Back to the Future

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

While I don't know how far back one needs to go to find common 
ancestors for young Tom and the elder of the two Georges that 
managed to get themselves in the newspapers, it seems as 
though the books on geneology that I've been finding in Google 
Books show that the first William Pynchon of Springfield 
Mass. is claimed as a common ancestor. It has more than a 
little to do with being among the first colonists to claim land in 
the 'New World'.

This early morning's view into the past roped in Consolidated Aircraft:

George M. Pynchon Jr. was on the board of Consolidated Aircraft, 
an inovative company involved in the development of amphibious 
aircraft, eventually the comopany was merged with Vultee Aircraft 
into Convair.

          Consolidated Aircraft was formed on May 29, 1923, by 
          Major Reuben Fleet. It was one of the first aircraft firms 
          to be formed by acquiring assets of existing firms. 
          Fleet took over Gallaudet Aircraft's business and 
          acquired the rights to Dayton-Wright Company designs 
          from General Motors, which had left the aviation business.

          Fleet had served as a pilot in the U.S. Army and had 
          organized the Army airmail service in 1918. He was an 
          excellent salesman and used his Army Air Service 
          contacts to get business. The Army and Navy, as well 
          as overseas militaries, ordered his PT-1 and NY 
          trainers. More than 200 of various models were built, 
          which remained popular into the mid 1930s.

          In 1927, the U.S. Congress targeted Consolidated for 
          earning "excess profits" of $300,000 on trainer 
          production. But, resourcefully, rather than refund 
          the money, Consolidated supplied an additional 
          50 trainers to the Army for one dollar each. This 
          pleased the Army because it got the planes while 
          any refund would have gone into the Treasury.

          Consolidated went public in early 1929, and Fleet 
          organized Fleet Aircraft, Inc., a subsidiary of 
          Consolidated, to manufacture the Fleet biplane 
          trainer for the civilian market. Fleet acquired 
          Thomas-Morse in August 1929. Another successful 
          plane was the Consolidated XPY-1 Commodore, 
          a large monoplane flying boat. It could carry 20 
          passengers in three spacious cabins for a 
          distance of about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). 
          Consolidated also built the Fleetster, an eight-seat 
          all-metal transport with a NACA cowling, one of 
          the most popular light civil aircraft, in 1932.

          In late 1935, because of problems testing the flying 
          boats in frigid Buffalo, New York, weather, Fleet 
          moved to San Diego, California, and continued to 
          develop flying boats for the Navy and the P-30 
          pursuit plane for the Army. Chief engineer I.M. 
          Laddon directed the development of the XP3Y-1, 
          the predecessor to the famous wartime PBY 
          Catalina, which flew later that year. In 1937, the 
          Navy ordered 60 P3Y-1s, later the PBY-1, for 
          $22 million, the largest single military aircraft 
          order since World War I. The larger XPB2Y-1 
          Coronado flying boat, first flown in December 1
          937, saw limited service in the war.

          As the country geared up for war, the Air Corps 
          approached Fleet in 1939 about becoming a 
          second manufacturer for the Boeing B-17 bomber. 
          Fleet instead proposed to develop the B-24, a 
          new, more advanced bomber. In March 1939, 
          Consolidated received a contract for a prototype 
          B-24. The B-24, while similar to the B-17 in 
          overall dimensions and power, was quite different. 
          It had a high-aspect-ratio cantilevered wing, a 
          fuselage with a large bomb-carrying capacity, 
          and for the first time on a large aircraft, tricycle 
          landing gear. Consolidated developed the B-24 
          in nine months and it first flew in late December 
          1939. It became Consolidated's major product 
          and would prove to be one of the outstanding 
          aircraft of World War II.

          In late 1941, under increasing pressure to sell 
          his interest in Consolidated and retire, Fleet sold 
          his 34 percent stock holding to Vultee Aircraft, 
          an AVCO company, for $10 million, ending the 
          independent Consolidated Aircraft Corp.

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Consolidated_Vultee/Aero33.htm

Though a thousand pages would not exaust the subject of the Pynchon 
family in America, it would take far less than 1000 pages to provide 
convincing cross-reference to the Author's output. I would guess that 
the John & Susan Pynchon who were involved in Pynchon v. Stearns 
could be a common ancestor. But that's guesswork and you are right 
to insinuate that I've got my work cut out for some time into the future.
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Paul Mackin" <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
> On Nov 25, 2007 5:43 PM,  <robinlandseadel at comcast.net> wrote:
> >           Paul Mackin:
> >           Let me ask this question.
> >
> >           Other than name identification what
> >           persuasive reason would author
> >           Pynchon have for being so obsessed
> >           by  the downfall of a Wall Street
> >           brokerage firm  (who for all we know
> >           might have been a bunch of cheating
> >           scoundrels) that he would let it direct
> >           his writing? It's not as if P's own family
> >           fortunes had been compromised in
> >           any way.  George M. Pynchon (head
> >           of P and company) wasn't  a close
> >           relative.  Does anyone know what kind
> >           of cousin he actually was. Third,
> >           Fourth, Fifth?
> >             At a certain point we're all related.
> >
> >           Of course, nothing is inconceivable.
> >           Joyce wasn't that closely related
> >           to Odysseus and Penelope either.
> >
> > I suppose what I'm pointing to when I mention 'Pynchon & Company' has
> > two rather distinct meanings. One is the Wall Street firm that developed
> > out of Raymond, Pynchon & Company. The other is the larger East-Coast
> > 'blue-blood' clan and their associates. I don't really know why
> > the author chooses the larger story of his family as the 'spine' of work.
> > And I don't really need to. All I really need to do is show just how many
> > of these things we've been reading all these years reflect back on the
> > author's genealogy. Because William and John and Edwin and George M.
> > and another Thomas Ruggles, and another William and another John and
> > a Susan---what they were doing way back lands in the author's books.
> > Why? That's speculation. But it happened, those fingerprints are all over
> > the novels.
> 
> Showing in any kind of all-encompassing way just how the history of
> the extended Pynchon family--ten generations of 'em--is "all over" the
>  novels will be an ambitious undertaking. Good luck. I predict it will
> take you a thousand pages.
> 
> I would still like to know (if anyone has a handle on this) just how
> closely  related the Long Island Pynchons, of which author Thomas is a
> member, are to the ("blue blooded") Pynchons of Wall Street and
> Newport RI? How many generation do you have to go back in order to
> find a common ancestor for our Tom and George M.?