Allen Paulson's contributions spanned years of acquisitions, and he helped pioneer several design innovations that form the backbone of the Gulfstream fleet today. Allen Paulson helped the company restructure financially, and he helped support several strategic growth initiatives that helped make the company a global powerhouse today. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the history of Gulfstream Aerospace, and we will examine the role that Paulson played in transforming the company into the behemoth that it is today.
Photo: Kevin Porter | Shutterstock Allen Paulson entered Gulfstream's story in the 1970s The story of how Allen Paulson's influence on the manufacturer Gulfstream began in the late 1970s. During this time, Gulfstream's aircraft line was owned by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, a company that is mostly known for producing military jets and later merged with Northrop, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Grumman had begun to explore the production of business jets, and it created the twin-turboprop Gulfstream I (G- I) in the 1950s.
This aircraft became the first jet of its kind to be designed exclusively for executive travelers. Its success quickly led to the development of the Gulfstream II (G-II), a jet-powered successor that marked the company's transition into building high-speed, long-range business jets. By the time the late 1970s came around, Grumman had decided to divest its business aviation division, and it instead chose to focus on military contracts.