Thomas-Morse Aircraft

The Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, until it was taken over by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in 1929.

Founded in 1910 by English expatriates William T. Thomas and his brother Oliver W. Thomas as Thomas Brothers Company in Hammondsport, New York, the company moved to Hornell, New York, and moved again to Bath, New York the same year. During 1912 and 1913, the company operated the affiliated Thomas School of Aviation at Conesus Lake, McPherson Point in New York state (taking a page from Glenn Curtiss, who did much the same). In 1913, the name became Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company and based in Ithaca, New York. In 1915, Thomas Aeromotor Company was added.

In 1915, Thomas Brothers built T-2 tractor biplanes (designed by Benjamin D. Thomas, no relation to the brothers and also an Englishman, formerly of Vickers, Sopwith, and Curtiss, and later the company's chief designer) for the Royal Naval Air Service. and (fitted with floats in place of wheels) to the United States Navy as the SH-4. In 1916, the company won a contract from the United States Army Signal Corps for two aircraft for evaluation, the D-5.