General Aviation Contractors

Domenico Lorenzo Santoni, an early pioneer of aviation in Europe, was born in Ariccia, a small town located not far from Rome, on 13 February 1877 (see note 1), but at a very young age he moved with his parents to France. There, with his name restyled in the French way as Laurent-Dominique Santoni, he went on to gain an engineering degree. After visiting the Grand Semaine d'Aviation at Reims in August 1909 he decided he wanted to become a pilot, and to that end, in 1910, he attended a flying school at Port-Aviation in Viry-Châtillon commune, the first airfield organized as such.

That same year he moved to England with the intention of selling various European aircraft and aviation products. A fluent English speaker, he anglicised his forenames to Dominic Lawrence and set up offices at 10, Coburg Place, Hyde Park, London. Initially he acquired the exclusive rights for the French Tellier monoplane, having become acquainted with Tellier at Port-Aviation, along with the Italian built Miller engine. Although now based in Britain, Santoni made several visits back to France, particularly to the Tellier School in Etampes, both as their concessionaire, but also to continue his flying training.

Towards the end of 1910, Santoni formed the General Aviation Contract Co, with offices at 30, Regent Street, London S.W., to take over his UK concessions, and by early 1911 had added more French companies to its catalogue: Dansette-Gillet Water-Cooled Engines & Electric Lighting Sets for Aerodromes, the R.F. propeller made by Regy Fréres, Hue Fréres aeronautical instruments and Vigilax automatic statoscopes, barometer, altimeter, recording altimeter, ascent and descent altimeter, compass, anemometers, manometers, pocket instruments, complete outfits for use with aeroplanes, balloons and dirigibles.

In June 1911, Santoni formed the British Deperdussin Aeroplane Syndicate, Ltd. as a subsidiary of the General Aviation Contract Co., with registered offices also at 30, Regent Street, with himself and Lieut. J. C. Porte, R.N. as the first directors. The following month, the Syndicate opened a school at Brooklands in order that British owners of Deperdussin machines could learn to fly. Also in July, both Santoni and Porte had earned their brevet de pilote at the Deperdussin School at Courcy-Betheny, Santoni with Certificate number 568 on 27th and Porte with Certificate Number 548 on the 28th.

Not long after the creation of British Deperdussin, G.A.C. acquired its’ most important product to date, gaining the sole agency for the British Empire for the French Anzani engine. With the continuing increase in business, towards the end of 1911 G.A.C. was floated as public company, General Aviation Contractors, Ltd., still with offices at 30, Regent Street, with a capital of £2,000.

Through 1911 and 1912, General Aviation Contractors continued to increase its’ catalogue, adding Emaillite varnish , Gnomol Castor Oil, Monodep Compasses, Novavia varnish, Rapid propellers, Roold safety helmets and S.C. Aero Glue. Management also increased during 1912, with R.F. Bell joining in May as sales manager and later in the year two new directors, Claude Schofield as company secretary and Maurice (Waldo) Ridley Prentice as general manager (see Early British Aviators No. 67).

In November of 1912 the British Anzani Engine Company was established as a subsidiary of G.A.C., to take over the Anzani concession from G.A.C. and produce Anzani engines in England, with D.L. Santoni, Lt. J.C. Porte, W. Ridley Prentice, C. Schofield and Captain J.C. Halahan (see Early British Aviators No. 354) as its first directors. The first premises of the British Anzani Engine Company were established on November 20th 1912 in Scrubbs Lane, Willesden, London NW10, with engines were sold from the salesrooms of General Aviation Contractors in Regent Street.

