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Ian Allan Transport Library: British Aircraft Manufacturers Since 1908 PDF

130 Pages·1995·1.33 MB·English
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British Aircraft Manufacturers S•Ince 1908 Half-title: Designedandbuiltinsixmonths,theAvroYorkmilitary transportusedLancasterwings,enginesandtailunitwiththe additionofacentralfin. Productionamountedto350,anda numberwenttoBOACandsmallerairlines. British Aircraft Manufacturers since 1908 Gunter Endres Contents Firstpublished1995 Bibliography 4 EnglishElectric 61 Foreword 5 Fairey 62 ISBN071102409X Introduction 5 Folland 67 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthis ABC 6 FosterWikner 67 bookmaybereproducedortraus AIRCO 6 General 68 mittedinanyformorbyany means,electronicormechanical, Airspeed 8 Gloster 70 includingphotocopying, Alliance 10 Grahame-White 72 tecordingorbyanyinformation storageandretrievalsystem, ANEC 11 HandleyPage 72 withoutpermissionfromthe ArmstrongWhitworth 11 Hawker 77 Publisherinwriting. Arpin 14 HawkerSiddeley 79 ©IanAllanLtd1995 Arrow 15 Hendy 82 ASL 15 Heston 82 PublishedbyIanAllanPublishing Auster 16 Hillson 83 animpriutofIanAllanLtd, Austin 18 Hunting 84 TerminalHouse,Station AviationTraders 18 London& Provincial 85 Approach,Shepperton, SurreyTWl78AS. Avro 20 Luton 85 PrintedbyranAllanPrintingLtd, BAC 25 Marendaz 85 CoombelandsHouse, BAMC 25 Martin-Baker 86 CoombelandsLane,Addlestone, Weybridge,SurreyKTI5 IHY. BAT 26 Martinsyde 86 Beagle 26 Miles 89 Frontcover: Beardmore 26 NDN 91 G-ACSS,thethirdDH88 Blackburn 28 Pat'nall 92 Comettobebuilt,wonthe speedsectionofthe1934 BoultonPaul 32 Percival 92 EnglandtoAustraliaairrace. Bristol 36 Pobjoy 98 Itispreservedatthe ShuttleworthTrust.BAe BritishAerospace(BAe) 39 Portsmouth 98 BritishAircraftCorporation Robinson 98 Backcover: (BAC) 45 RoyalAircraftFactory 99 Jaguarstrikeaircraft.BAe Britten-Norman 48 Saunders-Roe 100 Titlepage: Carden-Baynes 49 ScottishAviation 103 AlthoughitwastheRAF's Central 49 Shorts 103 firstfour-enginebomber,the ShortsStirlingdidnotenjoy Chilton 49 Slingsby 110 thepopularityoftheHalifax Chrislea 51 Sopwith III andLancaster.Itslow serviceceilingandinability Civilian 51 Southern 112 tocarrythelargerbombs, Comper 51 Spartan 113 becauseofthebombbay Cunliffe-Owen 52 Supermarine 113 configuration,wereagainst it,butthe2,209deliveredto Dart 52 TragoMills 115 theRAFperformedauseful deBolotoff 52 Vickers 116 service,laterversions Deekay 52 Westland 121 excellinginglidertowing.A further160werebuiltas deHavilland 53 WhiteandThompson 128 long-rangetransports. Edgley 61 M.J. HooksCollection Bibliography A.1.Jackson,BlackburnAircraftsince1909.Putnam A.1.Jackson,BritishCivilAircraftsince 1919,Vols 1,2 C.F.AndrewsandE.B.Morgan,SupermarineAircraft and3.Putnam since 1914.Putnam A.J.Jackson,DeHavillandAircraftsince 1915.Putnam C.H.Barnes,HandleyPageAircraftsince 1907.Putnam Derek .James,Hawker:anAircraftAlbum.IanAllan CharlesGardner,BritishAircraftCorporation. Jane'sAlltheWorld'sAircraft.Jane'sInformationGroup BillGunston,WorldEncyclopaediaofAircraft Jane'sEncyclopaediaofAviation.Jane'sInformationGroup Manufacturers.PatrickStephens Jane'sFightingAircraftofWorldWarII.Jane's E.A.HarlinandG.A.Jenks,Avro: anAircraftAlbum. InformationGroup IanAllan FrancisK.Mason,HawkerAircraftsince 1920.Putnam A.J.Jackson,AvroAircraftsince 1908.Putnam JamesD.Oughton,Bristol:anAircraftAlbum.IanAllan 4 Foreword British aircraft manufacture is approaching its 90th entrepreneurial spmt that has distinguished the anniversary. Itwas in the summerof 1907 thatAlliot aircraft manufacturing industry in Britain. Verdon Roe began constructing his Roe I biplane, Unfortunately, bunglinggovernmentsoftencouldand achieving severalhops before making the first recog did, and today, Shorts and British Aerospace are all nised flight by an Englishman in an aircraft of his that is left·of a once proud and prolific tradition. owndesign atBrooklandson 8June 1908. Soonafter Shorts, while now flourishing under foreign owner the first company set up specifically to build aero ship, nolongerbuildscompleteairframes, and British planes, was registered. World War 1 provided an Aerospace's future is closely bound up in collabora upsurge in the demand for military flying machines, tive ventures with European partners. It has no new and unforgotten men like Geoffrey de