William Beardmore and Co., Ltd, the Scottish engineering
and shipbuilding conglomerate, decided to move into aviation in November 1913. The plan was that airships were to be built
at the Dalmuir works and aero-engines at the Arrol-Johnston works at Heathfield. For aircraft, Beardmore acquired the UK rights
for machines from D.F.W. (Deutsche Flugzeug-Werke, or German Aircraft Works) of Lindenthal. D.F.W. had set up business at
Brooklands in November 1913, headed up by Technical Director E.C. Kny who brought over a D.F.W. B2 and an Arrow biplane from
Germany. The Arrow was to have been the subject of a licence agreement between D.F.W. and Beardmore and Kny intended a purpose
built factory for this in Richmond, Surrey.
The outbreak of war ended the Beardmore-D.F.W. alliance and any thoughts
of a new factory, but not before one new, but German, design was begun at Brooklands. This was an aircraft intended for the
Daily Mail ‘Seaplane Circuit of Britain’ Race of 1914, but the war also caused this to be cancelled. The factory
at Richmond never materialized, but in 1914 an airfield was built at Dalmuir and the first order received from the Admiralty
for 24 B.E.2c’s. The Admiralty representative overseeing production was Lieutenant G.T. Richards R.N.V.R, and he was allowed to resign his commission to head up Beardmore’s design office when it was created in January
1916. Several prototypes were produced but only the Sopwith Pup derived W.B.III went into production.
With the wholesale cancellation of military contracts at the end of the
war, production at Dalmuir effectively ceased. Richards produced several designs between 1919 and 1920, but none went beyond
the drawing board and in May 1920 the Aircraft Department was closed down.
In 1923 the Air Ministry gave a contract
to Beardmore for the design and construction of an experimental aircraft to evaluate the all metal concepts of Adolf Karl
Rohrbach. Consequently the Aircraft Department was reopened on 1 January 1924 under chief designer W.S. Shackleton. To set up the licence agreement between Beardmore and Rohrbach, a separate componay, the Light Metal Aircraft Company, of
Dalmuir, was formed with, amongst others, Adolph Rohrbach and E.L. Chorlton, Beardmores' Aircraft Manager, as directors. It would be several years before this giant aircraft, the Inflexible, would
first fly and in the meantime Shackleton produced an aircraft at the opposite end of the scale, the diminutive ‘Wee-Bee’,
intended for the forthcoming light aeroplane trials at Lympne that September, ending the competition well ahead of its nearest
rival, winning the Air Ministry first prize of £2,000.
Two more aircraft were to fly before the Inflexible,
the first another Rohrbach based design, the Inverness. This was followed by the W.B.XXVI, the prototype of a fighter built
especially for Latvia. Only one prototype was built. When it was delivered to Latvia it was found to handle very well, but
to be very much underpowered. In Latvia it flew a total of three times before it was rejected and returned to the manufacturer.
In early 1926, Beardmore appointed Squadron-Leader Rollo de Haga Haig as "outside" manager in connection with their
aviation and aero engine departments and on Shackletons departure in the latter part of 1927, he took over as chief designer.
However, by now the writing was on the wall for Beardmore, and the Aircraft Department finally closed in February 1929.
In September of that same year, Sir William Beardmore, Bt (he was created a Baronet, of Flichity in the County of
Inverness, in 1914), was forced to resign from his own company. Born in Deptford, London, on 16 October 1856 and raised to
the peerage as Baron Invernairn, of Strathnairn in the County of Inverness, in the 1921 New Year Honours, Beardmore died at
his home in Strathnairn, Inverness-shire of heart failure on 9 April 1936.
Company References
Beardmore Aviation,
1913-1930, Charles MacKay (A. MacKay, 2012)
Project Data
Project No
Type
No
Name
Alternative Name(s)
Year
Spec
Status
Qty
Description
References
D.F.W.