At the end of 1912, Santoni returned to Italy, where he formed the Societa Italiana degli Aeroplani, to take over the Italian rights of constructing Deperdussin monoplanes from designs furnished by the French and the British Deperdussin companies, and a branch of the General Aviation Co., in Milan, under the title of the Agenzia Generale Fourniture Aeronautiche (A.G.F.A). The control of both concerns remained in the hands of their respective British counterparts. These were to be the first of many companies Santoni was to establish in his native country. By spring 1913, Santoni, after purchasing a licence to produce Farman mchines, returned to Italy for good, although he retained his interest in the British concerns. There, following the short-lived Società Aeroplani 'Roma', he formed the Società Anonima di Costruzioni Aeronautiche Savoia on 5 May 1913 in Milan, having obtained a Royal patent for the use the name of the Savoy family. A factory was opened in August 1913 in Turro Milanese, followed quickly a second at Bovisio Mombello. Simultaneously Savoia opened a flying school in Cascina Costa, on the site of what later became the Malpensa airport, and a second in Rome and a third in Naples.

Management of G.A.C. and subsidiaries now moved into the hands of Ridley Prentice. In 1913 another subsidiary of G.A.C. was formed, the British Emaillite Co. Ltd., to take over the Emaillite concession from G.A.C. and produce Emaillite finishes in England. G.A.C continued to expand their catalogue, acquiring from the Spencer Moulton Tyre Co. the sole selling rights for the British Empire, Italy and its colonies. However, all was not well with G.A.C.’s main subsidiary, and in the British Deperdussin Aeroplane Co., Ltd., was placed in the hands of a receiver. With the loss of British Deperdussin and the associated school, Porte left his association with the G.A.C. group of companies and joined with E.C. Bass to take on the British rights for the Curtiss flying boats.

Still, G.A.C. themselves continued to expand, with Mr. Andrew Delfosse Badgery, via the Delfosse Badgery Aviation Company, being appointed agent for Australia and Mr. A. W. Schaef, of Wellington, for New Zealand. In Italy, the A.G.F.A. business had grown rapidly and offices were opened in Rome, Turin and Venice. Another Italian subsidiary, the Societa Italo Orientale Emaillite, looked after the Emaillaite concession. Business grew to such an extent that it became necessary to form a new company to take over the various agency rights and general supply of aeronautical instruments, accessories, fittings and component parts for the British Empire. As from 1 December 1914, that part of the business was to be handled and developed by the General Aeronautical Co. Ltd. As in the case of the British Emaillite Co., Ltd. and the British Anzani Engine Co., Ltd., the new company remained under the financial control of General Aviation Contractors, Ltd. and operated out of the same offices at 30, Regent Street, S.W.

In Italy, Santoni continued to expand his businesses. On 12 August 1915, with Alberto Santoni, Augusto Foresti and financiers Aldo and Luigi Capè he founded Socità Idrovolanti Alta Italia (S.I.A.I.) at Sesto Calende near Lake Maggiore to produce the French F.B.A. seaplanes under licence.

In January of 1916, General Aeronautical expanded from being mere suppliers to entering the world of manufacturing, moving from their small factory at Shepherd's Bush and acquiring large factory premises for the production of propellers at 5, Hythe Road, Cumberland Park, Willesden Junction, N.W., adjacent to the British Emaillite factory. In mid-1916, as the result of a reconstruction scheme of General Aeronautical and the British Emaillite, the two companies became entirely British and independent of General Aviation Contractors. Both were wound up and new companies of the same name formed; General Aeronautical Co., Ltd. with a capital £30,000, and the British Emaillite Co., Ltd with a capital £100,000, both with W. Ridley Prentice as permanent director. Both companies then transferred all their departments, with the exception of that dealing with accounts and executive business, from Regent Street to the works at Willesden.

