Hawker Siddeley

Hawker Siddeley Group Limited

Fate	Aircraft merged with British Aircraft Corporation and Scottish Aviation. group divested
Successor	British Aerospace, Bristol Siddeley
Founded	1934 (as Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co.)
Defunct	Aircraft 29 April 1977 as a whole 1992
Location
Industry	Aerospace
Key people	Harry Hawker, J. D. Siddeley
Subsidiary	Hawker Aircraft, Gloster Aircraft Company, A. V. Roe and Company, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, A.V. Roe Canada/Hawker Siddeley Canada (from 1945), Folland Aircraft (from 1959), de Havilland Aircraft (from 1960), Blackburn Aircraft (from 1960)

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) and Air Training Services. The constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing 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 produced the Avro Jetliner, Avro CF-100 and CF-105 Arrow. 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.

Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Hawk T.1A, with its pilot. This aircraft, used for aerobatic displays, is in a special colour scheme.

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 manufacturer electromotive equipment and railway locomotives. The Brush prototype locomotive Falcon was also known as the HS4000; Hawker Siddeley 4,000 horsepower (the locomotive's rating). Other railway engineering assets were acquired, including Westinghouse Brake & Signal and the engine builder Mirrlees Blackstone.

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, focussing on railway engineering and signalling, industrial electronics and instrumentation and signalling 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

The Hawker Siddeley products include the following:

Aircraft

• HS125
• HS748
• Hawker Siddeley Andover
• HS121 Trident
• Kestrel (1964)
• Harrier (1966)
• P.1154
• Nimrod (1967)
• Hawk (1974)
• Buccaneer - Hawker Siddeley built a number of S Mk.2B aircraft for the Royal Air Force
• Gnat
• Hawker Hunter

Missiles

• Blue Steel missile
• Firestreak missile
• Martel (missile)
• Hawker Siddeley Red Top
• Sea Dart missile
• Sea Slug missile

External links

• British Aircraft Directory entry
• US Centiennal of Flight Commission - Hawker Siddeley
• Hawker Siddeley Australia corporate website
• Funding Universe | Hawker Siddeley Group Public Limited Company - Company History

See also

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