- Hawker Aircraft Ltd
Book
CID:
- 65376
Class:
- 17c
Authors:
- James, D.N.
Place of Publication:
- Stroud
Publisher:
- The Chalford Publishing Company
Publication Date:
- 1996
Series:
- The Archive Photographs Series
Subjects:
- History - Aircraft Firms
Abstract:
- H G Hawker Engineering Co Ltd was formed in 1920 by Bill Eyre, Harry Hawker, Thomas Sopwith and Fred Sigrist to purchase the assets and patents of the Sopwith Aviation & Engineering Co which had gone into receivership a couple of months earlier. The new company was named for Harry Hawker who had been Sopwith's chief test pilot, although he was killed in a flying accident the following year. In 1922 the company won the contract for reconditioning war-damaged Royal Air Force Sopwith Snipes and Airco DH9As. The company's first aircraft, the Duiker, was a prototype only but the Woodcock and Hart and its derivatives which followed were very successful. By 1933 H G Hawker Engineering Co Ltd had grown significantly and in that year was taken over by and reformed as the publicly-quoted Hawker Aircraft Ltd. In 1934 the company purchased the Gloster Aircraft Co and in 1935 announced plans to join Armstrong Siddeley Development Co Ltd, which included aircraft manufacturers Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd and A V Roe & Co Ltd. This led to the formation of a new public holding company, Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co Ltd in 1935 which, as well as buying Armstrong Siddeley Development Co Ltd from Sir John Siddeley, held 50% of Hawker Aircraft Ltd shares. The holding company bought out the remaining shares in Hawker Aircraft Ltd in 1937. Hawker Aircraft continued to produce designs under its own name as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft, including 14,500 Hawker Hurricanes. The Hawker brand name was dropped in 1963.
Notes:
- (PRI) £9.99
- (PHY) illus
Collation:
- 128pp
Historical Created Date:
- 22 Aug 2013
Publication Date Information:
- 1996