Everything about Hawker Siddeley totally explained
Hawker Siddeley was a group of
British manufacturing companies renowned for their
aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several well-known British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of only two such major British companies in the 1960s. In 1977, Hawker Siddeley became a founding component of the nationalised
British Aerospace (BAe). In 1993, BAe sold its corporate jet product line to the
American Raytheon Aircraft Company (now
Hawker Beechcraft), who maintain the Hawker legacy with a line of eponymous business jets.
History
Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was formed in 1935 as a result of the purchase by
Hawker Aircraft of the companies of
J. D. Siddeley; the automotive and engine builder
Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer
Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. At this time, Hawker Siddeley also came into control of
A.V. Roe & Company (Avro),
Gloster Aircraft Company (Gloster) and Air Training Services. The constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing work throughout the group.
During the Second World War, Hawker Siddeley was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns, producing numerous designs including the famous
Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the
Supermarine Spitfire, was Britain's front-line defence in the
Battle of Britain. During this campaign, Hurricanes outnumbered all other British fighters, combined, in service and were responsible for shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed.
In
1945, the Hawker Siddeley purchased
Victory Aircraft of Malton,
Ontario,
Canada from the
Canadian government, renaming the company, A.V. Roe Canada, commonly known as
Avro Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley. During its operation, Avro Canada designs included the
Avro Jetliner,
Avro CF-100,
CF-105 Arrow and
VZ-9- AV Avrocar. Only the CF-100 fighter entered full-scale production. After the cancellation of the Avro Arrow, the company began to unravel. In 1962, A.V. Roe Canada was dissolved and the remaining assets were transferred to the now defunct Hawker Siddeley Canada. The heavy rail manufacturing business, based in
Mississauga and
Thunder Bay, Ontario, have been acquired by
Bombardier Transportation.
Postwar
In 1948, the company name was changed to
Hawker Siddeley Group. The aircraft division would become
Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) and the
guided missile and space technology operations as
Hawker Siddeley Dynamics (HSD). In 1959, the
aero engine business,
Armstrong Siddeley was merged with that of the
Bristol Aero Engines to form
Bristol Siddeley. In the late 1950s, the British 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. In 1959,
Folland Aircraft was acquired, followed by
de Havilland Aircraft Company and
Blackburn Aircraft in 1960. In 1963, the names of the constituent companies were dropped, with products being rebranded as "
Hawker Siddeley" or "
HS". In this period, the company developed the first operational, and, by far, the most successful VTOL jet aircraft, the
Harrier family. This aircraft remained in production into the 1990s and remains in service.
Expansion into railways
In 1957, Hawker Siddeley purchased the Brush group of companies that included
Brush Electrical Machines, and
Brush Traction who manufacture electromotive equipment and
railway locomotives. The Brush prototype locomotives
Falcon and the futuristic but over-weight
HS4000 'Kestrel' were produced here. Other railway engineering assets were acquired, including
Westinghouse Brake & Signal and the engine builder
Mirrlees Blackstone.
In the early 1970's Hawker Siddeley's
Canada Car and Foundry subsidiary began to build rapid transit vehicles for the North American market. The first order was for the
Port Authority Trans-Hudson line and consisted of 38 PA-3 cars, which were largely based on the original hexagonal profile PA car design built by the
St. Louis Car Company. Later Hawker Siddeley would sell the same general design to the
MBTA in Boston for their
Blue and
Orange Lines. 70 48' cars were delivered to the Blue Line in 1978-80 and 120 65' cars were delivered to the Orange Line in 1980-81. Hawker Siddeley also manufactured a great deal of the
Toronto Transit Commission's older subway fleet, the H5 and H6 models.
MBTA also bought a number of commuter rail coaches from the German firm
Messerschmitt, teaming up Hawker Siddeley with its old wartime rival under the same organization.
Nationalisation of aircraft production
On
29 April 1977, as a result of the
Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act, Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics were nationalised and merged with
British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and
Scottish Aviation to form
British Aerospace; BAe. However, HSA and HSD accounted for only 25% of the Hawker Siddeley business by this time, and the non-aviation and foreign interests were retained by a holding company known as
'Hawker Siddeley Group Plc after 1980. The group was rationalised in the 1980s, focusing on railway engineering and signaling, industrial electronics and instrumentation and signaling equipment. In 1992, Hawker Siddeley Group Plc was broken-up, and the various assets sold off, some of which were acquired by
BTR Aerospace Group.
Hawker Siddeley today
In 1973, HS acquired the industrial electronics firm
South Wales Switchgear. Later known as Aberdare Holdings, in 1992 this company was renamed
Hawker Siddeley Switchgear (HSS). They have an
Australian subsidiary,
Hawker Siddeley Switchgear Australia. Another company which retains the name is
Hawker Siddeley Power Transformers. Orenda Aerospace, as part of the Magellan Aerospace Corporation, is the only remaining original company from the Avro Canada / Hawker Siddeley Canada era, although greatly diminished in size and scope of operations.
Products
Aircraft
The Hawker Siddeley name wasn't used to brand and market aircraft until 1963. Prior to this, aircraft were produced under the name of the subsidiary company (for example
Hawker Hurricane,
Gloster Meteor). First flight date is in parenthesis.
Armstrong Whitworth AW.681 transport project renamed as HS.681
Missiles
Blue Steel missile (Avro)
de Havilland Firestreak
Martel (missile) in collaboration with Matra
Hawker Siddeley Red Top
Sea Dart missile (HS)
Sea Slug missile (Armstrong Whitworth)Further Information
Get more info on 'Hawker Siddeley'.
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