Aircraft Manufacturing Co (Airco)
The Aircraft Manufacturing Co (Airco) was established at The Hyde in Hendon, North London, England during 1912 by George Holt Thomas.
- 1911 George Holt Thomas obtained the UK manufacturing rights to the Henry and Maurice Farman aircraft.
- 1912 Geoffrey de Havilland joined as the chief designer. His designs were marked with his initials DH.
- 1920 Following the cessation of hostilities, the company's undue reliance on military orders became a handicap and the company became bankrupt in 1920. Its assets were bought by the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) which did not pursue aviation-related business. The aviation-related assets of the company were bought by Geoffrey de Havilland and he formed the de Havilland Aircraft Company in the same year.
- 1937 Aeroplane spares, flying clothing, maps, books, airport lighting and equipment. [1]
List of Models
- DH1 (1915) The DH1 Flew at Hendon and an order for 49 production models were placed. This was subcontracted to Savages of King's Lynn who had no experience of building planes and this delayed production.
- DH2 (1915) Single-seater fighter biplane. The first success was a pusher engine fighter DH2 of 1915, that helped to repel the "Fokker scourge". The first production models appeared in November 1915. It lasted in service until June 1917. Around 400 were made. Powered by 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape or 110 hp Le Roche 9J Rotary engine
- DH3 (1916) In the spring of 1916 the DH3, a twin engined biplane was designed as a three-seater long-range bomber. In September a contract for 50 planes was placed. The DH3 was fitted with two 120 hp Beardmore engines and the DH3a with the 160 hp versions.
- DH4 (1916) Two-crew day bomber. Seen as the best fighter-bomber of WWI. The DH4 was a two-seater biplane initially fitted with the 160 hp and 230 hp Beardmore but then with the BHP 200 hp unit, a 6-cylinder in-line engine. This was then replaced by the 250 hp and 375 hp Eagle engine. Also used the 400 hp Liberty 12. It was designed as a bomber but was more suited as a fighter-reconnaissance plane. In July 1916 the first production order for 50 was placed and three months later another 690 were ordered. In America nearly 5,000 were produced.
- DH5 (1916) Single-seater fighter. In Autumn the DH5 fighter was completed. It went in to production in 1917. The plane was also made by British Cauldron, Darracq and March, Jones and Cribb and powered by a 110 hp Le Rhone 9J rotary engine.
- DH6 (1916) Two-seater trainer. In October the prototype DH6 two-seater trainer first flew. More than 2,280 examples of the DH6 trainer were built. Beside Airco the plane was made by Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries, Grahame-White, Gloster Aircraft Co, Harland and Wolff, Kingsbury Aviation, Morgan and Canadian Aeroplanes. Powered by the 90 hp RAF 1a; 90 hp Curtiss OX-5 or by the 80 hp Renault engine.
- DH9 (1917) Two-crew single engined biplane day bomber. The history of the DH9 begins in January 1917 when the Air Board asked for assessments of the 200 hp Sunbeam Saracen, 200 hp Hispano-Suiza and 200 hp Sunbeam Arab engines. The Sunbeam Arab was recommended along with the BHP. Later it also used the 290 hp Siddeley Puma and the 250 hp FIAT A-122. 2,000 of the BHP engines were ordered from Siddeley-Deasy and a further 60 from Galloway Engineering Co. The Siddeley-Deasy produced a modified BHP engine and called it the Siddeley Puma and eventually produced 11,500 units. The DH9 started by being a modified DH4. A total of 3,204 aircraft were built.
Manufacture was by Airco, F. W. Berwick and Co, Cubitt, Mann, Egerton and Co, National Aircraft Factory, Short Brothers, Vulcan Motor and Engineering, Waring and Gillow, Wells Aviation, G. and J. Weir, Westland, Whitehead Aircraft and Alliance Aeroplane Co
The DH9J was a Jaguar engine version used for training.
|- |bgcolor=#F0F0F0| DH10 Amiens |bgcolor=#F0F0F0| 1917 |bgcolor=#F0F0F0| Bomber. In July 1917 a development of the DH3 was started and became the DH10. It was not made in great numbers but beside Airco (200), Alliance Aeroplane Co, Birmingham Railway Wagon and Carriage Co (100), Daimler, Mann, Egerton and Co, National Aircraft Factory and Siddeley-Deasy made some. 1,291 planes were built
The company's DH16 and DH18 types were operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, the first airline established in the United Kingdom, that was also owned by George Holt Thomas.
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) by J. M. Bruce. Published in 1982. p38
- The Encyclopedia of British Military Aircraft by Chaz Bowyer. Published in 1982. ISBN 1-85841-031-2
- Warplanes of the World 1918-1939 by Michael J. H. Taylor. Published 1981. ISBN 0-7110-1078-1