Higgins Industries
Encyclopedia
Andrew Higgins
Andrew Jackson Higgins was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans-based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" during World War II. General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. .....
based in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Higgins is most famous for the design and production of the Higgins boat, an amphibious landing craft referred to as LCVP
LCVP
The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...
, which were used extensively in D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
Invasion of Normandy. Higgins was also one of the manufacturers of PT boat
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...
s, and produced the first American airborne lifeboat
Airborne lifeboat
Airborne lifeboats were powered lifeboats that were made to be dropped by fixed-wing aircraft into water to aid in air-sea rescue operations. An airborne lifeboat was to be carried by a heavy bomber specially modified to handle the external load of the lifeboat...
, the model A-1 lifeboat
A-1 lifeboat
The A-1 lifeboat was a powered lifeboat that was made to be dropped by fixed-wing aircraft into water to aid in air-sea rescue operations. The sturdy airborne lifeboat was to be carried by a heavy bomber specially modified to handle the external load of the lifeboat...
.
Andrew Higgins also owned the Higgins Lumber and Export Co. and Higgins Aircraft
Higgins Aircraft
Higgins Aircraft was a subsidiary of Higgins Industries set up to build aircraft during World War II.Higgins Aircraft was contracted to build the all-plywood-construction Curtiss-Wright C-76 Caravan, and later, the C-46 Commando, but both contracts were cancelled at an early stage, and the company...
.
Before World War Two, Higgens got its big start with the design and production of small shallow draft boats that were designed to operated in the shallow marsh areas common to Louisiana. These small but fast boats were called Eureka Boats and Spoonbills and could impact partially submerged logs and not suffer damage. The propeller was partially enclosed in a tunnel to protect it against submerged object. The Spoonbills was the first design used for a personnel landing craft used by the US Navy, the LCPL
LCPL
The Landing Craft Personnel was a landing craft used extensively in the Second World War. Its primary purpose was to ferry troops from transport ships to attack enemy-held shores. The craft derived from a prototype designed by the Eureka Tug-Boat Company of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
before the famous and much improved Higgens LCVP was offered. These were the landing craft that were main type used on the invasion of Guadalcanal. Unfortunately, these first primitive landing craft required the landing party to go over the sides to exit the craft exposing them to enemy fire. But later in the war they were found extremely successful for combat engineer units, rescue, etc.
Higgins Industries expanded rapidly to meet military needs during World War II, going from a single plant employing fewer than 75 people before the war to 7 plants employing more than 20,000 workers by 1943. Higgins employed the first fully integrated working force of women and men, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s and whites
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
in New Orleans.
In 1964, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
said to historian Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose
Stephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
: "[Andrew Higgins] is the man who won the war for us. If Higgins had not designed and built those landing craft, we never would have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."
One of the several Higgins factories formerly around New Orleans would in 1961 become NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Michoud Assembly Facility
Michoud Assembly Facility
The Michoud Assembly Facility is an 832-acre site owned by NASA and located in New Orleans East, a large district within the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Organizationally, it is part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center...
.