Kaman Corporate History
1945:Kaman Aircraft is incorporated. During the first ten years, Kaman operates exclusively as a designer and manufacturer of several helicopters that set world records and achieved many aviation firsts.
1951:The year 1951 shows the extensive uses to which helicopters are being put by the military services. Upwards of 15,000 battle casualties are transported from combat areas to hospitals and first-aid stations in Korea. Reports by the Surgeon Generals of the Navy and the Army have praised the helicopter for its outstanding performance in the fast and safe evacuation of critically wounded men.
In mid-1951, Kaman receives a Navy contract too erect and equip a factory to house helicopter manufacturing operations. An 85-acre tract in Bloomfield, Conn. is selected. The plant comprises 104,000 square feet. The campus remains the headquarters location for Kaman Corporation to this day.
1953:Deliveries of HTK-1 helicopters to the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, and the Navy Training Command, continue. In April, the first of a series of larger and more powerful helicopters, the HOK-1, is flown and delivered to the Navy.
A new flight test hangar and rotor test facilities are built adjacent to the Bloomfield plant.
1954:Deliveries of the HOK-1, the first helicopter designed to Navy specifications, continues to the Navy and Marines, with particular emphasis on ruggedness of construction and increased performance including medical evacuation capabilities at high altitudes.
Kaman builds and flies the world's first twin gas-turbine powered helicopter
Kaman builds and flies the world's first remote control or "drone" helicopter. Command signals from the ground station are transmitted by radio to the controls in the helicopters, thereby permitting pilotless operation.
1955:Kaman develops the Rotochute under an R&D project with the Office of Naval Research. The Rotochute drops supplies and equipment accurately into confined areas from low-flying high-speed aircraft.
1956:Kaman begins to diversify as an aerospace subcontractor producing parts for the McDonnell F-101 Air Force jet fighter and making tools for the Martin P6M Navy jet seaplane, Grumman Aircraft and others. Marine HOK-1 helicopters are in service from the continental U.S. to the western Pacific. By the end of the year, HOK-1 helicopters had accumulated more than 10,700 hours in the air and had established an enviable record of dependability and capability in a wide range of terrain and climatic conditions.
The Navy tests and evaluates HOKs on seagoing operations involving aircraft carriers and other naval vessels. The principal mission is plane-guard duty - should an airplane crash in the water, the plane-guard helicopter is immediately on the spot to rescue survivors.
1957:The U.S. Air Force announces that Kaman has won an industry-wide competition for air base crash-rescue helicopters. A contract is signed that leads to design and production of the H-43A and H-43B crash rescue helicopters. The H-43B version is powered by gas turbine engines.
The U.S. Navy announces that Kaman's HU2K-1 utility helicopter has won a Bureau of Aeronautics design competition that included entries by all the leading helicopter manufacturers. The company is awarded a contract to proceed with the engineering work - the first Kaman helicopter with a tail rotor configuration, chosen for its high speed.
Kaman Nuclear, later to become Kaman Sciences, is founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1958:
Production begins on the H-43B, powered by the Lycoming T-53 gas turbine engine. The aircraft features room for four litters and an attendant or a payload capacity of one and one half tons. The Air Force designates the new helicopter "The Huskie" and plans to keep it stationed at Air Force bases all over the free world on standby alert. The aircraft also features automatic stabilization equipment and other electronic flight and navigational aids the company has developed in connection with its drone programs.
1959:Kaman becomes the first major American helicopter manufacturer to convert to 100 percent turbine helicopter production.
Kaman accomplishes the first flights of the new Navy HU2K Seasprite helicopter.
Two U.S. Air Force pilots fly a production model H-43B Huskie to an altitude of 29,846 feet, setting a new world altitude record for helicopters. This exceeds a former Soviet altitude record by over 8,000 feet.
1961:Kaman develops and flies the world's first all-composite main rotor blade.
More than 100 Huskies are on duty with the Air Force.
H-43B Huskies set five new world records: two new international altitude records and three new time-of-climb records that take the aircraft to 29,526 feet in 14 minutes 30.7 seconds, graphically demonstrating the aircraft's ruggedness, reliability, and power margins.
1962:Deliveries of the UH2A Seasprite begin to the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The aircraft has more than twice the range, speed and payload of the helicopter that it replaces. It can make rescues and perform operations heretofore impossible.
