BH Experience

Seymour A. Baum

History
1933 to Present

Although officially founded in January of 1933, the vision of what is now BH Aircraft Company Incorporated was formulated much earlier in the mind and workings of it’s founder and first president, Seymour J. Baum (aka “Old Man” or “Old Man Baum”). While employed at Brewster & Company, a maker of fine carriages and custom made bodies for the automobile trade, Mr. Baum founded a new division at the company which would specialize in the development of products for the emerging aircraft industry. With a background in producing high quality automobile products, Brewster Aircraft and Mr. Baum earned immediate recognition and reputation in this new capacity.
In March of 1929, recognizing the opportunities available to him, “Old Man Baum” left Brewster Aviation to form his own business, Seymour J. Baum Inc., which manufactured amphibian hulls, landing gear, stabilizers and other components. However, due to economic stagnation resulting from The Great Depression, the company was forced to close it’s doors after only a few years of operation.
As the nation’s economy regrouped so too did the “Old Man” and in January of 1933, a new partnership was formed between Seymour J. Baum, his son Seymour A. Baum and Edwin Huck. The Baum and Huck family names were used in the name of this new enterprise and BH Aircraft Company was born. The Company’s operations were based in Long Island City, New York.

With the established reputation and ability of Seymour Baum Senior, the services of BH Aircraft Company were sought by many of the forefront aviators and aircraft manufacturers of the time. One significant example of these customers included Charles A. Lindbergh who, upon hearing of the company’s unique skills, requested that BH Aircraft Company build the special fuel tanks for his Lockheed Sirius Low-Wing Monoplane, still on display today at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
During the years of World War II, orders surged. As a result, the company expanded capacity and employment to nearly 1,200 persons in association with wartime requirements of Pratt & Whitney and Curtiss Wright. This period established the company as a proven high volume supplier for the aerospace industry. In 1947 the company was moved from Long Island City to a more specialized facility in Farmingdale, New York.
The early 1950's marked the twilight of the piston era and ushered in the dawn of the jet age, causing the company to reassess its processing capabilities. By the height of the Vietnam conflict, the company had assumed a prominent role in manufacturing gas turbine components made of exotic, high temperature-resistant, nickel-based alloys. With experience in working with these metals, BH Aircraft Company was called upon to manufacture a number of critical rocket engine components which would be used for landmark aviation development and space missions including The North American Aviation X-15 Rocket Plane, The SR-71 Blackbird and The Viking Mission to Mars.

    By the 1970's use of the company’s product was widespread. Military squadrons of A-4's,A-6's, AWACS, B-52's, EA-6B’s, F-14's, F-15's, F-16's, F-18's and KC-135's and commercial transports such as the B707, B727, B737, B747, DC-8, DC-9, DC-10 and even the NASA Space Shuttle all employed parts manufactured by BH Aircraft Company.
    With the passing of noise abatement legislation in the 1980's, the company proceeded to develop manufacturing techniques and capabilities that would enable participation in the production of suppression hardware. Shortly thereafter, BH Aircraft Company was selected by Pratt & Whitney as the sole source manufacturer of the primary and most complex component of its “Hush Kit” for the popular JT8 engine family known as the “Mixer Duct”.   Association in this program led to involvement in a number of noise suppression programs that would establish BH Aircraft Company as the world’s largest and most capable producer of Mixer Assemblies with over 4,500 units of varying types delivered.
    In the 1990's, the award of a number of contracts for increasingly larger components compelled the company to expand and adapt its operations accordingly. In January of 1997 the company acquired tooling specialist Granger Machine and Tool of Indiana and in 1998 opened new headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Ronkonkoma, New York. With unique ability in producing large complex fabrications, the company is assisting its customers in the development and production of technologies and products of tomorrow such as: Reduced Emissions Combusters (“Lo-Nox”), Infrared Reduction (IR) Hardware, The Joint Strike Fighter Program (JSF) and The High Speed Civil Transport Demonstrator (HSCT).

We are extremely proud of our contributions to the aerospace industry and of the people and customers who have made them possible.