British Aircraft Corporation E-Book

Stephen Skinner

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 383

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The British Aircraft Corporation was formed from The Bristol Aeroplane Company, English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong and Hunting in 1960. In its short, seventeen-year, life, the British Aircraft Corporation built some of the most important aircraft and missiles of the 1960s, 1970s and beyond: its best-known products included the Jaguar and Tornado warplanes, Rapier missile and One-Eleven airliner. It was also responsible for the stillborn TSR2 strike aircraft, the 1965 cancellation of which remains controversial to this day. Most famously, the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner came from the BAC stable. BAC was subsumed into British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in 1977, but many of its products remain in service to this day. This book tells their complete story.

Leseprobe

British AircraftCorporation

A History

British AircraftCorporation

A History

Stephen Skinner

First published in 2012 by

The Crowood Press Ltd,

Ramsbury, Marlborough,

Wiltshire, SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book edition first published in 2012

© Stephen Skinner 2012

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 978 1 84797 450 1

List of Acronyms

ADV

–  Air Defence Variant (Tornado)

AFVG

–  Anglo-French Variable Geometry (aircraft project)

ASI

–  Air Speed Indicator

AT

–  Anti-Tank

BA

–  British Airways

BAC

–  British Aircraft Corporation

BAe

–  British Aerospace

BEA

–  British European Airways

BMA

–  British Midland Airways

BOAC

–  British Overseas Airways Corporation

BUA

–  British United Airways

CA

–  Controller (Air)

ECR

–  Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance

ESRO

–  European Space Research Organization

ETPS

–  Empire Test Pilots’ School

FAA

–  Federal Aviation Administration

FLIR

–  Forward Looking Infra-Red

GW

–  Guided Weapons

HAL

–  Hindustan Aircraft Limited

HEOS

–  Highly Eccentric Orbiting Satellite

IAF

–  Indian Air Force

IDS

–  Interdictor/Strike (variant of Tornado)

JFK

–  John F. Kennedy airport, New York

LRMTS

–  Laser Rangefinder and Marked Target Seeker

MBB

–  Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm

MoU

–  Memorandum of Understanding

MRCA

–  Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (later Tornado)

MTU

–  Motoren-Turbinen-Union

NATO

–  North Atlantic Treaty Organization

OCU

–  Operational Conversion Unit

OR

–  Operational Requirement

RAE

–  Royal Aeronautical Establishment

RAF

–  Royal Air Force

RARDE

–  Royal Armament & Research Development Establishment

RN

–  Royal Navy

RSAF

–  Royal Saudi Air Force

SNECMA

–  Société Nationale d’Étude et de Construction de Moteurs d’Aviation

SST

–  Supersonic Transport

STAR

–  Satellites for Technology Applications and Research

STOL

–  Short Take-Off and Landing

TIALD

–  Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designation

TSP

–  Tornado Sustainment Programme

TTTE

–  Trinational Tornado Training Establishment

UKVG

–  United Kingdom Variable Geometry (aircraft project)

USAF

–  United States Air Force

VG

–  Variable Geometry

VTOL

–  Vertical Take-Off and Landing

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

1  THE FORMATION OF THE BRITISH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION

2  FROM FORMATION TO NATIONALIZATION

3  BAC’S MATURE CIVIL AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT PROGRAMMES

4  THE CORPORATION’S RESEARCH AIRCRAFT

5  THE VICKERS VC10 AND WEYBRIDGE

6  ONE-ELEVEN TO THREE-ELEVEN

7  CONCORDE!

8  BAC’S VERY PROFITABLE GUIDED WEAPONS

9  JET PROVOST TO STRIKEMASTER

10  THE MACH 2 LIGHTNING

11  TSR2 – FROM INCEPTION TO CANCELLATION

12  JAGUAR – THE ANGLO-FRENCH STRIKE TRAINER

13  MRCA TO TORNADO

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Preface

The remarkable achievements of the British Aircraft Corporation in short, seventeen-year history have not, I believe, received their due praise. Created at the insistence of the British Government, the new company had to bring together the different histories and traditions of four proud companies and quickly meld them into a cohesive and coherent totality.

BAC could not and did not sustain itself from the existing products of its founding firms. Instead it developed new projects and distributed work around the organization to avoid imminent plant closures.

Even though more than thirty years have passed since BAC became part of the nationalized British Aerospace in 1977, some of its aircraft and guided weapons still serve while Concorde has become a singularly popular museum exhibit. Notable among the BAC aircraft still in service are the Tornado and the VC10, which were both taking part in Operation Ellamy to support the Libyan rebels as these words were being written in 2011.

This book covers all the aircraft and missiles that fell within the aegis of the Corporation at its formation, thereby embracing older types such as the Britannia, Viscount, Canberra and Bloodhound. I have also continued the history of BAC’s products beyond nationalization in 1977.

Acknowledgements

I would like to pay special thanks for the help have I received from the following individuals and organizations: Barry Guess and Trevor Friend of BAE Systems Archives at Farnborough; Peter Hardman of BAE Systems North West Heritage at Warton; Brian Riddle of the National Aerospace Library at Farnborough, who gave access to Sir Freddie Page’s unpublished memoirs; Howard Betts; Mike Phipp, MR photos; Jean-Pierre Touzier; Dieter Hitchens and his mother Mrs Marianne Hitchens, who allowed me to use the photos of the late Richard Hitchens.

