The Aerial Department of
Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth & Company Siddeley Deasy Motor Car Company Sir
W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Ltd
Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was originally established
as the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth & Company engineering group in June, 1913
with works in the sawmills at Scotswood, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. With the advent of contracts from the war office, the aircraft
works were moved to premises in nearby Gosforth in September of that year. In 1914 the company produced its first aircraft
of original design under the leadership of Dutchman Frederick Koolhoven (b. January 11, 1886; d. July 1,
1946) previously of the British Deperdussin Syndicate, Ltd. Koolhoven left the company in 1917 to join the British Aerial Transport Co., Frank Murphy replacing him as chief designer. Like many other companies, the end of World War One and the resulting termination
of aircraft contracts had a serious effect on Armstrong Whitworth and in October of 1919, it was decided to close the Aerial
Department.
Meanwhile, in 1906, Captain H.P. Deasy formed the Deasy Motor Car Manufacturing Company in Coventry,
and in 1909, John Davenport Siddeley, was appointed general manager. By 1912, the company had become the Siddeley Deasy Motor Car Company. During
the First World War the company was heavily involved in the production of aero-engines and in 1917 an aeroplane design office
was opened under the leadership of John Lloyd.
Late in 1918, Armstrong Whitworth were approached by J.D. Siddeley about the possibility of a link up between
the two firms and, in 1919, Armstrong Whitworth acquired Siddeley Deasy and formed the Armstrong Whitworth Development Company.
The engine and automotive businesses of both companies were spun off as Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited and in 1920 the
aircraft interests became a separate company known as the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company,
centered at the old Siddeley Deasy factory in Parkside, near Coventry. Later that year, Armstrong Whitworth acquired a former
RAF airfield at Whitley, south of Coventry, the works moving there in 1923 although the design office remained at Parkside
until 1930. During 1925/6, the main Armstrong Whitworth concern in Newcastle was suffering from the economic downturn and
was largely supported by the aircraft division. J. D. Siddeley bought the aircraft division in December 1926 and in 1927 the
name of the Armstrong Whitworth Development Company was changed to the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company. The same year,
Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth merged to form Vickers-Armstrongs.
In 1928, Armstrong Siddeley Holdings Ltd acquired A.V.Roe & Co Ltd. Siddeley had formed a flying school at Whitley in 1920 and in 1931, this developed into the wholly owned subsidiary Air Service Training (AST). With the acquisition of A.V. Roe, AST moved to Roe's Hamble facility. AST eventually became an independent company
within the Hawker Siddeley Group in 1940.
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. The same year, with the growing
size of Armstrong Whitworths' products, the Whitley airfield was proving too small and a new factory was established at the
municipal aerodrome at nearby Bagington. Both factories continued in use throughout World War Two, but with the wholesale
cancellation of contracts following the end of the war, all production was centered on Bagington and Whitley was closed.
Production at Armstrong Whitworth post war largely centered on manufacture for other members of the Hawker Siddeley
Group, and the building of high speed aircraft showed the limitations of Bagington. As a result, the company leased two hangars
at Bitteswell, near Lutterworth in Leicestershire in 1952, finally purchasing the airfield outright in 1956.
Armstrong
Whitworth Aircraft was eventually merged with another Hawker Siddeley company, the Gloster Aircraft Company, in October, 1961, the combined companies being known as Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Ltd.
On 1
July 1963 the company again merged with another Hawker Siddeley company, this time Avro and, with Hawker Siddeley dropping the names of the component companies from its products, became the Avro Whitworth Division
of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, the last Armstrong Whitworth Design, the A.W.681 transport, now becoming the H.S.681.
The government axing of
many major programs in 1965, including the H.S.681, finally brought about the closure of Bagington in July, 1965. Bitteswell
soldiered on until 1983 as an overhaul and repair facility until 1983, when it too finally closed.
Company References
Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Since 1913, Oliver
Tapper (Putnam., 1973)font>
The Type Designation system for the Aerial Department of the Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth & Company was based
on designers’ name. The first aircraft were in the F.K. series, after their designer, Frederick Koolhoven. Following
the departure of Koolhoven, the next aircraft were in the F.M. series, after their designer, Frank Murphy. The allocation
of F.M.1 to F.M.3, if any, is unknown. The Siddeley Deasy Company’s first designs appear to use a role based Type
Designation, similar to that of the Royal Aircraft Factory designs from which they were derived. After the amalgamation
of the two companies, Armstrong Whitworth eventually settled on a simple and logical alpha-numeric Type Designation system,
although the first use that is identified is the A.W.XIV. What, if anything, the A.W.I through A.W.XIII were is unknown. Although
originally using Roman numerals, these quickly changed to Arabic.
Project Data
The Aerial Department of Sir W.