All was not so well at General Aviation Contractors, however. At a meeting of shareholders of the company on 7 September, a resolution was passed to put the General Aviation Contractors, Ltd., into voluntary liquidation. Things, however, proceeded somewhat acrimoniously: D.L. Santoni brought an action against General Aviation Contractors on 4 October, to obtain a declaration that the original resolution was passed improperly, and for an injunction to restrain its confirmation. The affidavit set out that Santoni held a controlling share interest in the company, and that the resolution was passed whilst he was absent in Italy on the company's business. In response, it was stated that the object of the liquidation was to obtain an order of the Court for the examination of Santoni, as allegations were made against him as to the manner in which he had dealt with certain assets of the company. At the statutory meeting of the creditors on the 24 October, it was revealed that litigation was pending against Santoni for an account of his dealings with certain of the Company's interests in the Italian companies Societa Anonima Costruzione Aeronautiche Savoia and the Agenzia Generale Forniture Aeronautiche, and for the return of considerable sums of money which, it was alleged, had been improperly paid. One of the principal objects of the liquidation was to bring to an end the influence that Mr. Santoni had exercised in the past on the Company's affairs. One of the actions against Santoni related to the transfer of a liability incurred by him to the General Aviation Contractors, although the Company never was a party to the contract. It was an action for £550 against Santoni for moneys which he had from the funds of the Company, whilst he was holding the position of managing director.

Despite these troubles in Britain, during the later war years, Santoni’s Italian businesses continued to flourish. In addition to those already mentioned, by 1918 he had added the Societa Generale Imprese Aeronautiche, along with its Paris based French counterpart the Societa Generale Industrie Aeriennes, and the Societa Trasporti Aerei Internazionali, both, like Santoni’s other concerns, with headquarters in Milan. In Britain, with General Aviation Contractors now in liquidation, Santoni’s Italian companies no longer had British representation, therefore early in 1918 British and General Aviation Contractors, Ltd., was formed to act in this capacity, with offices at Lennox House, Howard Street, Strand, W.C. 2. In the years following the War, the economic situation in Italy was not such as to allow of any extensive aviation programme to be carried out, so Santoni decided to relocate to France. In 1919, he established the Compagnie de Transport Aériens de Tourisme et de Messagerie (C.T.M.) to sell Savoia products. Then in November 1920 he established the Chantiers AeroMaritimes de la Seine (CAMS), with headquarters at 25, rue des Buttes Montmartre in Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, and in 1921 began production of Savoia types S-9, S-13 and S-16 under licence. Also in 1921, Santoni formed yet another company, the Compagnie Générale de Construction Aéronautique (C.G.C.A.) as a design bureau, with offices at 72, rue La Boétie in Paris.

Like most aviation companies in Britain, G.A.C. were hit by the immediate post-war downturn in business, predominantly as a result of the ending of Government contracts, and as turned their post-war operations to wood-working, cabinet making and constructional engineering. Early in 1920 a devastating fire destroyed their Willesdon works but fortunately British Aerial Transport Co., Ltd. were on the point of relinquishing their Willesden factory, also situated on Hythe Road, and came to the rescue of the G.A.C. with an offer of the premises available for instant occupation. Within eight days of the fire, the purchase of the works was completed, and occupation was entered into ten days after the outbreak. However, the future for G.A.C. was not good and by mid-1921 the company was in liquidation, finally being wound up in 1927.

Things fared little better for British Emaillite. By October 1922 they were also in voluntary liquidation and In 1923 Titanine, Ltd., of 175, Piccadilly, W. 1, purchased and took over the good-will, stocks, patents trademarks, etc., of the British Emaillite Co., Ltd.

Back in France Santoni was once again on the move. He left CAMS on 15 January 1925, and in June, in collaboration with Georges Philippar, formed Société Provençale de Construction Aeronautiques (S.P.C.A.), as a subsidiary venture of S.P.C.N. (Société Provençale de Constructions Navales) shipbuilding company, with headquarters and management in Paris but whose workshops at La Ciotat, Marseille.

From this point on little is known of Santoni’s career. It is known that by 1930 he was no longer with S.P.C.A., but was attempting to start a company in France to handle the Desoutter monoplane and to operate with it taxi services along the lines of the National Flying Services, but nothing was to become of it.