My special thanks are rightly reserved for the continued enthusiasm, support and editorial help that my wife Jane provided throughout the writing of this book.

CHAPTER ONE

The Formation of the British Aircraft Corporation

Consolidation of the Aircraft Industry

On 16 September 1957 the senior management of Britain’s aircraft industry was called to a meeting in Whitehall at the Ministry of Supply. During these discussions the policy of the Conservative government was outlined in no uncertain terms: if the industry was to be effective and compete as a force in world markets, the large number of British aircraft manufacturers then in existence would need to consolidate to avoid wasteful competition and better manage resources. To underline this policy, the firms were informed that the contract for a new aircraft to meet Operational Requirement 339 – the replacement for the Canberra light bomber – would only be awarded to a consortium.

At the end of the Second World War Britain had a total of twenty-seven air-frame and eight aero-engine manufacturers. Although some consolidation had taken place, the majority of these enterprises were run by powerful figures – some of them founding fathers of the British aircraft industry – who were unwilling to merge and share power with those they had regarded for so many years as the competition.

Earlier in 1957 the industry had been shocked by the 1957 Defence White Paper, which stated that the age of the missile had come and that manned aircraft would no longer be required. As a result, all existing military aircraft projects, some with great potential, were cancelled except for the English Electric Lightning fighter and the Canberra replacement. Though the industry had enough existing military orders to tide it over until the early 1960s, there was a general consensus that now was time to redirect investment toward the civil sector and expand on the 30 per cent of output that it had traditionally provided.

The rationalization policy was officially announced on 13 May 1958 and, to encourage companies to join forces with one another, the Government announced that it would only fund work from those manufacturers who agreed to merge. As the firms were heavily dependent on the Government for both military and civil projects, they had no alternative other than to comply.

English Electric, which manufactured the Canberra, was a clear favourite to win the contract to build OR339 and their impressive proposal offered a delta-winged twin-seater with a futuristic VTOL capability provided by the extraordinary means of a lifting platform (built by Short Brothers) powered by sixty lift-jets with ten additional engines for propulsion. However, Vickers-Armstrongs’ submission to OR339 also interested the defence chiefs, who asked the two firms to work together on a revised proposal, OR343. In January 1959 the Government announced the award of the contract to Vickers-Armstrongs with English Electric (to their chagrin) as a sub-contractor. An uneasy relationship then developed between the two companies, with English Electric holding the view that they should have been given control of the project as they had more recent experience with major military projects – the Canberra and the Mach 2 Lightning fighter – while Vickers had never built a truly supersonic aircraft.

English Electric Canberra WH763. The Canberra was a great success for English Electric and 1,376 were built. Its replacement was to be the TSR2, but this was cancelled and the Canberra far outlived it, serving with the RAF until 2006.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

As the OR343 contract would be the mainstay of the two firms in the years ahead it was clear that Vickers and English Electric would need to combine their aviation interests. In order to strengthen their position, they sought another major aviation firm with solid contracts for major work. Discussions ensued with de Havilland a strong candidate with its DH121 (later named Trident), which was then regarded as having great potential. But de Havilland was simultaneously talking to Hawker Siddeley about the merger of its Engine Division with Armstrong Siddeley Engines. At the same time the Bristol Aeroplane Company was also discussing the merger of its aircraft and engine interests with Hawker Siddeley, but Hawker Siddeley had no real interest in Bristol other than its SST (later Concorde) design team.

In October 1959 Sir Matthew Slattery, chairman of Bristol, admitted that the aircraft group was virtually in liquidation. Production of the Bristol Britannia turboprop airliner was almost at an end with just one remaining unsold, and the poor sales performance of the Britannia had brought about losses to the firm of £7–8m. There was progress on SST studies and the Bristol 188 research aircraft, and some hope of producing a competitor to the projected Vickers VC11 and DH121 (Trident), but that would need at least 50 per cent funding from the Government, which was very unlikely. The threat of bankruptcy for Bristol was only averted by the sale of the Bloodhound 1 surface-to-air missile system to Sweden, which brought in a substantial advance payment.

A Bloodhound 1 surface-to-air missile ready to leave for public display outside the Bristol factory.

Bristol Aero Collection

Meanwhile, Vickers/English Electric talks with de Havilland foundered when it was bought by Hawker Siddeley. With this purchase Hawker Siddeley no longer had any interest in Bristol, which sought refuge with the new grouping of Vickers and English Electric.

The British Aircraft Corporation

The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) came into being in June 1960 when the Boards of Vickers-Armstrongs, English Electric and Bristol agreed to set up a joint company. Vickers and English Electric each had a 40 per cent holding and Bristol 20 per cent in the new concern. BAC was to consist solely of their collective aircraft manufacturing companies, while their non-aviation sections would remain wholly with the parent companies. As a further part of the consolidation of the aircraft industry, Bristol’s Engine Division joined with Armstrong Siddeley, de Havilland Engines and Blackburn Engines to form Bristol Siddeley Engines. Bristol’s Helicopter Division became part of Westland Helicopters.

The other major British aircraft manufacturer was Hawker Siddeley, which had existed as a loose grouping since 1935 when Hawker took control of Avro, Armstrong Whitworth and Gloster. Although much work sharing had taken place between these firms they had maintained considerable independence. With the need to adhere to the Government’s dictum, in 1959 Hawker Siddeley acquired Folland Aircraft followed in 1960 by de Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft; in 1963 the different company names were dropped, all the aircraft and missiles in the group now being branded as Hawker Siddeley products.

