Hawker Aircraft Ltd (Jump to photos)
Hawker-Siddeley had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War following restructuring/bankruptcy of the Sopwith Aviation Company. The Sopwith Aviation Company test pilot Harry Hawker and three others (including Thomas Sopwith), bought the assets of the Sopwith Aviation Company and formed H.G. Hawker Engineering late in 1920.
Between the wars Hawker produced a successful line of bombers and fighters for the Royal Air Force. These included the Hawker Hind and the Hawker Hart, which became the most produced UK airplane in the years before the Second World War.
Renamed in 1933 to Hawker Aircraft Limited, the company took advantage of the Great Depression and the company\'s strong financial position to purchase Gloster Aircraft in 1934. The next year it formed an association with a series of UK aviation companies including , Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Armstrong Siddeley Motors, A.V. Roe and Air Training Services. This group of companies was renamed Hawker-Siddeley in 1935.
This was the form of the company during the Second World War when it produced many aircraft in many designs including the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter plane that, along with the Supermarine Spitfire, was instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain. (Hawker Hurricanes in service outnumbered all other British fighters combined, shooting down 55 percent of all enemy aircraft destroyed).
Almost every Hawker Aircraft design of the Second World War was a success (even if not initially) mainly attributable to the design genius of Sidney Camm (later Sir Sidney) and the team he worked with.
Designs included:
* Hawker Typhoon
* Hawker Tempest
* Hawker Fury
* Hawker Sea Fury
Hawker Siddeley group designs in the Hawker-Siddeley stable included the Gloster Meteor, the first Allied jet fighter.
After the war Hawker Aircraft produced one of the outstanding post war jet aircraft the Hawker Hunter, which set a world speed record of 728mph in 1953.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Aviation
