Curtiss, as a company, contributed a great deal in establishing the US aircraft industry firmly on the world stage, but behind every great company is usually one forward thinking man, and in this case it was Glenn Hammond Curtiss. He was not only a multitalented engineer he was more importantly a good businessman and it was this latter ability which would see the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company grow into a huge organisation within a short period of time. By the end of the First World War, Curtiss had built over 10,000 aircraft and, unlike so many other companies, did not 'turn turtle' once the conflict was over, when virtually all military contracts were cancelled. Glenn Curtiss began to distance himself from his own company from the early 1920s but would remain a director until his premature death in 1930.