Ceremonial handover of the first VC10 for the RAF at the Wisley Flight Test Centre on 30 September 1966. BAC’s first Chairman, Lord Portal, is addressing the audience.

BAE Systems

Sir George Edwards (1908–2003). In 1948 he became Vickers’ Chief Designer, leading the team that designed the Viking, Viscount and Valiant. As Chairman and Managing Director of BAC (Operating) Ltd from 1961 to 1968 and later (1968–75) of the whole organization, he was intimately involved in all aspects of its projects during BAC’s short history.

BAE Systems

Handley Page declined to join either of the two major groups, and Shorts in Belfast was a special case as it was a nationalized company. Two major aeroengine manufacturers, Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce emerged from the consolidation process and all UK helicopter work was centralized under Westland, which took over the helicopter interests of Bristol, Fairey and Saunders-Roe.

BAC’s first press release in May 1960 announced its new name, the shareholdings, the names of the board of directors and the capital of £20m. The combined grouping had 30,000 employees. The same release announced that the first act of the new Corporation was to buy the aircraft interests of the Hunting Group for £1.3m.

Lord Portal, renowned as Chief of the Air Staff during the Second World War, became non-executive Chairman with two Deputy Chairmen from the majority partners: Sir Charles Dunphie from Vickers and Lord Nelson from English Electric. Sir George Edwards was appointed Executive Director (Aircraft) and Lord Caldecote Executive Director (Guided Weapons). Just over a year later Sir George became Managing Director (Aircraft) with Lord Caldecote as his deputy but with sole responsibility for Guided Weapons. Edwards later became BAC’s chairman, resigning in 1975.

BAC formally came into existence on 1 June 1960. It was to have a short but impressive seventeen-year life.

BAC’s Companies in June 1960

Bristol Aeroplane Company

Bristol came into being in 1910 as the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. Ltd, leasing premises from Bristol Tramways at Filton, Bristol. By the end of that year Bristol Boxkites were in production at Filton and during the First World War the company built large numbers of aircraft, most notably the Bristol Fighter. During 1918 alone Bristol constructed 2,000 aircraft, but with the Armistice in November, Bristol along with other aviation companies had to adjust to much reduced demand. In 1920 the firm was renamed the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

Rearmament began in the late 1930s and during the Second World War Bristol aircraft included the Blenheim and Beaufort bombers and the highly successful Beaufighter fighter/torpedo bomber. After the war Bristol built and flew the huge Brabazon airliner, but this proved a commercial failure – not being ordered by any airlines – and was soon scrapped. The Brabazon was replaced by the turboprop-powered Britannia; unfortunately, despite its potential, the time lost in solving its various engine problems delayed its entry into service, by which time airlines were ordering jet airliners such as the Boeing 707. In 1960 Bristol had four sites:

A map indicating the major sites that were used by BAC for aircraft and guided weapons manufacture from the creation of the Corporation in 1960 until nationalization in 1977. All the sites inherited from the Bristol, English Electric, Hunting and Vickers-Armstrongs remained in use during that period except for the Luton guided weapons works (formerly English Electric), closed in 1962 and the Luton aircraft factory (formerly Hunting), closed in 1966. Also in 1966, the Cardiff guided weapons factory (formerly Bristol) was disposed of to Bristol Siddeley Engines. The Wisley Flight Test Centre (formerly Vickers) closed in 1972, while the Concorde Test Centre at Fairford only functioned from 1969 to 1976.

BAE System

The prototype Britannia Series 301, G-ANCA, which first flew on 31 July 1956, photographed together with Bristol Fighter D8096, which was restored to airworthy condition by Bristol at Filton in 1951. G-ANCA crashed near Filton on 6 November 1957 in a fatal accident that has never been fully explained.

Peter Rushby Collection

Two Concordes for BOAC (later British Airways) under construction in the huge Brabazon hangar at Filton.

BAE Systems

Filton, Bristol (from 1923): aircraft and guided weapons manufacture and flight test. The Filton site is now owned by Airbus, BAE Systems and GKN.

Bournemouth, Dorset (closed by September 1963): drawing office.

Cardiff, Glamorgan (1956–66): guided weapons manufacture.

Fairford, Gloucestershire (1969–77): BAC flight test centre for Concorde (Concorde flight test relocated to Filton in 1977).

Bristol’s aircraft and guided weapons projects were as follows:

Bristol Britannia: at the time of the formation of BAC, production of fifty-five Bristol Britannias at Filton was complete, the last Filton-built aircraft having flown in March 1960. Production of thirty Britannias at Shorts in Belfast was virtually complete, with just three aircraft for the RAF’s order remaining to fly.

Britannic wings: construction of ten wings based on the Britannia wing design for the Shorts Britannic (later re-named Belfast) military airlifter.

Bristol 188: two aircraft under construction for research into structures for high-speed supersonic aircraft.

Bloodhound: anti-aircraft missile ordered for the RAF, Sweden and Australia.

Supersonic airliner: in 1959 the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee chose Bristol, led by Chief Engineer Archibald Russell, to develop its design for a 132-seater airliner powered by six Olympus engines. This evolved into the Type 223, a slender 100-seater delta with four Olympuses, recognizable as a progenitor of Concorde.