HH-43B helicopters set two new records for distance - the closed course record of 655 miles and the straight-line distance record of 888 miles. Both records have previously been held by the Soviet Union.
Kaman develops and tests a revolutionary new type of coupling for mechanical power transmission. Because it can stand high loads, needs no lubrication whatsoever, and is lightweight, it has the potential of replacing a large portion of the aircraft and other power transmission couplings and shafts in use. The KAflex coupling will prove to be a major product for the company.
1964:The HH-43B is recognized as having the best safety record of any helicopter ever in military service.
1965:Kaman introduces a new self-lubricated bearing designed for helicopter flight controls in a marine environment and launches the KAcarb products division, which will later become Kamatics.
Kaman's unusual capability in glass fiber construction, metal-to-metal bonding, chemical milling and other advanced aerospace manufacturing techniques helps to qualify Kaman as a subcontractor for a number of aerospace firms including Douglas, Lockheed, General Electric, Grumman, CBS, Martin Marietta, AMF, Bendix, Raytheon, Perkin-Elmer, deHavilland, and Itek.
1966:Kaman takes another major step toward diversification as Ovation Instruments is founded. The Ovation guitar represents a significant technological breakthrough, utilizing aerospace composite materials and a unique "roundback" design.
Kaman begins to build components for commercial jetliners, supplying subassemblies for the Douglas DC-8 and DC-9.
Huskie and Seasprite helicopters save over 100 lives this year in Southeast Asia.
1967:KAcarb self-lubricating bearings installed in Navy Seasprite helicopters live up to their promise for long life and corrosion resistance. Even at this early stage, the company that would become Kamatics is a self-sustaining business.
Kaman acquires Coast Wholesale Music Company of Los Angeles and Coast Wholesale Music Company of San Francisco, adding the music distribution business to the company's Ovation Guitar manufacturing operations.
Kaman continues to grow and diversify as a separate corporate headquarters is established and the company is organized into five business groups, nine divisions and four subsidiaries.
1968: Kaman Sciences is formed out of four scientific divisions Kaman Nuclear, AviDyne, Kaman Systems Centers, and SEA.
1970:The Navy develops a concept to team helicopters with destroyers for antisubmarine warfare and ship missile defense. They see the Kaman Seasprite, now designated as SH-2, as a possible platform. The company receives a contract to reconfigure 10 aircraft to the Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) configuration.
1971:Kaman initiates what will eventually become Kaman Industrial Technologies when it acquires Reliable Bearing and Supply Co., Western Bearings Inc This marks the beginning of industrial distribution business.
Kaman acquires C. Bruno and Son, a national musical instrument distributor.
Kamatics delivers heat and corrosion resistant, self-lubricating bearings for use in the flight control system of the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-9 transports.
1972:Kaman acquired BITCO of Spokane, WA, an industrial products and services distributor.
1973:The KAcarb products division becomes Kamatics.
Kaman achieves a three-way balance of government, commercial and industrial business, with each of its product groups geared to different parts of the economy: Government: 40.5%; Commercial: 30.5%; and Industrial: 29%.
Kaman delivers 31 SH-2 helicopters to the Navy. The aircraft is called the most versatile new weapons system added to the U.S. destroyer fleet in the past 10 years.
1974:KAron self-lubricating bearing material is invented.
Kaman delivers 30 SH-2 helicopters to the Navy with another 25 scheduled for 1975.
All Bearing Service, Inc companies of California and Washington are acquired.
1975:Kaman continues to build its industrial distribution business. Everett Transmission & Rubber Company of Washington and Syracuse Bearing of New York are acquired.
The KAron bearing is officially qualified for government purchase.
1976:Kaman begins manufacturing the first production, all-composite rotor blade, K-747, for AH-1 Cobra helicopter.
Kaman acquires Keystone Bearing & Supply Company of Pennsylvania. Kaman Aerospace works on the world's largest-ever rotor blades - an advanced Darrieus (vertical shaft) windmill for NASA.
1977:Kaman acquires Ventura County Bearing House of California, Mill and Industrial Supply Company of Pennsylvania, and Robert J. Ulpinger, Inc of Syracuse for the industrial distribution business.
1978:Kamatics' KAflex coupling is introduced into service.
