Some 100 Dayton-area employees work for the newly rebranded company, a Hawthorn spokesman said. That’s up from 23 employees early in 2025 in the Austin Landing area.
The company said the move eliminates “marketplace confusion and positions the company to deliver broader, more integrated solutions to its customers.”
“Today we are taking a bold step forward while staying true to who we are. We consolidated our brands, not our commitments to our employees, customers and stakeholders,” Tom Margraf, chief executive at Hawthorn Aero, said in a new release. “Hawthorn Aero reflects our commitment to innovation, operational excellence, and our deep roots in Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of aviation.”
With two Miamisburg locations — 1964 Byers Road and 510 Earl Blvd. — Hawthorn Aero said it offers press-cure and autoclave-cure capabilities, an expanded clean room, mechanical airframe integration capabilities and more.
A bit of corporate history: In 2010, Cornerstone or “CRG” spun out a new entity, Spintech Ventures LLC, in a 20,000-square-foot-facility in Xenia. By 2015, Spintech had secured work with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to make composite landing legs for the reusable Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket still in use today.
By 2021, Spintech moved to Miamisburg into a 34,000-square-foot facility and launched Hawthorn Composites to produce composite parts.
The name “Hawthorn” pays tribute to Hawthorn Hill, the historic Oakwood home designed by Orville and Wilbur Wright and completed in 1914.
“We are humbled to carry forward the inspiration of the Wright brothers and the rich history of aviation, engineering, and innovation in Dayton,” Margraf said.
Hawthorn Aero focuses on advanced composites manufacturing for aerospace and defense applications.
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