Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production.
Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several 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. Hawker Siddeley also operated in other industrial markets, such as locomotive
building and diesel engine manufacture. The Company was once a constituent of the FTSE
100 Index.
History Origins
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
acquired A.V. Roe & Company, Gloster Aircraft Company and Air Training Services. The constituent
companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing
manufacturing work 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. Avro Canada
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,
initially a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley. Avro Canada underwent a major expansion
through aircraft development and acquisition of aircraft engine, mining, steel, railway
rolling stock, computers, electronics, and other businesses to become, by 1958, Canada's
third largest company directly employing over 14,000 people and providing 45% of the parent
company's revenues. During its operation, Avro Canada aircraft included the C102 Jetliner,
CF-100 Canuck, CF-105 Arrow and VZ-9- AV Avrocar. Only the CF-100 fighter entered full-scale
production. Other design projects included supersonic transport passenger aircraft, a
mach-2 VTOL fighter, hovercraft, a jet engine-powered tank, and the hypersonic Space Threshold Vehicle.
After the cancellation of the 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.
Postwar In 1948, the company name was changed to Hawker
Siddeley Group. The aircraft division would become Hawker Siddeley Aviation and the guided
missile and space technology operations as Hawker Siddeley Dynamics. 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 manufacture electromotive equipment and railway locomotives.
The Brush prototype locomotives Falcon and the futuristic but over-weight HS4000 'Kestrel'
were produced here. Other railway engineering assets were acquired, including Westinghouse
Brake & Signal and the engine builder Mirrlees Blackstone, which came with the Brush businesses.
In the early 1970s Hawker Siddeley's Canada Car and Foundry subsidiary began to build
rapid transit vehicles for the North American market. The first order was for the Port Authority
Trans-Hudson line and consisted of 38 PA-3 cars, which were largely based on the original
hexagonal profile PA car design built by the St. Louis Car Company. Later Hawker Siddeley
would sell the same general design to the MBTA in Boston for their Blue and Orange Lines.
70 48' cars were delivered to the Blue Line in 1978–80 and 120 65' cars were delivered
to the Orange Line in 1980–81. Hawker Siddeley also manufactured much of the Toronto subway
system's older rolling stock, the H5 and H6 models. The heavy rail manufacturing business,
based in Mississauga and Thunder Bay, Ontario, are now part of Bombardier Transportation.
MBTA also bought a number of commuter rail coaches from the German firm Messerschmitt,
teaming up Hawker Siddeley with its old wartime rival under the same organisation.
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 and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace.
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. Rationalisation and sale to BTR
The group rationalised in the 1980s, focusing on railway engineering and signalling, industrial
electronics and instrumentation and signalling equipment.
Orenda Aerospace, the only remaining original company from the Avro Canada / Hawker Siddeley
Canada era, although greatly diminished in size and scope of operations, became part
of the Magellan Aerospace Corporation. The late 1980s also saw Hawker Siddeley divest
itself of much of its other North American heavy manufacturing enterprises. Its Talladega,
Alabama-based TreeFarmer heavy equipment business was sold to Franklin Equipment in 1990 and
its Canadian rail car production facilities were split between SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier
in 1992. In 1992, Hawker Siddeley Group Plc was acquired
by BTR plc for £1.5bn. Hawker Siddeley name 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. They have
an Australian subsidiary, Hawker Siddeley Switchgear Australia. Another company which
retains the name is Hawker Siddeley Power Transformers.
In 1993, British Aerospace sold its corporate jet product line to the American Raytheon
Aircraft Company. In 2006 the product line was sold to a new company to be known as Hawker
Beechcraft, owned by Onex Partners and Goldman Sachs.
Products
Aircraft The Hawker Siddeley name was not used to brand
aircraft until 1963. Prior to this, aircraft were produced under the name of the subsidiary
company. First flight date is in parentheses. HS.121 Trident – originated as de Havilland
DH.121 airliner. HS.125 & Dominie – originated as the de
Havilland DH.125. Military service as Dominie P.139B - AEW and COD aircraft project.