Kaman becomes the premier acoustic guitar manufacturer by producing over 50% of the entire U.S. output.
Kaman acquires Bearing Service and Supply, Inc of Virginia and Minnesota; Bayshore Service and Supply of Minnesota; Winn Supply Company of California and Industrial Service, Inc of Colorado.
Kaman Class A shares split 2 for 1.
1979:Kaman acquires Bearing House of Santa Maria, Inc of California; Coastal Plains, Inc, Idaho; Valley Bearings and Power Transmission, Inc, California; Star Machinery, Oregon; and O.J. Industries, Utah.
1980:Kaman has the contract to produce blades for the Cobra helicopter; the first time a company has won the contract to produce OEM blades for another maker's aircraft.
Several drone helicopter systems are delivered to the U.S. Army and used as targets for testing the latest battlefield weapons.
Kaman acquires United Industrial Supply, California and Trans Power Inc, Indiana.
1981:Kaman wins a new contract to produce 18 new SH-2F (LAMPS) helicopters for the U.S. Navy. An additional 18 will be in the budgets for both 1982 and 1983.
Kaman acquires Arrowhead Bearing, Inc, Minnesota and K&S Bearings, Inc, California.
Kaman Class A shares split 3 for 2.
1982: Kaman Instrumentation Corporation is spun off from Kaman Sciences to provide manufacturing capabilities for precision measuring devices.
Kaman acquires Bearings Supply Company, California and Coastal Plains, Inc, Utah.
1983: Kaman acquires Coastal Plains, Inc, Florida; TEK Bearing & Drive, Connecticut; and Eastern Bearings & Drive, Inc, Kentucky.
Kaman Class A shares split 2 for 1.
1984: Kaman acquires Transmission, Inc, of Ohio.
1985: Kaman acquires Electromagnetic Launch Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, which will later become Kaman Electromagnetics.
Kaman acquires Bearings and Materials Handling Co., Inc, Texas and Yuma Bearing and Supply Co, Inc, Arizona.
Kaman Class A shares split 3 for 2.
1986:Kaman adds to its leading-edge technology base in the defense arena by acquiring Locus, Inc in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, and Raymond Engineering in Middletown, Connecticut.
Kaman Sciences is selected to provide software engineers, systems analysis and computer programmers for the Air Force Space Command at the Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs.
1987:Kaman receives a contract to produce an advanced version of the SH-2 - the new SH-2G featuring General Electric T-700 engines and advanced systems capable of integrating with the latest sensor-based warfare systems.
Kaman Aerospace is selected to manufacture a fan reverser fixed structure on the GE CF6-80C2 commercial jet engines used in Boeing 747 and 767 aircraft, several models of Airbus, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11.
Kaman Class A shares split 8 for 5.
1988:Kaman acquires Hamer, Inc, a maker of premium quality electric guitars.
1990:Kamatics develops the composite flyer bow for the wire industry, significantly increasing durability and reducing life cycle costs of the product it replaces.
1991:Kaman's Magic Lantern airborne mine detection system is rushed to the Persian Gulf where it successfully performs its mission during Desert Storm.
Kaman wins a contract to build wing structures for the Boeing 777.
1993:Kaman Instrumentation develops a new generation of non-contact measuring systems for commercial use.
The SH-2G Super Seasprite enters service with the U.S. Navy Reserves.
Kamatics develops the composite flyer bow for the wire industry, significantly increasing durability and reducing life-cycle costs of the product it replaces.
1994:The K-MAX® "aerial truck," the first commercial helicopter designed specifically for repetitive, external lift, is certified and enters service.
Kaman Linear Systems is formed as an element of Kaman Industrial Technologies.
The Arab Republic of Egypt orders 10 SH-2G helicopters, representing Kaman's first international sale of the aircraft. The $150 million contract will lead to projected deliveries starting in the 4th quarter of 1997.
Kaman acquires B&J Music Ltd, a music distribution business in Ontario, Canada.
1995:Kaman's K-MAX "aerial truck" helicopter is introduced to the market. The aircraft is able to lift more than its own weight, even in high altitudes and hot climates. It is designed for a repetitive lift cycle that demands ruggedness, reliability, ease of maintenance, and low operating costs. Initial models are used in the timber industry.
