- Folland Aircraft
Folland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturing company.
History
British Marine Aircraft Ltd was formed in February 1936 to produce Sikorsky S-42-A
flying boat s under licence in the UK. The company built a factory on the western side of theHamble peninsular with a slipway toSouthampton Water . The Sikorsky deal came to naught, however, and the company was sold to Henry P. Folland , formerly Chief designer forGloster Aircraft Company , who renamed it Folland Aircraft Limited onDecember 24 1937 . inote|Fagan|Fagan Folland began aircraft assembly at Hamble making parts forBristol Blenheim and Beaufort bombers. Folland later took on sub-contract work making parts forde Havilland Mosquito s andVickers Wellington s.inote|Haselden|HaseldenThe first aircraft of its own design to fly was the
Folland Fo.108 in 1940. Designed and built to meet theAir Ministry specification 43/47 for a flying engine testbed it was generally known as the 43/47 or by the nickname "Folland Frightful" from its unusual appearance.W. E. W. Petter , who had designed theWestland Lysander ,English Electric Canberra andEnglish Electric Lightning , joined the company asmanaging director in 1950. inote|British Aircraft Directory|BAD He designed theFolland Midge , which first flewAugust 11 1954 inote|British Aircraft Directory|BAD, and theFolland Gnat training jet (July 18 1955 )inote|British Aircraft Directory|BAD. Both were built at Hamble until the 1960s. In 1959 Folland was acquired byHawker Siddeley who dropped the Folland name in 1963. Ultimately, Folland became part ofBritish Aerospace (BAe). Although Hamble airfield closed in 1986, BAe continued to use the premises there for the production of major assemblies for Harrier and Hawk jets. inote|Haselden|HaseldenAircraft
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Folland Fo.108
*Folland Midge
*Folland Gnat References
* [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/companypage.php?ID=21 'Folland', "British Aircraft Directory"] (
May 1 2004 ) RetrievedMay 20 2005
* [http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/airfields/ham.html Fagan, Dave. 'Hamble' "Aviation in Hampshire UK 1900 to 2000"] RetrievedMay 20 2005
* [http://www.delscope.demon.co.uk/personal/hamble.htm Haselden, Derek. "Aviation at Hamble"] (January 8 2005 ) RetrievedMay 20 2005
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