Bristol 216: this was a car ferry project in collaboration with Bregeut of France. It was to be powered by twin Rolls-Royce Darts with accommodation for six cars and their passengers. BAC did not proceed with it.

Bristol 220: a twin-engined, five-seater replacement for the Avro Anson, which had started life while Sir Peter Masefield was Managing Director of Bristol. BAC did not want to proceed with this. Sir Peter left Bristol when it joined BAC and took the project with him, which was later developed into the Beagle 206.

English Electric Aviation

The English Electric Company was created in 1918 by the merger of five electrical and mechanical firms that between them produced aircraft, electric motors, transformers, turbines, locomotives and consumer goods. Following amalgamation there was a hiatus in aircraft manufacture until 1923 when the first English Electric aircraft, the single-seat Wren monoplane, made its maiden flight from Preston. The Wren was succeeded by the large Kingston and Ayr flying boats, which were flown at Lytham St Anne’s, just a few miles north of Warton. However, aircraft development ceased in 1926 due to a reduction in aircraft orders from the government after the First World War.

BAC’s Beagle 206 G-AVHO at BAC’s Hurn plant in early 1968. The Beagle 206 design owed much to the Bristol 220 proposal, with which BAC did not proceed. G-AVHO was delivered to BAC in November 1967 and often flown by Sir George Edwards. It was sold by BAC in 1976.

Author

In 1938 as part of the Government’s rearmament programme English Electric re-entered the aircraft industry as a subcontractor. Preston was chosen as the aircraft factory and an airfield was built at Samlesbury. During the Second World War it produced aircraft for other manufacturers, for example the 770 Handley Page Hampdens and 2,145 Halifaxes. After the war the firm made modifications to over 200 Avro Lincolns and between 1944 and 1952 licence-built 1,369 de Havilland Vampires.

Most significantly in the immediate post-war years, English Electric shocked the other firms in the British aircraft industry with its startlingly successful Canberra jet-engined light bomber. English Electric’s Chief Engineer, Teddy Petter, had first designed a jet fighter-bomber when he worked for Westland, but had been unable to develop it. English Electric, however, was ready to take up the challenge. The project was substantially developed to become the Canberra, an outstanding design that first flew in 1949 and was sold in large numbers to the RAF and many other countries, besides being licence-built in the USA and Australia. It served with the RAF from 1951 until 2006.

Following on from the Canberra, before Petter left the firm he started the design of a supersonic fighter that was developed by his successor, Freddie Page, to become the P.1A, which first flew in 1954. This led onto the P.1B in 1957 which, with further refinement, entered service with the RAF as the Lightning in 1960. English Electric’s sites were:

Warton, Lancashire (from 1947): aircraft manufacture and flight test.

Samlesbury, Lancashire (from 1940): aircraft manufacture and flight test.

Preston, Lancashire (1918–26 and 1938–90): aircraft manufacture.

Accrington, Lancashire (1952–68): passed over to GEC (Engineering) in1968, but continued with aircraft component manufacture.

Between 1940 and 1942, 770 Handley Page Hampdens were licence-built at English Electric’s Samlesbury site. These were succeeded on the production line by another Handley Page design – the Halifax – and, following the war, Vampires, Canberras, Lightnings and the TSR2.

Author

The penultimate Development Batch Lightning, XG336, is rolled out at Warton. It first flew in August 1959 and served briefly with the Air Fighting Development Squadron.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

Warton was used by the USAAF as a repair and overhaul facility for aircraft and engines during 1942–45. It was then unused until 1947 when English Electric took it over for flight testing. In this photo, looking east over the 7,946ft (2,422m) runway 08/26 , the main hangers and flight test apron are on the left of the photo. Warton became the centre for final assembly and flight test under BAC and is still in use today with BAE Systems.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

Luton, Bedfordshire (1950–62): guided weapons manufacture.

Stevenage, Hertfordshire (from 1952): guided weapons manufacture.

The Samlesbury and Warton sites are now part of BAE Systems. The Stevenage site is still in existence today as part of MBDA and Astrium. English Electric’ projects in hand in 1960 were:

Canberra: production of 925 Canberras manufactured in the UK – including seventy-five built by Avro, seventy-five by Handley Page and 132 by Shorts – was virtually complete, with just ten remaining to be completed by Shorts. English Electric also had fifteen new-build Canberra in stock for future orders. Australia built forty-eight Canberras and the USA (as the Martin B-57) 403, making a grand total of 1,376.

Close-up of a TSR2 under construction at Weybridge. The rear fuselages were built at Samlesbury, the forward fuselage and wings at Weybridge; assembly of the prototypes took place at Weybridge. The fineness of the wings and all-moving tail and elevons is evident in this photo.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

A Thunderbird air-to-air missile of the British Army, deployed in the field with a gas-masked soldier guarding it.

MBDA

Lightning: by June 1960, forty-two Lightnings and related development aircraft had flown, these being the two P.1As, three P.1Bs, twenty pre- production aircraft, fifteen F.1s and two T.4s. Lightning F.1s, F.1As, F.2s and T.4s were in large-scale production for the RAF.

TSR2: under development with Vickers for the RAF. The prototype was due to fly in 1963.

Blue Water: a battlefield missile with a nuclear warhead.

Thunderbird: an anti-aircraft missile in service with the British Army.