Tractor Biplane
1914
Pro(n)
1
2S,
1E biplane seaplane
1,21,22
W.B.I
1916
Proto
1
2S, 1E
long range bomber
1,2,26,29,34
W.B.IA
1916
Proj
0
2S,
1E long range bomber - enlarged W.B.I
2
W.B.II
1917
Proto
1
2S, 1E
fighter
1,2,20
W.B.IIA
1918
Proj
0
2S,
1E reconnaissance fighter
1,2
W.B.IIB
1920
Proto
2
2S, 1E
air-mail transport
1,2,3,27,30
W.B.III
S.B.3F,S.B.3D (Note 1)
1917
Prdn
100(1)
1S,
1E shipborne fighter
1,2,20,24,28,32
W.B.IV
1917
N.1(a)
Proto
1
1S,
1E shipborne fighter
1,2,20,32
W.B.V
1917
N.1(a)
Proto
2
1S,
1E shipborne fighter
1,2,20,32
W.B.VI
1918
Proj
0
1S,
2E torpedo bomber
1,35,40
W.B.VIA
1918
Pro(n)
1
1E, 6 passenge
biplane transport
1,4
W.B.VIB
1918
Proj
0
1E, 2 passenge
biplane transport
1,4
W.B.VIC
1919
Proj
0
1S,1E biplane
ultralight
1,4
W.B.VID
1919
Proj
0
2E,
6 passenge biplane transport
1,4
W.B.VII
1919
Pro(n)
1
1S,
1E shipborne fighter
1
W.B.VIII
1919
Proj
0
3E passenger
and cargo triplane
1,4
W.B.IX
1920
Pro(n)
1
4E, 10
passenger biplane amphibian
1,4,8,27,36,37,38
W.B.X
1920
Proto
1
2S,
1E commercial biplane
1,3,7,23,27,30
The aircraft works were closed down in 1920. It re-opened in 1924. Presumably
this is the reason why the Type Numbers began again at W.B.XXIV.
Project No
Type
No
Name
Alternative Name(s)
Year
Spec
Status
Qty
Description
References
W.B.XXIV
Wee
Bee I
1924
Proto
1
1S,
1E ultra-light
1,3,9,15,25,30
W.B.XXV
Unknown
(See note 2)
W.B.XXVI
1925
Proto
1
2S,
1E biplane fighter
1,5,11,13,18,20
Not Identified
1925
Proj
0
1S,
1E parasol monoplane fighter
(10)
Not Identified
1925
Proj
0
2S,
1E monoplane reconnaissance seaplane
(10)
BeRo.1
Inflexible
Invincible
1928
18/33
Proto
1
3E
monoplane research aircraft
1,6,14,17,19,27,29,31
BeRo.2
Inverness
1925
Proto
1
Licence
built Rohrbach RoIV
1,6,12,16,33
Project References To show project references
in a floating window
Project References
1 Beardmore Aviation
1913-1930, Charles MacKay (A. MacKay, 2012)
2 British Aeroplanes
1914-18, J.M. Bruce (Putnam, 1957)
3 British Light
Aeroplanes 1920-1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
4 British Commercial
Aircraft 1920-1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2003)
5 British Fighter
Since 1912, Francis K. Mason (Putnam 1992)
6 British Research
and Development Aircraft, Ray Sturtivant (Haynes Publishing, 1990)
7 Flight 5 Aug
1920
8 Flight 2 Sep
1920
9 Flight 25 Sep
1924
10 Flight 26 Feb 1925
11 Flight 20 Aug 1925
12 Flight 24 Sep 1925
13 Flight 31 Dec 1925
14 Flight 5 Ap 1928
15 Aeroplane Monthly May 1985
16 Aeroplane Monthly Feb 1990
17 Aeroplane Monthly Mar 1990
18 Aeroplane Monthly Dec 1996
19 Air Enthusiast Quarterly
49
20 Air International Feb 1973
21 Flight 7 Aug 1914.
22 Flight 14 Aug 1914.
23 Flight 12 Aug 1920
24 The Sopwith Pup, J.M.
Bruce, Gordon Page and Ray Sturtivant (Air Britain (Historians), 2002)
25 Ultralights - The Early
British Classics, Richard Riding (Patrick Stevens Ltd., 1987)
26 British Bomber Since 1914, Francis
K. Mason (Putnam 1994)
27 British Civil Aircraft
since 1919 Volume 1, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 2nd Ed., 1973)
28 British Naval Aircraft
since 1912, Owen Thetford (Putnam, 1978)
29 The British Bomber since
1914, Peter Lewis (Putnam, 1967)
30 British Light Aeroplanes
1920-1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
31 The Monospar, Arthur
W.J.G. Ord-Hume (Stenlake Publishing, 2013)
32 Warplanes of the First
World War: Fighters, Vol.1, J.M. Bruce (McDonald, 1965)
33 Back To The Drawing Board, Bill
Gunston (Airlife 1996)
The W.B.III was
a modified Sopwith Pup, the designation 'S.B.' signifying Sopwith-Beardmore. The suffix D denoted 'Dropping' undercarriage, while the subscript
'F' denoted folding. According to Bruce et.al [24], the F subscript was little used, if at all, and all aircraft
so built were converted to 'D'.
Phillip Jarrett [18] refers to a Beardmore design for a two seat fighter/advanced
trainer that predates the XXVI and could possibly be the XXV.
Production Summary
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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.
button to go to the appropriate listings page.