The year 1931 was not the best for new businesses but this was the year that Russian émigré Alexander deSeversky formed the Seversky Aircraft Corporation. Seversky first developed swift all-metal amphibians that soon evolved into sleek fighter aircraft for the Air corps. Through a variety of variants the Seversky P-35 steadily evolved into the P-47 of World War Two fame. In 1939 the company was re-organized as the Republic Aviation Corporation who later gave rise to some of America’s most famous military aircraft.