Business & Finance: AVIATION

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Nevertheless, the company was cramped for space to build longer runways for jets at the Bethpage plant. Owners of new houses, who had crowded as close as 50 ft. to Grumman's runways, began objecting to the roar of jets. Navy brass was all for moving Grumman to a less crowded and less vulnerable inland site. But Swirbul persuaded the Navy to build Grumman a $22 million plant and test field on 4,500 acres 50 miles farther out on Long Island. There Grumman may build a successor to its Cougar, a new FioF jet fighter, now being tested at Edwards Air Force Base (Muroc), Calif. Says Swirbul: "It may revolutionize fighter design."