1996:Charles Kaman receives several awards recognizing his achievements during a distinguished 50-year career. He is inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor, is awarded the Connecticut Medal of Technology by Governor Rowland and the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton.
Kaman Music celebrates the 30th anniversary of the development of the Ovation guitar.
K-MAX helicopters are used in a successful vertical replenishment (VERTREP) demonstration showing the aircraft's suitability for resupplying Navy ships at sea. A K-MAX in use with Kimberly Clark lifts over 40 million pounds of timber in a single month.
1997:Charles Kaman receives the National Aeronautic Association's Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy.
Kaman's SH-2G Super-Seasprite helicopter is selected by New Zealand and Australia in contracts worth nearly $800 million.
Kaman receives contract to supply subcontracted assemblies to McDonnell Douglas for the C-17 military transport.
Kaman sells its Kaman Sciences subsidiary to ITT Industries.
The first international SH-2G (E) Super-Seasprite is rolled out. It is part of a 10 aircraft antisubmarine helicopter order placed by the government of Egypt.
1998:The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) awards Charles Kaman the Spirit of St. Louis Medal.
Kaman announces that it will seek a new CEO to replace founder Charles H. Kaman, who suffered a stroke following surgery.
1999:The San Diego Aerospace Museum inducts Charles Kaman into its International Aerospace Hall of Fame.
New Zealand approves purchase of a fifth SH-2G, on option.
Paul R. Kuhn is named President and CEO of Kaman Corporation, succeeding company Founder, Charles H. Kaman, who retires after a legendary 54-year career. Mr. Kuhn began his career in 1964 at GE Aircraft Engines, where he spent 17 years in various management positions, before joining Coltec Industries, Inc, (now part of Goodrich Corp.) in 1983 where he most recently was senior vice president, operations, aerospace engine business.
2001: President and Chief Executive Officer Paul R. Kuhn elected chairman of Kaman Corp., succeeding company founder Charles H. Kaman.
Kaman acquires industrial distribution of A-C Supply, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, increasing Kaman's penetration in the upper Midwest industrial market.
Kaman acquires Plastic Fabricating Company, Wichita, Kansas, a manufacturer of composite parts and assemblies for the increasingly important aircraft composites market.
2002: Kaman acquires majority interest in Delamac S.A. de C. V., a leading Mexican distributor of industrial products headquartered Mexico City, enhancing the company's ability to serve the Mexico-based operations of its major North American customers.
Kaman acquires Dayron, an Orlando, Florida, based manufacturer of bomb fuzes, which together with Kaman's missile fuze programs makes the company a leading fuze supplier for precision guided munitions for the U.S. Army and Navy.
Kaman acquires German aerospace bearing manufacturer RWG Frankenjura of Dachsbach, Germany, increasing Kaman's presence in European aircraft markets.
Kaman acquires Latin Percussion, Inc., Garfield, New Jersey, a leading global distributor of Latin percussion instruments, complementing Kaman's existing line of well-known percussion instruments, which include such well-known names as Toca, Gretsch, Sabian, Vic Firth and Gibraltar.
2003: Kaman acquires Industrial Supplies, Inc. of Birmingham, Alabama, expanding Kaman's presence in the important Southeast industrial market. With the addition of Birmingham, Kaman now serves 68 of the top 100 industrial markets in the U. S.
2004: U.S. Air Force authorizes Kaman Dayron to begin production of the advanced FMU-152A/B Joint Programmable Fuze, considered the fuze of choice for the future. The JPF allows pilots to reprogram the fuze in flight if the tactical situation on the ground changes.
Kaman Aerospace is realigned into three operating divisions: Aerostructures, Fuzing and Helicopters, which together with the Kamatics subsidiary comprise the company's Aerospace segment.
2005: Kaman completes a recapitalization of its corporate stock in which a single class of voting common stock replaced the dual class non-voting Class A common stock and voting Class B common stock to create a new "one-share, one-vote" capital structure.
Kaman is awarded a contract from Sikorsky Aircraft to manufacture cockpits for various models of Sikorsky's UH-60 BLACK HAWK helicopter. The multi-year agreement has a total potential value of about $100.0 million.
Kaman acquires Musicorp, a wholesale distributor of musical instruments and accessories based in Charleston, South Carolina, and the second largest musical instrument distributor after Kaman Music.
Please see News Releases for history for the years 2002 to present.
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