PT428: an anti-aircraft missile system.

Hunting Aircraft

Edgar Percival founded Percival Aircraft in 1933 in Gravesend, moving to Luton three years later and joining the Hunting Group in 1944. Percival Aircraft was renowned for its extensive range of light aircraft such as the Mew Gull, in which the famous pilot Alex Henshaw made record-breaking flights during the 1930s.

Hunting Jet Provost T.51 CJ701, the first of twelve delivered to the Ceylon (now Sri Lankan) Air Force in 1959, on its way to the Farnborough Air Display in September that year. Ceylon was the launch customer for this variant of the RAF’s trainer. It possessed twin machine guns and underwing ordnance racks. This machine is preserved in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Author

Post-war, Percival produced the Prince and Pembroke family of communications aircraft and Provost piston-engined trainer for the RAF. The Jet Provost military trainer first flew in 1954 and in the same year the firm was renamed Hunting Percival, becoming simply Hunting Aircraft in 1957. That same year the RAF adopted the Jet Provost, which soon began to win export orders, enabling Hunting to set up quantity production. When Hunting was purchased by BAC in 1960 it had plenty of Jet Provost work in hand but it remained a small operation with limited facilities; indeed it had just one site:

Luton, Bedfordshire (1936–66): aircraft manufacture and flight test.

Hunting’s aircraft projects in 1960 were:

Jet Provost: eighty-one Jet Provost T.3s in service with the RAF, 120 more being built. 185 Jet Provost T.4s ordered in late 1960.

Hunting H.126: a single jet-flap research aircraft under construction.

BAC 221: conversion of the first Fairey Delta 2 into a supersonic research aircraft with a slender delta wing. BAC transferred this conversion from Hunting to Bristol’s factory at Filton before Hunting had actually received the aircraft.

Hunting H.107: a project for a fifty-nine seat airliner with twin Bristol Siddeley BS75 engines of around 7,000lb thrust, a 500mph cruise speed and a range of 600 miles. By September 1960 this had become the BAC 107, and later turned into the BAC One-Eleven.

G-AWAU was the Vickers Vimy replica constructed at Weybridge and Hurn between 1967 and 1969. It made its 30-minute maiden flight from Brooklands to Wisley on the evening of 1 June 1969 flown by BAC test pilot ‘Dizzy’ Addicott. It later appeared at the Paris Air Show alongside Concorde, but was damaged by fire at Manchester Airport and reconstructed at Wisley for static display at the RAF Museum, Hendon.

BAE Systems

The sole Vickers Valiant B.2, WJ954 at Vickers Wisley Flight Test Centre. It was intended for the low-level ‘pathfinder’ role with a beefed-up structure to cope with the stresses of low-altitude flight, and was much faster than the Valiant B.1 bomber. A total of 107 B.1s was built, the last one in 1957. WJ594 had a short life, first flying in September 1953 and being scrapped in 1958. In the background is RAF Boeing B-29 Washington WW349, which was employed on missile trials by Vickers. It was written off when a Valiant collided with it on the Wisley apron on 29 July 1955.

Paul Robinson

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft)

The shipbuilding, engineering and armaments giant Vickers made its first foray into aviation with the construction of an airship in 1908. The next steps were the construction of aircraft and the establishment of a flying school at the Brooklands racing track in Weybridge, Surrey. During the First World War the firm was engaged in the manufacture of aircraft designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory. Vickers’ own designs from the war years included the Vickers Vimy bomber made famous by the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic, piloted by Alcock and Brown. Following the war Vickers continued in aircraft manufacture, merging with Armstrong Whitworth in 1928 to become Vickers-Armstrongs (this merger did not include Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd) and taking over Supermarine at Southampton. With this acquisition Vickers-Armstrongs, as owners of its subsidiary Vickers-Supermarine, became the parent firm of the Spitfire fighter, the most famous British aircraft of the Second World War. Vickers also built the Wellington bomber, which played an important role with the RAF in the early years of the war.

Before the end of the Second World War Vickers had started planning the Viking, a civil airliner that sold in respectable numbers. This was superseded by the much more technically advanced, turboprop-engined Viscount, which sold well worldwide and generated reasonable profits for Vickers. Simultaneously the first ‘V’ bomber, the Vickers Valiant, entered production while the Vickers-Supermarine division was developing a series of jet-engined fighters, starting with the rather uninspiring Attacker for the Royal Navy. Next came the Swift, which became the RAF’s first swept-wing fighter but which was beset by problems and was rapidly superseded by the Hawker Hunter. These were followed by the final Supermarine aircraft, the Scimitar naval strike fighter, and in 1957 Supermarine was fully integrated into Vickers.

With the end of Valiant manufacture in 1957 and only a small order for seventy-six Scimitars for the Royal Navy, Vickers now had to rely on the more challenging civil airliner market in which, in addition to the Viscount, Vickers now had the four-turboprop Vanguard and four-jet VC10 under development. However, Vickers lobbied hard for the ‘Canberra replacement’ (OR339) contract and managed to become prime contractor for TSR2 with English Electric in a subordinate role.

In 1960 Vickers’ sites were as follows:

Brooklands airfield, the main site of Vickers-Armstrongs at Weybridge and later the BAC Weybridge Division. The short, restricted 3,600ft (1,100m) runway is evident. The large hangers on the far left were built for VC10 construction. The two long, smaller hangers nearer to the runway were used for Viscount and TSR2 production.

