Huff-Daland Airplanes Incorporated

Huff-Daland Airplanes Incorporated was formed in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, at Ogdensburg, New York. It would become a key early supplier of bombers to the US Army Air Corps, although most would be better known under the Keystone name that was adopted in 1927.

Huff-Daland’s first contract was to produce Army Training Planes, but they soon began to design bombers – their first submission to the Army Air Corps, the XLB-1, was given a 1923 serial number. Although this single engined bomber was not a great success, it was the direct predecessor of just over 200 military aircraft produced over the next ten years. Their first major success was the Huff-Daland LB-5, of which 36 were built. This was a twin-engined version of the LB-1, and set the pattern that would be maintained all the way to the final Keystone B-6A Panther. This military work allowed the company to move to a larger factory at Bristol, on the Pennsylvania railway, in 1925. Just before the company changed its name, the Huff-Daland XB-1 would become the first entry in the new unified B (Bombardment) aircraft series.

The Huff-Daland name disappeared in 1927. Huff had left the company in the previous year, and in the following year it was sold. The new owners changed the company’s name to the Keystone Aircraft Corporation. Some of their existing aircraft, amongst them the LB-5, would be developed as Huff-Daland aircraft, but produces as Keystones, and the Keystone bomber would become the standard Air Corps bomber during the early 1930s.

Amongst the company’s staff was James McDonnell, who was their main designer for a short period in 1924, before moving on to work for Consolidated.

Military Aircraft
Huff-Daland XHB-1
Huff-Daland XHB-3
Huff-Daland LB-1
Huff-Daland XLB-3
Huff-Daland XLB-5
Huff-Daland XB-1

Production Figures – Huff-Daland and Keystone


Type

New

Conversions

Total

LB-1

11

0

11

LB-3

1

0

1

LB-5

36

0

36

LB-6

17

1

18

LB-7

17

3

20

LB-8

0

1

1

LB-9

0

1

1

LB-10

0

1

1 (63 ordered as B-3A)

LB-11

0

1

1

LB-12

0

1

1

LB-13

0

0

0 (7 built as Y1B-4 and Y1B-6)

LB-14

0

0

0 (1 built as Y1B-5)

B-3

36

0

36 (27 of 63 ordered built as B-5)

B-4

25

5

30

B-5

27

3

30

B-6

39

5

44

Total

209

 

 

Air War Index - Air War Links - Air War Books

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (8 October 2008), Huff-Daland Airplanes Incorporated , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/company_huff_daland.html

Help - F.A.Q. - Contact Us - Search - Recent - About Us - Privacy