Havilland, indigenousaircraftprojectsonthedrawingboard, and Thomas Sopwithandothers came up with the aircraft the continual changes in strategy and lack of clear thatcouldengageinaerialcombatwithan enemythe direction, do not bode well for the future. In today's country was to face again 25 years later. After the economic climate, it is unlikely that from the fast first battle was won, great airliners and sporting diminishing band of small enterprises, aircraft will aircraft largely supplanted military biplanes and emergeonceagain, thatareatruereflectionofBritish monoplanes until the mid-1930s when renewed expertise and design genius. It is, therefore, from the threats again filled factories with thousands of war pastthatwe need tofind thatsparkofenthusiasmand machines. Among them were such types as the remind ourselves ofthe men and machines that gave Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and Avro Britainaplaceintheskiesamongthebest. Lancaster, whichwillforever retain aspecialplace in theheartsandhistoryoftheBritishpeople. GUnterEndres Although many companies struggled and some Sussex succumbed to economic pressures between the wars February1995 and after 1945, peacetime could never extinguish the Introduction The British aircraft manufacturers described in this different companies are listed under the original bookreflectabroad history ofnearly nine decades of manufacturer, although details of their subsequent prodigious output, shaped strongly by two.world vicissitudesareprovidedwithinthesameentry. wars. It is not intended to be a definitive and all The author would like to acknowledge with grati embracing.review - with many great designers and tude the valuable assistance of Mike Hooks, who manufacturersdeservingseveral volumesoftheirown provided almost all of the expert captions to a great - but rather to provide a quick reference guide to selection of 250 photographs, which al)1ply illustrate placeon thebookshelfalongsideotherhistorictomes. the sheer breadth, ingenuity and success of British Spacelimitationsprohibitthe mentionofeveryproto aircraft design since the very beginnings of heavier type and production aircraftofeach manufacturer, so than-air flight. He also read the text, ensuring that the author has, therefore, chosen to restrict coverage there were no serious errors and omissions. generally to the most important or interesting Photographshavebeen providedfrom the archives of subjects. For the same reasons, manufacturers of Ian Allan, Mike Hooks, Philip Jarrett and the author. airships, gliders, microlights and gyrocopters have Asfew ofthemanufacturersreviewedinthisbookare had to be omitted, as are those companies that stillinexistence, liberalreference has hadto be made produced only foreign aircraft under licence rather to manyotherexcellentpublications, without which it than indigenous designs. Aircraft built at the bottom would have been near impossible to complete British of the garden by individuals, rather than companies, Aircraft Manufacturers Since 1908 to the high stan also hadto be leftout. Afew aircraftwhose design or dardexpectedfrom thereader. production was taken over by a succession of 5 ABC Above: ABCRobin. PhilipJarrettCollection Producers of piston engines, ABC Motors Ltd of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, built one single-seat Below: • cabin monoplane, designed by A. A. Fletcher and ThesingleprototypeoftheAircoDH3bombershowing known astheABCRobin. Itfirstflew inJune 1929at thewingsfolded. Itwaspoweredbytwo 120hp Brooklands, powered by ABC's 40hp Scorpion Beardmoreengines. Onemodifiedversion,theDH3A, followed butdidnotenterproduction. engine, butwasscrappedin 1932. AIRCO were used on cross-Channel services in 1919. The TheAircraftManufacturingCoLtd wasestablishedat single-seat DH5 was designed in 1916 as a replace TheHyde, Hendon, by George HoltThomas in 1912, mentfortheDH2 and featured abackward staggerof but did not start aircraft production until midway the upper wing to provide the pilot with improved through 1914 when Geoffrey de Havillandjoined as forward visionofthepusher-enginedaircraft. chiefdesigner. De Havilland's first design for Airco De Havilland's later fame for designing superb was the DHI, a two-seat reconnaissance biplane training aircraft began with the two-seat DH6, of powered by asingle70hp Renault inlineengine. This which more than 2,280 were built. The