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Aircraft |
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A selection
of pictures of aircraft seen at Croydon throughout it's
history |
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Armstrong
Whitworth Aircraft Co |
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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, and from c. 1914 to 1917 employed the Dutch aircraft
designer Frederick Koolhoven (hence the "F.K." models).
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 (usually known 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. During the 1950s Armstrong Whitworth
Aircraft built many Gloster Meteor, Hawker Seahawk and Hawker
Hunter jet fighters at their Bitteswell and Baginton factories
for delivery to the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the Royal
Belgian Air Force. The company 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. |
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AW Argosy |
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(above) 'AW Argosy' newly delivered 1922.
(below) 'AW Argosy 3' 'City of Manchester.
1932 |
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(above) 'AW Argosy 3', 'City Of Manchester'.
Transferred from Imperial Airways' to 'United Airways' and used
for joy riding. |
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(above) An 'Instone Airline' Argosy 'City of Newcastle',
flying over the new hangers under construction during the aerodrome
rebuild alongside Purley Way in late 1927. Note the construction
of the Terminal building has not begun yet. |
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(below) an 'ARGOSY' At Croydon 1928 |
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(above) 'AW Argosy I'. 1929 'City of Glasgow'.
(below) 1930 |
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(above). a pilot giving the 'all clear'
from the cockpit of an 'AW Argosy'. |
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(above
and below) Armstrong
Whitworth 'Argosy 2'. 1934 |
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AW Ensign |
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(above and below) AW Ensign Croydon maiden flight
1938 |
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(both pictures above and one below) the prototype 'AW Ensign'. 1938 |
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(above) an Armstrong Whitworth 'Ensign' arriving over
an Imperial Airways 'Short Scilla'.1938 |
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(above) 'Armstrong Whitworth AW Ensign'.
1938 |
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(above)
Armstrong Whitworth 'A.W. Ensign'. |
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1938 at
Croydon. (above) 'AW Ensign' Euterpe with two others
on the tarmac apron. (below)
'AW Ensign' Egeria. |
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AW Atalanta |
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(below) Armstrong Whitworth 'AW15 Atalanta' |
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(above) 'Armstrong Whitworth AW15 Atalanta'.
'Almathea, of Imperial Airways. October 1932. |
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