Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft
of Coventry; of Baginton Aerodrome near Coventry
For a list of Aircraft models see Armstrong Whitworth: Aircraft
1913 Armstrong Whitworth created an "aerial department" at Whitley near Coventry.
WWI Produced a number of aircraft designs - see Armstrong Whitworth: Aircraft
1919 Their rigid airship R33 was made. [1]
1920 This department became Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd, of Whitley near Coventry, a subsidiary of Armstrong Whitworth Development Co.
1927 Armstrong Whitworth Development Co (chairman John Davenport Siddeley) was sold by Armstrong Whitworth, including subsidiaries Armstrong Siddeley Motors and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft; the name was changed to Armstrong Siddeley Development Co.
1935 Hawker Aircraft Ltd purchased Armstrong Siddeley Development Co and then sold the shares and 50% of the shares in Hawker Aircraft to a new company, Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co Ltd, which had been formed as a public company for the purpose of combining the 2 largest UK aircraft manufacturers[2]. The constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing throughout the group.
1948 The holding company name was changed to Hawker Siddeley Group.
1958 In the late 1950s the British government had 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 Siddeley merged all its aviation interests into one division, Hawker Siddeley Aviation.