Thompson Products was a key manufacturer of components for aircraft engines, including cylinder valves. The TAPCO plant, owned by the federal government but operated by Thompson Products, extended for almost a mile along Cleveland's Euclid Avenue and employed over 16,000 workers at its peak. As jet aircraft replaced piston-engined aircraft, Thompson Products then shifted to becoming a major manufacturer of turbine blades for jet engines.

In 1950, Simon Ramo and