BAE Systems

A Viscount Series 828 for All Nippon Airways at Hurn with the main production line hangers behind it in 1962. In the background, a Valiant is receiving modification work. The Hurn factory built the majority of the Vickers Viscounts and BAC One-Elevens.

BAE Systems

The prototype VC10, G-ARTA, under construction in one of the two large hangers built for this task on the south side of the Weybridge site in 1962. The tail of a Vanguard for BEA is also just visible.

BAE Systems

Weybridge, Surrey (1915–89): aircraft and guided weapons manufacture.

Hurn, Dorset (1951–84): aircraft manufacture and production flight test.

Wisley, Surrey (1943–72): aircraft experimental flight and production flight test.

The Vickers-Armstrongs Supermarine factory at South Marston, near Swindon, Wiltshire, which was completing the last five of an order for seventy-six Scimitars for the Royal Navy, did not become part of the Corporation. It remained with Vickers and became the headquarters of Vickers-Armstrongs (Engineering). The factory at Itchen remained with the parent company but continued to produce aircraft sub-assemblies, notably for TSR2.

Vickers had the following work in hand in 1960:

Viscount: of the 444 Viscounts manufactured between 1948 and 1964 at Hurn and Weybridge, twenty-two remained to be built following the formation of BAC in mid-1960.

Vanguard: of the forty-three Vanguards on order eight had flown from Weybridge and were engaged in the test programme. None had yet entered service. The final delivery was in April 1964.

VC10: Thirty-five VC10s were on order for BOAC. The prototype VC10 first flew in June 1962 and a larger, longer-range Super VC10 was in development.

TSR2: Under development with English Electric as a supersonic bomber for the RAF. The prototype was due to fly in 1963.

Vigilant: the V.891 Vigilant, a wire-guided infantry anti-tank weapon built for the British Army.

Vickers VC11: a project for a four-engined, 138-seat medium-range airliner in a configuration similar to the VC10. BAC did not eventually proceed with this.

A new account programme for the Filton factory was the manufacture of wings for the Shorts Belfast military freighter, of which only ten were built. The wings and other empennage were based on the design of the Britannia. XR365 is shown landing at the 1970 Farnborough Air Show: this aircraft was the last Belfast to remain in service and was withdrawn from use in 2010.

Author

Account Responsibilities for Existing and Future Products

The boards of the separate companies continued in existence, keeping account responsibility (profits and losses) for certain products. However, as Hunting had been purchased by the new Corporation, all of its aircraft and projects became part of BAC.

‘Old’ account types whose profits and losses stayed with the parent companies were as follows:

Bristol: Britannia, Bristol 188 and Bloodhound Mark 1.

English Electric: Canberra, Lightning F.1–F.3 and T.4, Thunderbird Mark 1.

Vickers: Viscount, Vanguard, VC10 and Super VC10, Scimitar and Vigilant.

‘New’ account types, whose profits and losses were the responsibility of BAC:

Bristol: Short Britannic (later renamed Belfast) wings, BAC 221, Bloodhound Mark 2.

English Electric: Lightning F.2a, F.5, F.6 and T.5, Blue Water, Thunderbird Mark 2.

Vickers: VC11 (though this was not proceeded with).

BAC:TSR2.

CHAPTER TWO

From Formation to Nationalization

Integration and Early Challenges

There was no magical process by which Bristol, English Electric, Hunting and Vickers could become BAC overnight. However, in order to promote the new entity, within a few weeks the Board of Directors decided that companies were to refer to themselves as, for example, ‘Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Limited, a member company of the British Aircraft Corporation’. A huge exercise took place to educate all staff in the products of the new firm: the Bristol staff newspaper Airframe became the BAC company newspaper and a company road show was organized to meld together the 30,000 employees and to allay fears of redundancy.

An early challenge for the management was to find airframe work for the large Bristol factory at Filton, with its huge Brabazon hangars, which was virtually bereft of work: now that production of the Britannia had ended the factory had very little to do besides the construction of the two Bristol 188 supersonic research aircraft. As a result, the Fairey Delta 2/BAC221 conversion was transferred there from Hunting at Luton, while some VC10 work, Canberra modification, Lightning conversion and Lightning T.5 trainer front fuselage production soon followed. It was fortunate for the Filton workforce that Bristol joined BAC, for if Hawker Siddeley had become the owners it would almost certainly have closed Filton.

A dynamic photo of pre-production Lightning XG313 during the testing of the 2-inch rocket packs in 1960. It had first flown on 2 February 1959 and was sent to Saudi Arabia as an instructional machine in 1968. It is preserved in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

Both the major partners’ best sellers (English Electric’s Canberra and Vickers’ Viscount) were coming to the end of their production runs. However, the great advantage for English Electric was the huge demand for Canberra overhaul, refurbishment and modification work, which continued throughout the history of BAC and well beyond.

1962 and Guided Missile Cancellations

In 1962 BAC’s Chairman, Viscount Portal of Hungerford, reported on excellent progress with the company’s integration of its activities made during its first financial year. Total sales amounted to £75m: £28m from new projects and £47m from work started prior to BAC’s formation. The value of BAC’s order book at the end of 1961 was an impressive £238m: £118m for new and £120m for pre-merger projects. There was the first mention of cooperation with Sud Aviation on a supersonic transport which, less than eight years later, was to fly in the form of Concorde. This report heralded what appeared to be a positive start for the new Corporation.

