Hawker-Siddeley was a British aircraft manufacturing company. The company went through a long evolution before emerging as one of only two major manufacturers in the 1960s, and eventually being merged into British Aerospace in the 1980s.

Hawker Engineering

Hawker Siddeley had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War following restructuring/bankruptcy of Sopwith Aviation. The Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker and three others (including Sopwith), bought the assets of the Sopwith company and formed H.G. Hawker Engineering late in 1920.

Between the wars Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the Royal Air Force. These included the Hind and the Hart, which became the most produced British airplane in the years before World War 2.

Hawker Aviation

Renamed in 1933 to Hawker Aviation, Hawker took advantage of the Great Depression and the companies strong financial position to purchase a series of British aviation companies including Gloster Aircraft , Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Armstrong Siddeley Motors , and A.V. Roe. This group of companies was renamed Hawker Siddeley in 1935.

This was the form of the company during the Second World War, when it produced many aircraft in many designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane, which along with the Spitfire was instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain. (Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed).

Almost every Hawker design of the Second World War was a success (even if not initially), mainly attributable to the design genius of Sidney Camm (later Sir Sidney). Designs included:

• Hawker Typhoon
• Hawker Tempest
• Hawker Fury
• Hawker Sea Fury

Non-Camm designs in the Hawker Siddeley stable included the Gloster Meteor, the first Allied jet fighter.

After the war Hawker Siddeley produced one of the outstanding post war jet aircraft the Hawker Hunter, which set a world speed record of 728mph in 1953.

Hawker-Siddeley Group

In the late 1950s the government decided that with the decreasing number of aircraft contracts being offered, it was better to merge the existing companies, of which there were about 15 surviving at this point, into several much larger firms. Out of this decision came the "order" that all future contracts being offered had to include agreements to merge companies.

Hawker and de Havilland merged in 1959, followed by Blackburn Aircraft, Avro (along with Avro Canada) and Whitworth (already part of Hawker),Folland and Gloster over the next year, forming the Hawker-Siddeley Group. Meanwhile a similar set of mergers led to the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), Westland Helicopters and Rolls-Royce as the only engine manufacturer.

In this period the company developed the first operational, and by far the most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the Hawker Harrier. This aircraft remained in production into the 1990s and service beyond the millennium.

Amongst other aircraft built by the Hawker Siddeley company were:

• Hawker-Siddeley Trident
• Hawker Siddeley HS125
• Hawker Siddeley HS748

End of Hawker

In 1977 the Hawker-Siddeley Group was merged with BAC by act of Parliament (nationalised) to form British Aerospace. The non-UK and non-aviation parts of the company were spun-off to form separate enterprise including:

In 1980, Hawker Pacific Aerospace was formed.

In 1991, the Hawker Siddeley Group Public Limited Company is acquired by BTR Aerospace Group.

See also: Aircraft - Hawker Pacific Aerospace

External link

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/Hawker/Aero51a.htm