In October 1909, the first aircraft was built on Long Island—Frank Van Anden of Islip built and flew a biplane from an airfield in Mineola. From that day on, thousands of airplanes have been designed and built on Long Island. Many of the aircraft and the companies that produced them are no longer common names; most people have never heard of Aircraft Engineering Corp., Spencer Larson, or Applegate. Others are still well known today; Grumman and Republic both started here and grew to be two of the larger American aerospace companies. During World War II, Long Island companies built 46% of American fighter planes. While no airplane is manufactured on Long Island today, there are still over 250 aerospace companies here providing important parts for airplanes produced all over the world.