Yet even as the Corporation was consolidating it became the victim of Government cuts, when in 1962 two of English Electric’s guided weapons projects were cancelled. These were the PT428 cancelled in February, which was a lightweight, eighteen-round anti- aircraft missile battery, followed in August by the Blue Water tactical missile for the Army which had been due to enter service in 1965. The loss of these two systems was such a serious blow that it provoked the closure of English Electric’s guided weapons factory at Luton, though the Stevenage works remained open.

On a brighter note, the prototype Vickers VC10, Britain’s largest airliner, successfully made its first flight on 29 June 1962 from the Weybridge plant. It participated noisily and impressively at the Farnborough Air Show in September that year. With work proceeding on Concorde, the Chairman of BAC accurately predicted that Concorde would be the first supersonic airliner to enter service; at this juncture he could not have known that during its operational existence it would not have any serious competitors.

On 29 June 1962 the prototype VC10, G-ARTA, sets out on its maiden flight from the extremely short 3,600ft (1,100m) runway situated within the former Brooklands racing circuit at the Weybridge factory. Owing to the railway embankment to the north, all flights out took place from the north and landings from the south.

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Meanwhile, production of the RAF’s first supersonic fighter, the Lightning, was well in hand at Samlesbury and Warton, and by the end of 1962 fifty of the early F.1 and F.1A variants were in service with the RAF. The first batch of TSR2s under construction at Samlesbury and Weybridge had advanced well, and the first flight was expected by end of 1963. In fact, the prototype missed this schedule and did not fly until late in 1964. Work was also proceeding at Luton on the company-funded pressurized version of the Jet Provost trainer, to be designated the T.5.

The prototype BAC One-Eleven, G-ASHG, in the livery of launch customer British United, being towed back to one of the Hurn final assembly hangars in July 1963. Note how the sign on the other final assembly hanger behind refers to Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. It was not until the following year, when BAC established a divisional structure, that this company became BAC (Weybridge Division).

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One-Eleven

A major event was the maiden flight on 20 August 1963 of the One-Eleven from the Hurn plant; the ‘bus-stop jet’, as it was then marketed, became the major airliner project of BAC. It had already accumulated sixty orders at the time of its first flight and the predictions were that it would emulate the Viscount and make 400 sales. However, despite its initial commercial success, it failed to achieve expectations. Two factors impeded progress: the problematic test programme and the difficulties in stretching an already optimized design, compounded by the lack of growth potential in the Spey engine.

Only two months after its first flight, on 22 October, the first One-Eleven was on stalling tests when it entered a ‘deep stall’ – at the time an insufficiently understood phenomenon – and crashed, killing all the crew. BAC had to introduce modifications to prevent this happening again, and the loss of the prototype cast a long shadow over the project for customers and potential customers. Despite the setback, though, the One-Eleven entered service with British United Airways on 9 April 1965.

The Creation of the BAC Divisions

From 1 January 1964, the process of integration was accelerated when the old names of the firms were superseded by the Corporation’s title. Thus Bristol became BAC (Filton Division), English Electric became BAC (Preston Division), Hunting was BAC (Luton Division) and Vickers was renamed BAC (Weybridge Division). The guided weapons sections had already been united in March 1963 as the Guided Weapons Division, which combined the missile and space interests of Bristol, English Electric and Vickers. These Divisions were all subsidiaries of BAC (Operating) Ltd; this company reported to the BAC (Holdings) Board, on which sat representatives of the share-holding companies of the Corporation (Bristol, English Electric and Vickers-Armstrongs) and which retained control of broader policy.

The effect on the size of the workforce of the TSR2 cancellation.

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Partially-built XR226 awaiting the scrap men at Weybridge in September 1965. The forward fuselage, built at Weybridge, is in yellow primer while the rear fuselage, built at Samlesbury, is in white paint. This aircraft was intended for armament trials.

Richard Hitchins

TSR2 Cancellation and its Ramifications

1965 was to prove an exceedingly difficult year for the new Corporation. On 6 April BAC received a calamitous blow when the TSR2 low-level strike aircraft was cancelled. For a time the very existence of BAC was in doubt as a compensation settlement from the Government was not forthcoming until 1967. 5,000 BAC employees lost their jobs, primarily at Weybridge and Samlesbury. Then, as there was over-capacity, at the end of 1965 the former Hunting factory at Luton was closed with the loss of 2,000 jobs and its work redistributed.

Elsewhere, there were considerable problems with BAC’s civil programmes. Sales of the VC10 and Super VC10 had been put under severe threat when Sir Giles Guthrie, Chairman of BOAC, attempted to drastically reduce the airline’s order for it, which badly dented its limited sales potential. The BAC One-Eleven had just entered service and was only beginning to repay its £30m development costs, for which the Government had originally contributed launch aid of £9.75m. BAC wanted to build the larger One-Eleven 500 to stave off competition from larger versions of the Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737, which were outselling the One-Eleven. However, BAC could not afford to fund this development without Government aid. Meanwhile, Concorde was suffering heavy press criticism in the UK and the Labour Government wished to cancel the project; fortunately, owing to French pressure, Concorde’s development was not halted.

