Starting before and during World War II, San Diego’s airport was dominated by two aerospace companies: Convair, which was later owned by General Dynamics, and built missiles and aircraft in two massive sheds on the north and east side of the airport (one of which still remains); and Ryan Aircraft, which dominated the southern end of the field. Ryan built Charles Lindbergh’s plane, and was a pioneer in drone technology, starting as early as the 1950s. Ryan became Teledyne-Ryan in 1969, built the Global Hawk UAV in 1997, and was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 1999, by which point drone production had moved to Rancho Bernardo and Palmdale. The remaining Teledyne-Ryan buildings were recently torn down as part of ongoing redevelopment projects at the airport.
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