The
Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company, originally called the Thomas Brothers Company
was founded by William T. and Oliver W. Thomas in November 1909 and incorporated
in 1912 in Bath New York. Born and educated in England, the Thomas brothers moved
to Hammondsport, New York to manufacture aircraft. At
the end of the 1914, the company moved to Ithaca, New York, where it built 24
Thomas T-2 biplanes for the Royal Naval Air Service and 15 similar aircraft with
floats, designated the SH-4, for the U.S. Navy. On
January 31, 1917, Thomas Brothers merged with the Morse Chain Company and formed
the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation. The new company trained many U.S. and Canadian
fliers and developed new planes including the compact Thomas Morse S-4 "Scout"
a single-seat advanced trainer. The company produced almost 600 S-4s with either
Gnome or Le Rhone rotary engines and a model with twin floats, the S-5, for the
U.S. Navy.