HS.141 - V/STOL airliner project submission. HS.146 – entered production and later renamed
the BAe 146. HS.748 – originated as Avro 748 turboprop
airliner. HS.780 Andover – military derivative of
HS748 P.1121 – a Hawker project
Kestrel – a Hawker project Harrier - see also Harrier Jump Jet
P.1154 - V/STOL combat aircraft project HS.801 Nimrod – development of the de Havilland
Comet as a naval patrol aircraft HS.1182 Hawk - advanced jet trainer
Airbus A300 – Hawker Siddeley designed and built the wings of the A300 airliner.
Argosy – known as Armstrong Whitworth Argosy until individual "brands" dropped in 1963.
Built by Hawker Siddeley during the early 1960s. The last Argosy was built in 1965.
Buccaneer – originated as the Blackburn Buccaneer. Hawker Siddeley built the Buccaneer
for the Royal Navy, plus the South African Air Force during the 1960s, also a number
of S Mk.2B aircraft for the Royal Air Force. Comet 4 – first flying as the de Havilland
Comet airliner in 1949. The Comet 4 was still being built by Hawker Siddeley in the early
1960s. The final Comet 4 rolled off the production line in 1964.
Dove – originated as the de Havilland Dove. Hawker Siddeley built the Dove during the
1960s. The last Dove was rolled off the production line in 1967.
Gnat – originated as the Folland Gnat. Hawker Siddeley built a number Gnats during the early
1960s, for the Finnish Air Force, Indian Air Force and the RAF.
Heron – originated as the de Havilland Heron. Built by Hawker Siddeley in the early 1960s.
The Last Heron was rolled off the production line in 1963.
Hunter – originated as the Hawker Hunter. The Hunter was still being built by Hawker
Siddeley in early 1960s. The final Hunter rolled off the production line in 1966.
Sea Vixen – originated as the de Havilland Sea Vixen. Hawker Siddeley built the Sea Vixen
during the early 1960s. The last Sea Vixen was delivered to the Royal Navy in 1965.
Vulcan – originated as the Avro Vulcan. Hawker Siddeley built the Vulcan during the
early 1960s. The last Vulcan was delivered to the RAF in 1965.
Armstrong Whitworth AW.681 - transport project renamed as HS.681
Hawker-Siddeley Helicrane - a cancelled flying crane helicopter project in three variants,
HS, HM and HL. The project was inherited from Blackburn, their Blackburn SP.62 design had
six Bristol Siddeley turbojets in the rotor head exhausting at the rotor tips.
Missiles and rockets Blue Steel – "stand-off" nuclear weapon
developed by Avro Blue Streak – de Havilland medium range
nuclear missile de Havilland Firestreak - air-to-air missile
Europa rocket – Hawker Siddeley built the first stage of the Europa rocket.
Martel in collaboration with Matra Red Top
Sea Dart - surface to air missile Sea Slug – Armstrong Whitworth surface to
air missile. Taildog/SRAAM, an experimental missile that
eventually turned into the BAE ASRAAM. Space hardware
Miranda Heavy Equipment
TreeFarmer Hawker Siddeley Canada
HS Canadian unit produced rail cars, transit vehicles, engines:
HS Canada Product lines Key people
Aircraft designers and engineers Sidney Camm
Stuart Davies John Fozard
Test pilots Bill Humble
Managing Directors Sir Arnold Alexander Hall
See also Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
References
Bibliography Campagna, Palmira. Requiem For a Giant: A.V.
Roe Canada and the Avro Arrow, Dundurn Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Oxford, UK;
Whitcomb, Randall. Cold War Tech War: The politics of America's air defense, Apogee
Books, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, 2008. ISBN 978-1-894959-77-3
Zuk, Bill. Avrocar: Canada's Flying Saucer: The story of Avro Canada's Secret Projects.
Boston Mills Press, Erin, Ontario, Canada 2001. ISBN 1-55046-359-4
External links Hawker Siddeley Australia corporate website
Funding Universe | Hawker Siddeley Group Public Limited Company – company history