Following the TSR2 cancellation this photo was taken of TSR2 XR219, Lightning F.6 XR755 and Canberra B.2 WD937 at Warton.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

BAC’s display stand at the 1967 Paris Air Show boldly stating the company is the ‘Most powerful aerospace company in Europe’. There are models of the Jaguar centre left and the stillborn Anglo-French Variable-Geometry on the extreme right. The BAC display also claims that the company has an order book of £340m, of which 64.5 per cent, or £242m, were for export.

BAE Systems

A long tussle then ensued between BAC and the Labour Government over the settlement of financial compensation for the TSR2 cancellation. BAC threatened the Government with an eventual rundown of the business owing to its poor financial position if it did not receive the sum it believed it was due, but the Government was eager to force a merger of BAC with Hawker Siddeley by delaying settlement of BAC’s claim. The BAC Board might have accepted being bought out at a fair valuation, but had little desire to be forcibly merged with their investment locked within Hawker Siddeley.

Fortunately for the Preston Division, matters gradually improved when in May 1965 the British and French Governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of two aircraft: an advanced strike/trainer aircraft and the Anglo-French Variable-Geometry aircraft. Although the French withdrew from the latter at an early stage, the strike/trainer was developed into the Jaguar, which flew with the RAF and was also exported successfully. Under Lord Plowden the Government had set up a committee to examine the aviation industry, which reported at the end of 1965. Chief among its recommendations was that the aviation industry had to collaborate with Europe on all major projects, as already demonstrated by the Jaguar/AFVG collaboration with France.

One of the factors in BAC’s recovery from the TSR2’s cancellation was the Saudi Arabian contract to supply Lightnings and Strikemasters. Photographed at Warton, this is the first Lightning F.53 for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force, registered 53-666, with the extended belly fuel tank of the Lightning F.6, rocket pods and pylon-mounted trial bombs. Originally flown as an RAF F.6, XR722, it was modified to become the first F.53 and first flew in its new form on 19 October 1966.

BAE Systems via Warton Heritage

1965 was to end on a high note when, in December, BAC received a real fillip by winning a huge order from Saudi Arabia for Lightnings and Strikemasters (the latter a light-attack derivative of the Jet Provost) worth £100m. In 1966 the Government finally agreed to provide £9m support for the One-Eleven 500 and in September 1967 agreed a compensation deal on TSR2 with BAC. So, with improving income from One-Eleven sales on the civil side, the future of the Preston Division was more than stabilized by the start of Jaguar work, the launch of the Saudi Arabian Lightning and Strikemaster production, and also manufacture of the tails for the RAF’s new Phantoms.

The 200th airliner built by BAC for a North American customer, American Airlines’ N5019 at BAC’s Hurn factory. This figure of 200 consisted of 147 Viscounts and fifty-three One-Elevens in March 1966; more One-Elevens were to follow.

BAE Systems

1967 proved a watershed for BAC when its fortunes recovered sufficiently for it to resist a forced merger with Hawker Siddeley, and talks were abandoned. The Government continued to press BAC to merge, but as the firm was intransigent talks of merger were abandoned for the time being.

During 1968 BAC continued making a substantial contribution to the British economy with record export deliveries of £81.5m, representing 63 per cent of the £128.3m earned by the firm. New orders in the year were valued at £149.7m, of which £101.8m or 68 per cent were for export while the total value of BAC’s export backlog was £103m. Many of these export deliveries were of One-Elevens to airlines worldwide, and in the face of stiff competition the lengthened One-Eleven 500 finally took to the air in the summer of 1967.

The aircraft and guided weapons of BAC in late 1968. The BAC 167 has not yet been named the Strikemaster and the MRCA is not included.

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The organizational structure of BAC in late 1968. Note how the Strikemaster is still referred to as the BAC 167 and the MRCA only gained its name much later. The Corporation’s workforce totals 36,000 at that date.

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GEC Buys English Electric

Rolls-Royce had acquired Bristol in 1966 and in so doing had become a 20 per cent share holder in BAC. In mid-1968 Rolls-Royce indicated its wish to sell this holding. Under the BAC founding agreement English Electric and Vickers had first refusal, but if neither wished to bid then Rolls-Royce’s holding would be offered to Hawker Siddeley Aviation. Therefore, if English Electric and Vickers wished to avoid their British competitor having direct access to their business affairs, they would need to buy the holding to keep Hawker Siddeley out of the picture.

This difficult situation was compounded when Plessey entered the fray with a bid for English Electric, indicating that if successful they would divest themselves of English Electric’s 40 per cent holding in BAC. The Government shrewdly identified this as an opportunity to merge Hawker Siddeley and BAC. However, the Corporation was now on a much firmer footing and able to resist this threat, having rebounded after the trauma of TSR2 cancellation. In November 1968 a new player emerged. GEC was a major UK firm producing engineering, consumer and defence electronics. GEC bid for English Electric and succeeded against Plessey in buying it.

GEC’s purchase brought a new member onto the BAC board in the shape of Sir Arnold Weinstock, a man described by the Guardian newspaper as ‘Britain’s premier post-Second-World-War industrialist’. Although he was primarily interested in guided weapons, Weinstock was content for the airframe side to continue to the extent that in 1972 both Vickers and GEC reluctantly bought out Rolls-Royce’s 20 per cent share holding to become the joint owners of BAC. With a partnership of two owners, BAC benefited from a period of stability for its remaining years in private ownership.