Hawker Siddeley

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Hawker Siddeley
legal form Corporation
founding 1935
resolution 1977/1992
Seat London , UK
Branch Aerospace engineering , traffic engineering

Hawker Siddeley was a British group of companies that was best known for its aircraft construction . In the 1960s, the company was Britain's most important aircraft manufacturer alongside British Aircraft . In 1977 Hawker Siddeley became part of the newly formed state-owned British Aerospace (BAe).

history

Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Corporation Ltd. was created in 1935 through the merger of Hawker Aircraft with the vehicle and engine manufacturer Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft . In the same year Hawker Siddeley acquired two other companies, AV Roe & Company , or Avro for short , and Air Training Services . The combined companies continued to market their own aircraft models under their own names, but production was spread across the group.

During the Second World War , Hawker Siddeley was one of the most important armaments companies in Great Britain, producing numerous models of aircraft, including the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft, made famous by the Battle of Britain . With the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest models , the company built the fastest fighter aircraft on the British side, which were used to combat the German V1 cruise missiles and Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighters.

In 1945 Hawker Siddeley acquired the Malton, Ontario- based company Victory Aircraft from the Canadian government and renamed it AV Roe Canada , or Avro Canada for short . During its existence Avro Canada produced the Avro Jetliner , the CF-100 and the CF-105 Arrow . After the failure of the Arrow project, AV Roe Canada was dissolved in 1962, and the business assets were transferred to Hawker Siddeley Canada , which was later also dissolved . The Canadian subsidiary's rail business went to Bombardier Transportation .

Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Hawk T.1A

post war period

In 1948 the company was renamed the Hawker Siddeley Group . The aircraft division was now called Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) and the guided missiles and space sector was called Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (HSD). In 1959, Bristol Siddeley was created through the merger of the aircraft engine manufacturers Armstrong Siddeley and Bristol Aero Engines .

In the late 1950s, the British government decided to merge the aircraft manufacturers into larger units in order to ensure their survival despite falling order numbers. This resulted in the regulation that the contracts concluded with the state should also contain agreements on company mergers. Hawker Siddeley then took over Folland Aircraft in 1959 , followed by de Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft in 1960.

From 1963 onwards, all company products were given the new name " Hawker Siddeley " or " HS ", the original brands were dropped. During this time, the company developed the first operational and by far the most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the Harrier . This aircraft was in production until the 1990s.

Expansion of the railroad business

In 1957 Hawker Siddeley took over the Brush group of companies, a manufacturer of locomotives and electrical equipment. Other acquisitions included the Westinghouse outfitter and the Mirrlees Blackstone engine manufacturer . In 1967, Crompton Parkinson was acquired, another manufacturer of electrical equipment and motors.

Nationalization of the aviation industry

On April 29, 1977, the Hawker-Siddeley subsidiaries Aviation and Dynamics were nationalized due to the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act and merged with the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace , BAe for short. In fact, HSA and HSD made up just 25 percent of Hawker Siddeley's business at the time.

The foreign and non-aviation divisions came to the Hawker Siddeley Group holding company in 1980 . In the 1980s, the group was restructured, now with a focus on railway and signaling technology , industrial equipment and telecommunications technology. In 1992 Hawker Siddeley Group was dissolved and the individual divisions sold. Some were owned by the BTR Aerospace Group .

Hawker Siddeley after 1992

In 1973 Hawker Siddeley acquired the electronics company South Wales Switchgear . In 1992 the company was renamed Hawker Siddeley Switchgear . The Australian subsidiary Hawker Siddeley Switchgear Australia also belongs to the group of companies . Another company with the traditional name is Hawker Siddeley Power Transformers .

In 1993, BAe sold its business aircraft division to the American company Raytheon , which merged it with Beech Aircraft to form the new Raytheon Aircraft (then Hawker Beechcraft until 2013 ).

Orenda Aerospace , part of Magellan Aerospace Corporation , is the last remaining successor to Avro Canada / Hawker Siddeley Canada.

Planes

Guided missiles

Web links

Commons : Hawker Siddeley  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Hawker Siddeley Group Public Limited Company - Company History (English) . Retrieved November 18, 2009.
  2. Annual Report of Hawker Siddley Group in: The Glasgow Herald, June 18, 1969