Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company
company_logo =
fate = Merged with Gloster Aircraft Company & Hawker Aircraft
successor = Hawker Siddeley
foundation = 1912 (as Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth (Aerial Department))
defunct = 1961
location = Gosforth, Parkside, Whitley, Baginton, Bitteswell
industry = Aviation
key_people =
products =
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company, or Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, was a British aircraft manufacturer.

History

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was established as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth & Company engineering group in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1912.

In 1920, Armstrong Whitworth acquired the engine and automobile manufacturer Siddeley-Deasy. The engine and automotive businesses of both companies were spun off as Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft interests as the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company. When Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth merged in 1927 to form Vickers-Armstrongs, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley were bought out by J. D. Siddeley and did not join the new grouping. This left two aircraft companies with Armstrong in the name Vickers-Armstrongs (known usually as just "Vickers") and "Armstrong-Whitworth"

In 1935, J. D. Siddeley retired and Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was purchased by Hawker Aircraft, the new group becoming Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. The component companies of Hawker Siddeley co-operated, but operated as individual entities.

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was eventually merged with another Hawker Siddeley company, Gloster Aircraft Company, to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft in 1961. In 1963 Hawker Siddeley dropped the names of the component companies from its products, the last Armstrong Whitworth product, the Argosy, becoming the Hawker Siddeley Argosy.

Products

Date of first flight in parenthesis.
*Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3 (1915)
*Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8 (1916) - "Big Ack" (1,200 built)
*Armstrong Whitworth F.K.9 (1916)
*Armstrong Whitworth F.K.10 (1917) - "Quadriplane" (8 built)
*Armstrong Whitworth Armadillo
*Armstrong Whitworth Ara
*Armstrong Whitworth Tadpole
*Armstrong Whitworth Siskin (1919)
*Armstrong Whitworth Awana (1923)
*Armstrong Whitworth Wolf (1923)
*Armstrong Whitworth Atlas (1925)
*Armstrong Whitworth Ajax (1925)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.14 Starling
*Armstrong Whitworth Ape (1926)
*Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (1926)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.16
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.17 Aries (1930)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.15 Atalanta (1932)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19 (1934)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.23 (1935)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.35 Scimitar (1935)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley (1936)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.27 Ensign (1938)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albermarle (1940)
*Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 (1947) - flying wing, prototype only
*Armstrong Whitworth Apollo (1949)
*Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (AW.650 / 660) (1959)
*Armstrong Whitworth AW.681 - proposed STOL military transport aircraft design
*Armstrong Whitworth AW.169 - proposed design for Operational Requirement F.155 high altitude supersonic interceptor
*Armstrong Whitworth AW.171 - supersonic VTOL flying wing
*Hawker Sea Hawk - produced as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft
*Gloster Meteor NF.11 - produced as part of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft

Airships

* 23 class airship
** R25r airship
*R29 - airship
*R33 - airship

Missiles

*Sea Slug missile

External links

* [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/companypage.php?ID=12 British Aircraft Directory entry]

ee also