General Aircraft Limited

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General Aircraft Limited (GAL) was a British aircraft manufacturer . The main focus of production were gliders and light transport aircraft.

history

The company was founded on February 27, 1931 as the successor to Mono-Spar Company Ltd. The Monospar company was founded in 1929 by the Swiss engineer Helmuth John Stieger in order to produce the single-spar wings that he had developed and were revolutionary at the time.

Based on this wing concept, Monospar developed the Monospar ST-3, powered by two Salmson radial engines with an output of 50 HP each. This three-seater fabric-covered low-wing aircraft was produced at Gloster . After successfully testing this machine, Stieger founded General Aircraft Ltd. in order to manufacture its own aircraft there. Production began in 1932 using the so-called “Monospar” wings. Stieger also used this technology of tension-loaded connecting elements as a fuselage construction. At least the ST aircraft had a "fuselage keel" to which the lightly loaded elements for shaping the fuselage were connected.

From 1932 to 1934, GAL manufactured the Monospar ST-4 in production facilities at Croydon Aerodrome . It was a light two-engine, four-seat low-wing aircraft. Pobjoy radial engines with an output of 85 HP were used as drive units. A total of about 35 machines were built from this model, initially a first series comprising five pieces, later about 30 slightly modified copies.

In October 1934 merged the two companies GAL and mono-saving, the name of General Aircraft Limited was retained.

In early 1935 the production facilities were moved from Croydon to Hanworth near Feltham ; there they started with the models Monospar ST-12, Monospar ST-18 and Monospar ST-25.

In 1936 GAL received an order to build 89 machines of the type Hawker Fury Iis , followed by an order to convert 125 Hawker Hinds into school versions. In 1938, the company acquired the right to manufacture the Cygnet light aircraft from the developer of this machine, CW Aircraft Ltd, and developed this design further into the GAL 42 Cygnet II. GAL also ran a flight school for the RAF at Fairoaks airfield in Surrey .

During the Second World War , GAL developed into an important developer and manufacturer in the field of cargo gliders and was also active in the field of repairs to damaged military aircraft during the war. Spitfires were repaired in Hanworth and Beaufighters in Fairoaks , and GAL also built Hurricanes into catapult-capable aircraft for launching convoy escort ships.

In 1943, GAL imported a large number of Sikorsky helicopters from the USA for test purposes . The individual parts delivered in wooden boxes were assembled in Hanworth and the assembled machines were extensively tested there by a squadron of the RAF and two squadrons of naval aviation, the Fleet Air Arm ; In addition, some of these helicopters were tested for their suitability in the area of ​​sea rescue.

After the war, the company also developed semi-prefabricated houses and car bodies, as a result of which the production capacities for the large GAL 60 Universal transport aircraft - later known as Blackburn Beverley in the further developed version GAL 65 - became too small, and GAL began a collaboration with Blackburn Aircraft Ltd . who assembled the aircraft at their Brough production facility .

On January 1, 1949, the two companies merged to form Blackburn and General Aircraft Ltd., the production facilities in Hanworth were soon closed.

Aircraft types

Web links

Commons : General Aircraft Limited  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Arthur WJG Ord-Hume: The Monospar - From tailless gliders to vast transport: The story of General Aircraft Ltd of Hanworth , Stenlake Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1-84033-636-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ord-Hume, 2013, p. 33