Harman Patil (Editor)

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft

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Industry
  
Aviation

Founded
  
1912

Ceased operations
  
1961

Defunct
  
1961

Successor
  
Hawker Siddeley

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Fate
  
Merged with Gloster Aircraft Company & Hawker Aircraft

Headquarters
  
Bitteswell, United Kingdom

Parent organizations
  
Hawker Siddeley, Armstrong Siddeley

Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company, or Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, was a British aircraft manufacturer.

Contents

History

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was established as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth & Company engineering group in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1912, and from c. 1914 to 1917 employed the Dutch aircraft designer Frederick Koolhoven (hence the "F.K." models).

In 1920, Armstrong Whitworth acquired the engine and automobile manufacturer Siddeley-Deasy. The engine and automotive businesses of both companies were spun off as Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft interests as the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company. When Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth merged in 1927 to form Vickers-Armstrongs, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley were bought out by J. D. Siddeley and did not join the new grouping. This left two aircraft companies with Armstrong in the name - Vickers-Armstrongs (usually known as just "Vickers") and "Armstrong-Whitworth".

In 1935, J. D. Siddeley retired and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was purchased by Hawker Aircraft, the new group becoming Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. The component companies of Hawker Siddeley co-operated, but operated as individual entities.

During the 1950s Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft built many Gloster Meteor, Hawker Seahawk and Hawker Hunter jet fighters at their Bitteswell and Baginton factories for delivery to the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the Royal Belgian Air Force.

The company was eventually merged with another Hawker Siddeley company, Gloster Aircraft Company, to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft in 1961. In 1963 Hawker Siddeley dropped the names of the component companies from its products, the last Armstrong Whitworth product, the Argosy, becoming the Hawker Siddeley Argosy.

Aircraft

Date of first flight in parenthesis.

Armstrong Whitworth Aerial Department
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.1 (1914) – "Sissit"
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3 (1915)
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.6 (1916) – Escort fighter triplane
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 (1916) – "Big Ack" (1,200 built)
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.9 (1916)
  • Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 (1917) – "Quadriplane" (8 built)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Armadillo
  • Armstrong Whitworth Ara (1919)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Tadpole
  • Armstrong Whitworth Siskin (1919)
    • Armstrong-Siddeley Aircraft
  • Armstrong-Siddeley Siniai (1921) – Bomber (1 built)
    • Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft
  • Armstrong Whitworth Awana (1923)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Wolf (1923)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Atlas (1925)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Ajax (1925)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.14 Starling
  • Armstrong Whitworth Ape (1926)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (1926)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.16
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.17 Aries (1930)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.15 Atalanta (1932)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19 (1934)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.23 (1935)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.29 (1936) - competing design for Specification P.27/32 for a day bomber
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.35 Scimitar (1935)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley (1936)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.27 Ensign (1938)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle (1940)
  • Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 (1947) – flying wing, prototype only
  • Armstrong Whitworth Apollo (1949)
  • Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (AW.650 / 660) (1959)
  • Armstrong Whitworth AW.681 – proposed STOL military transport aircraft design
  • Armstrong Whitworth AW.169 – proposed design for Operational Requirement F.155 high altitude supersonic interceptor
  • Armstrong Whitworth AW.171 – supersonic VTOL flying wing
  • Hawker Sea Hawk – produced as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft
  • Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11 – redesign of the Gloster Meteor produced as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft

    • Airships

  • R25r airship
  • R29 – airship
  • R33 – airship

    • Missiles

  • Sea Slug missile

    • References

    Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA