1939, and more were intended for
Belgium, but before deliveries could begin,
Germany conquered the country. The
United Kingdom also received Buffalos, which eventually ended up in the Far East. They suffered badly in combat against Japanese
Zeros. The Buffalos were most popular with the
Finnish Air Force, which used them successfully against the
Soviet air force, and began a program to build an indigenous version named the
Humu. The Dutch also purchased 92 Buffalos and assigned most to the
Militaire Luchtvaart KNIL in the
Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia) where they fought against the Japanese. Several captured by the Japanese were repainted with Japanese
Hinomaru insignia and extensively tested. During World War II, it became apparent that Brewster was mismanaged. The company had grown from a relatively minor aircraft parts supplier to a full-fledged defense giant in only a few years. Brewster ranked 84th among United States corporations in value of World War II military production contracts. Jimmy Work had hired Alfred and Ignacio Miranda as the company salesmen. They had been involved in frauds, spending two years in prison for selling illicit arms to
Bolivia, and had over-promised Brewster production capabilities to customers. As the war swelled the defense industries, the quality of the newly hired work force was inferior in skills and often motivation, and the work was plagued by illicit strikes; even outright sabotage was suspected. The Navy installed George Chapline as president of the company, easing out Jimmy Work, in the hopes of speeding up production. But then in early 1942 Jimmy Work regained control, just in time to be sued for $10million (equivalent to $ million in ) for financial misdeeds. On April 18, 1942, the Navy simply seized Brewster and put the former head of the
Naval Aircraft Factory,
George Conrad Westervelt, in charge. In mid-May, a new board of directors was appointed by the Navy, with Brewster making the
F3A-1 Corsair under license. When the Navy cancelled Brewster's last contract, for assembly of the Corsair, on July 1, 1944, == Aircraft ==