(1895–1982), U.S. industrialist, born in Huntington, N.Y.; graduated Cornell Univ.; flight instructor and test pilot in U.S. Navy; founded Grumman Aerospace Corp. (1929); creations included a retractable landing gear that converted Navy scout planes into amphibians, a fighter plane (the XFF-1) that employed retractable landing gear, and a folding wing used on the Wildcat carrier fighter planes; his other airplanes included the Hellcat, the first plane built to pilot specifications, the first mass-produced before a test flight had been conducted, and an aircraft that set production records because it was built so quickly; devised the Avenger torpedo bomber in response to predictions that fighter planes would become obsolete.