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 Vickers Armstrong Wikipedia link

The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft, including the Fairey III family, the Swordfish, Firefly, and Gannet. It had a strong presence in the supply of naval aircraft, and also built bombers for the RAF.

Amazing Vickers Armstrong Whitworth

After World War II the company diversified into mechanical engineering and boat-building. The aircraft manufacturing arm was taken over by Westland Aircraft in 1960. Following a series of mergers and takeovers, the principal successor businesses to the company became FBM Babcock Marine Ltd, Spectris plc, and WFEL (formerly Williams Fairey Engineering Limited), the latter manufacturing portable bridges.

Vickers Armstrong

History

Founded in 1915 by Charles Richard Fairey (later Sir Richard Fairey) and Belgian engineer Ernest Oscar Tips on their departure from Short Brothers, the company first built under licence or as subcontractor aircraft designed by other manufacturers.[i] The first aircraft designed and built by the Fairey Aviation specifically for use on an aircraft carrier was the Fairey Campania a patrol seaplane that first flew in February 1917. In the third report of the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, reported in Flight magazine of 15 January 1925, aviation figures prominently. C. R. Fairey and the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd, was awarded £4,000 for work on the Hamble Baby seaplane.

Fairey subsequently designed many aircraft types and, after World War II, missiles..

Stockport/Ringway-built Fairey Barracuda TF.V at Manchester Airport in May 1946

1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW); Metro Cammell.

In 1935, before rearmament began, Vickers-Armstrongs was the third-largest manufacturing employer in Britain, behind Unilever and ICI.

In 1956 Dorothy Hatfield became the first female engineering apprentice at Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), Brooklands, followed in 1958 by Janet Gulland who was the first female graduate apprentice at the company.

Founded 1828; aircraft 1927 


Fairey Aviation Company logo
Industry Aerospace
Founded 1915
Founder Charles Richard Fairey
Defunct 1960 (aircraft manufacturing)
Fate Defunct
Successor Westland Aircraft, WFEL Limited, Spectris
Headquarters Hayes, Heaton Chapel, Ringway, UK
Key people
Products
Subsidiaries
  • Avions Fairey
  • Fairey Aviation of Canada
  • Fairey Aviation Company of Australasia
  • Fairey Air Surveys

Aircraft Inventory Belgian Air Component
(Dutch: Luchtcomponent, French: Composante air) "BAF". 


Current fleet

Fairey Stockport/Ringway-built Gannet AS.4 in 1956
Aircraft Fairey Limited period 1925 to 1958
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Retired fleet

Fairey Air Surveys Douglas DC-3 outside Fairey's 1937-built hangar at Manchester Airport during servicing in 1975
Martinair fleet
Fairey Missile production started in 1960

Fairey's interest in missile production had been kept separate from the Fairey Aviation Co Ltd and its subsequent absorption into the Westland Group in 1960. Production was therefore invested in Fairey Engineering Ltd but by 1962 this had been transformed into a 50/50 joint venture with the British Aircraft Corporation (Holdings) Ltd known as BAC (AT) LTD, with offices at 100 Pall Mall, London SW1 and a share capital of £100. This was separate to the BAC Guided Weapons division.

The Fairey company was also involved in the early development of pilotless aircraft which led to the development of radio controlled pilotless target aircraft in Britain and the United States in the 1930s. In 1931, the Fairey "Queen" radio-controlled target was developed, building a batch of three. The Queen was a modified Fairey IIIF floatplane, (a catapult launched aircraft which was used for reconnaissance by the Royal Navy). Apart from installing radio gear the Queen also had some aerodynamic modifications to improve stability, however the first couple of pilotless flights came to quick endings as the drones crashed as soon as they left the catapult launcher on HMS Valiant.

Additional Freight Aircraft Are Jointly Operated Under The Air France-KLM Cargo Brand, In Which Martinair Participates

Gallery

Photo Gallery 
The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer became,
 Williams Fairey Engineering Ltd and then WFEL Ltd.

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The collapse of the Fairey Group


In 1977 the Fairey Group went into receivership and was effectively nationalised by the Government. Fairey went into liquidation when it introduced a Britten-Norman Islander production line into its subsidiary company, Avions Fairey, and overproduced the plane and subsequently faced redundancy payments of about £16 million in Belgium. The companies involved were as follows:.

The Fairey Britten-Norman Aircraft Company was taken over by Pilatus, then a subsidiary of the Oerlikon group in Switzerland. The rescue action was taken by the Government under section 8 of the Industry Act 1972 acquiring from the official receiver of the Fairey Company Ltd the entire share capital for £201,163,000. The companies were managed by the National Enterprise Board (NEB). In 1980 The Fairey Group was purchased by Doulton & Co. (part of S Pearson & Son) from the NEB. At the time, Pearson's interests in manufacturing were concentrated in the Doulton fine china business. The engineering interests were strengthened in 1980 by the acquisition of the high technology businesses of Fairey, and their merging with Pearson's other engineering interests in 1982. However, these businesses were disposed of in 1986 as part of Pearson wishing to concentrate on core activities; acquired by Williams Holdings they became Williams Fairey Engineering Ltd and then WFEL Ltd

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Famous  Fairey Aviation Company Limited aircraft

Fairey Aviation Company Limitedamazing aircraft of the past & future.

Learn More

Vickers Armstrong Logo

Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and  Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927

Vickers FB5 Gunbus

Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane 5) (known as the "Gunbus") was a British two-seat pusher military biplane of the First World War. Armed with a  .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun

Vickers Wellington

Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey

Vickers VC1 Viking

Vickers VC.1 Viking is a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Limited

Vickers Vanguard 

Vickers Vanguard was a short/medium-range turboprop airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs

Vickers Valiant

Vickers Valiant was a British high-altitude jet bomber designed to carry nuclear weapons, and in the 1950s and 1960s was part of the Royal Air Force's "V bomber"

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Vickers-Armstrongs Limited

Fairey Aviation Company Limited
Fairey Fairey Fox VIR

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General Info

plane
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General Info

  • Crew: 2 pilots + cabin crew
  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 30 ft 9 in (9.37 m)
  • Wingspan: 37 ft 11 in (11.56 m)
  • Height: 11 ft 6.5 in (3.518 m)
  • Wing area: 362 sq ft (33.6 m2)
  • Empty weight: 2,920 lb (1,324 kg)
  • Gross weight: 5,170 lb (2,345 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 860 hp (640 kW)

    • Performance

    • Maximum speed: 224 mph (360 km/h
    • Range: 634 mi (1,020 km, 551 nmi)
    • Service ceiling: 32,800 ft (10,000 m)

      Armament

      • Guns: 2 × forward firing machine guns and 1 × rear gun
      • Bombs: 220 lb (100 kg)
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