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Aeronca
 Aeronautical Corporation Of Great Britain Ltd
Aeronco
Aeronca
Arthur Alexander Dashwood Lang established the Lang Propeller Works
at Weybridge, Surrey in 1913 and at its peak the company supplied wooden propellers to nearly every aeroplane company in Britain.
Light Aircraft Ltd of Hanworth, Middlesex, was registered on 26 August 1935 by Flt-Lt Bernard J.W. Brady and John
Vivian Prestwich, son of JAP engine maker and founder, John Alfred Prestwich. Light Aircraft acquired the British Empire license
to manufacture the American designed Aeronca C.3 from the Murray Aeronautical Corporation of Canada. A total of 11 Aeronca
C.3s was built in 1935/6.
In April 1936 the Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain, Ltd. (Originally
styled Aeronco, presumably to avoid confusion with the American original) was incorporated, through a merger of Lang Propellers
Ltd, Light Aircraft Ltd and Aircraft Accessories Ltd. Besides Brady and Prestwich, directors included H.V. Roe, who with his
brother A.V. Roe had founded A.V. Roe & Co Ltd. in 1913. Lang did not continue with the new concern and joined the Board of Hordern-Richmond, another British company which was closely involved in the development and production of airscrews and propellers.
Sales were to be dealt with through Aircraft Exchange and Mart, another of Brady’s companies. Aeronco also contracted
J.A. Prestwich & Company, Ltd. (J.A.P.) in London to build a dual-ignition version of the Aeronca E-113C engine under
license as the Aeronca-J.A.P. J-99. This engine was used extensively in British light aircraft.
Business was set
up at the Aircraft Accessories factory (the Walton works) in Peterborough, which had originally been the site of Frederick Sage & Co. Ltd. A version of the Aeronca C-3, with fabric-covered ailerons instead of metal and British specification materials, designated
the Aeronca 100 was produced, but the expected sales never materialized and only 24 were manufactured before production was
halted. An improved version, the Aeronca 300 was in development when financial scandal saw the whole of the original board
resign in April 1937, but on November 5th, 1937, the Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain declared bankruptcy.
On 16 September 1938, Brady, along with John PA Fulton, another director from Aircraft Exchange and Mart, formed the
Peterborough Aircraft Company Ltd to acquire what little remained of Aeronca, including the uncompleted Aeronca 300. A revised version of that was
produced as the Peterborough Ely, but met with no success.
Company References - British Light Aeroplanes, Arthur
W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
- Plane to Plane - the Story of Frederick Sage & Company Ltd.,
Martyn Chorlton (Old Forge Publ., 2004)
Project Data 
Project No |
Type
No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year |
Spec
(Requirement) | Status | Qty | Description |
References |
| |
| 100 | | 1936 |
| Pdn | 21 |
1S,
1E high-wing light plane | 1,2,4,5,6 | | | |
300 |
| 1937 | |
Proj |
0 |
1S,
1E high-wing light plane | 1,5 | | | |
Glider |
| 1937 | |
Proto |
(1) |
Aeronca
C-2 converted to glider. | 3,7,8 | Project References - British Civil Aircraft
Since 1919, Vol 1, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1973)
- British Light Aeroplanes, Arthur W.J.G.
Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
- British Homebuilt Aircraft Since 1920, Ken Ellis (Mersyside Aviation
Society, 1975)
- Ultralights - The Early British Classics, Richard Riding (Patrick Stevens Ltd., 1987)
- Aeroplane
Monthly Jan-Feb, 1998
- Wingspan (Incorporating Planes) No.21
- The Aeroplane 30 Jan 1942
- British Gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970, Norman Ellison (Adam and Charles Black, 1971)
Production Summary
Select the  button to go to the appropriate listings page.
Note: In the Production Summary, conversions are only listed where
they result in a change from one Type to another. Changes to sub-type or Mark Number are not shown in the summary. For details
of these, see the individual listings.
Type No | Name | Qty
(New) | Qty
(Conv.) | Not Completed | | 100 | | 21 |
| 9 |
| 300 | | |
| 1 |
| | Glider | | (1) | |
|
Total Aeronca
Production | 21 | Total Aeronca Not Completed | 10 |
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