DH9 of 1917 was soon replaced by the 120hp Beardmore, which wasareplacementfortheDH4andwasfurtherdevel resulted in the DHIA. An urgent requirement for a oped into the DH9A, which became one of the high-performance single-seat fighter led to the DH2, outstandingstrategic bombers ofWorldWar I. In the againapusher,butfitted withaGnomeMonosoupape immediate postwar years, it was used extensively on engine and first flown in July 1915. Some 400 were pioneering air services. The only other types to be built and were followed by the DH3/3A bomber, de built by Airco were the DHIO Amiens, a three-seat Havilland's first twin-engined design, and the very heavy bomber, powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce fast and successful two-seat DH4/4A day bomber Eagle or AmericanLiberty engines, and the four-seat (1,449 built), first flown in August 1916. Civil DH4s DHI6andeight-seatDH18airliners,operatedbyHolt Left: Almost6,300deHavillandDH4s werebuiltinover60variantswith 22differentengines;ofthese, more than4,800weremanufacturedby five UScompanies.O-BARIwasa cabinconversion, oneoffouroper atedbytheBelgianairlineSNETA oncross-channel routes. Below: DesignedtoreplacetheDH4,the deHavillandDH9wasdeveloped intotheDH9A(illustrated)with variousenginesinthe375-465hp rangeincludingthe Rolls-Royce EagleandAmerican Liberty. ) Left: AircraftTransport&Traveloper atedtheprototypedeHavilland DH18fromApriltoAugust 1920 whenitwaswreckedinaforced landing.Theotherfivebuiltwere used byInstoneAirLine. SamsonClark 7 Thomas' own and Britain's first airline, Aircraft Tiltman then incorporated moderndesign concepts in TransportandTravelLtd. Butwithmilitary orderscut the six-seat ASS Courier cabin monoplane, the fIrst drasticallyandtheBritishGovernment'sshort-sighted British type with flaps and a retractable undercar decision not to support the fledgling civil aviation riage, using a hand pump mechanism. The Courier industry, Holt Thomas' companies were forced into made its first flight on 11 April 1933 at Portsmouth, liquidation in 1920. Their assets were bought by the where Airspeed had moved into larger premises and Birmingham Small Arms Co (BSA), which had no was then reformed as Airspeed (1934) Ltd when it intentionoftakingovertheaviationactivities. became associated with the famous Tyneside ship buildingfirmofSwan,Hunter& WighamRichardson Airspeed Ltd.This was quicklyfollowed withastretchedtwin engined development, designated the AS6 Envoy, The fIrst aircraft to be produced by Airspeed Ltd, which saw service with a number of airlines and air established by A. H. Tiltman and N. S. Norway in forcesafter 1934. York, was the AS4 Ferry, designed in 1932for plea The AS10Oxford was designed to an AirMinistry sureflying toSirAlanCobham'sspecification.Itwas specification and flew for the first time on 19 June an exceptionally large three-engined wooden bi·fllane 1937. The Oxford became the RAP's first twin with Gipsy engines and could carry 10 passengers. enginedcantilever monoplane trainer when.itentered Above: TheAirspeedCourier, ofwhich 16 werebuilt, wasnormallypowered byanArmstrong SiddeleyLynxor Cheetahengine(240-277hp)but thisexamplewasusedtotestthe 325hp NapierRapierIVengine. M. J. HooksCollection Left: TheprewarCzechoslovakAirlines (CSA)employedfourAirspeed AS6E EnvoyIlls,mainlyonthe Prague-Moscowservice, inaugu ratedon2September1936. 8 service with the Central Flying School in November Top: TheattractiveAS57Ambassadorhadashortlife, that same year. More than 8,500 were eventually enteringserviceonlyayearbeforetheturboprop produced in five main versions for military use, and VickersViscount.Afterbeing retiredfrom British Airspeedconvertedsome 160surplusairframes mtoa EuropeanAirwaysin 1958,manyfoundtheirwayto commercial six-seat light transport, redesignated as chartercompanies, wheretheywereusedas theAS65Consul,between 1946and 1948.Duringthe passengerandcargotransports. war, Airspeed also built nearly 3,800 AS5] Horsa I Above: and AS58 Horsa II military gliders, whose most TheAirspeedConsulwasapostwarconversion of famous hour came during the D-Day landings. The surplusOxfordairframesandcouldcarrysixpassen AS39FleetShadower,designedforshadowingenemy gers. Itfilled ausefulgapuntilmoremodernequipment naval vessels during hours ofdarkness, and theAS45 becameavailable. M. J. HooksCollection 9

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