G Armstrong Whitworth & Company
Project
No
Type No
Name
Alternative Name(s)
Year
Spec
(Requirement)
Status
Qty
Description
References
F.K.1
Sissit
1914
Proto
1
1S, 1E biplane
1,3,5,7,34
F.K.2 (1)
1915
Prdn
9
2S, 1E reconnaissance biplane
1,6,11,348
F.K.3
1915
Prdn
343
2S, 1E reconnaissance biplane
1,2,4,6,7,11,38,55,348
F.K.4
Design for an airship gondola
1915
n/a
1
(1)
F.K.5 (2)
1915
Pro(n)
1
3S, 1E triplane escort fighter / Zeppelin destroyer
1,3,5,7,30,34
F.K.6 (2)
1916
Proto
1
3S, 1E triplane escort fighter / Zeppelin destroyer
1,3,5,7,30,34
F.K.7
1916
Proto
1
2S, 1E reconnaissance-bomber biplane
1,6,11
F.K.8
1916
Prdn
1700
2S, 1E reconnaissance-bomber biplane
1,2,4,6,7,10,11,38,40,54,59,378
F.K.9
1916
Proto
2
2S, 1E reconnaissance quadruplane
1,11,405
F.K.10
1916
A2.(a)?
Prdn
10
2S, 1E reconnaissance quadruplane
1,3,5,7,9,11,12,34,376,405
(Note 4)
(Fleet Fighter Reconnaissance Biplane)
1917
Proto
1
2S, 1E reconnaissance biplane
405
(Note 4)
"Improved F.K.8"
1917
Proto
1
2S, 1E reconnaissance-bomber biplane
405
F.K.11
1917
Proj
0
Multiplane
1,405
F.K.12
(Note
4)
F.K.13
(Note
4)
F.K.14
1917
Proj
0
Fighter
440
F.K.15
Design
for an airship gondola
1917
n/a
n/a
440
F.K.16
Design for an airship gondola
1917
n/a
n/a
440
F.K.17
Design for an airship gondola
1917
n/a
n/a
440
F.K.18
1917
Proj
0
Fighter
440
F.K.19
Light, air-cooled engine
1917
n/a
n/a
440
F.M.4
Armadillo
1918
A1.(a)
Proto
1
1S, 1E fighter
1,3,5,7,34,45
Ara
1918
RAF
Type I
Proto
2
1S,
1E fighter
1,3,5,7,34
Following these, the aircraft department of Armstrong
Whitworth was closed down.
From the early 1950s, Armstrong Whitworth changed
to a new Type Numbering System, beginning with AW.165. This later
changed to a system which allocated a block of ten Type Numbers to each new project and its derivatives
Subsonic V.T.O.L Aircraft Summary (Sir W.G Armstrong Whitworth
Aircraft Co. Ltd., September 1958) [available at the National Aeronautical Library, Farnborough]
903.
AWP 13 Medium Range M-1.2 M-Wing Airliner Brochure (Sir W.G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd., March 1959)
[available at the National Aeronautical Library, Farnborough]
904.
AWP 23 Short Range Car Ferry Brochure (Sir W.G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd., 1959) [available at the National
Aeronautical Library, Farnborough]
Notes
Incorrectly identified
in Tapper [1] as F.K.3.
Incorrectly identified in Lewis [3], Mason [5], Bruce [7 & 34] and Gunston
[30] as F.K.12 - see Tapper [1].
To OR.9, OR.11 & OR.20.
The F.K.11 is the
last positively identified Koolhoven design for Armstrong Whitworth. It is speculated that the F.K.12 may have been the "Improved
F.K.8" and F.K.13 the Fleet Fighter Reconnaissance Biplane. In 1926, Koolhoven retroactively applied F.K. designations
to his earlier work and that included F.K.14 to F.K.19 (F.K.20 being his first design for BAT), but there is no evidence to tie these to Armstrong Whitworth. A list of Koolhovens designs (in Dutch) may be found
at http://www.hdekker.info/DIVERSEN/Koolhoven.htm
This number was used for gondolas for the ten Submarine Scout airships that Armstrong Whitworth built
(S.S.40 - S.S.49) and was based on an F.K.3 fuselage. Since the contract stipulated that a reserve for each airship hull was
needed, it is entirely possible that twenty of these F.K. 4 hulls were built.
Williams [358] indicates
this to be to Specification C.5/44, which was for the Handley Page Hermes, but it is too small.
Payne
[29] indicates these two submissions to the Brabazon Committee requirements, but there is nothing to suggest that AW were
ever invited to tender to any Type requirement.
Production Summary
The complete production
for all Armstrong Whitworth companies is:
Grand
Total Armstrong Whitworth & Siddeley Deasy Production
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.
Aerial Department of the Sir W. G Armstrong Whitworth Company
button to go to the appropriate listings page.