Airspeed Ltd.:
- This article describes the company Airspeed Ltd. For the technical concept, see Airspeed.
Airspeed Ltd was established to build aeroplanes in 1931 in York, England, by A. H. Tiltman and Nevil Shute Norway (the aeronautical engineer and famous writer, who used his forenames as his pen-name).
[edit] History
Initially producing the AS4 Ferry, a three engined, ten passenger biplane, the company went on to concentrate on transport monoplanes. In March 1933, the firm moved to Portsmouth and, in the following year, became associated with the Tyneside ship builder Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited and became Airspeed (1934) Limited in August 1934. During this period, it developed the AS8 Viceroy for an intercontinental air race. In 1940, de Havilland bought the shares in Airspeed held by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited, but the company retained a separate identity.
Its most productive period was during World War II. A graceful, twin-engined trainer-cum-light transport aircraft known as the AS10 Oxford had a production run exceeding 8,500. Almost 3,800 AS51 and AS58 Horsa gliders were built for the Royal Air Force and its allies. Many of these made one-way journeys into occupied France as part of the D-Day landings, towed from England behind aircraft like the Douglas Dakota and Handley Page Halifax.
The company reverted to the company name Airspeed Limited on January 25, 1944 and became involved in adapting some surplus Oxford aircraft as AS65 Consuls for the commercial market. It went on to produce a superbly streamlined twin-engined piston airliner called the AS57 Ambassador. Airspeed completely merged with de Havilland in 1951.
[edit] List of aircraft and first flight
- Three-engine biplane transport aircraft
- Single-engine low-wing monoplane passenger transport with retractable undercarriage of conventional configuration
- Two-engine development of the Courier
- Variant of Envoy, adapted for long-range flight. One aircraft was built
- Larger two-engine development of Envoy
- Single-engine single-seat biplane target drone aircraft
- Four-engine high-wing monoplane maritime patrol aircraft prototype. Two aircraft were ordered; one was completed
- Single-engine two-seater low-wing monoplane trainer aircraft with retractable undercarriage of conventional configuration. Two aircraft were built
- Large troop-carrying glider
- Civilian conversion of wartime Oxford
- Two-engine high-wing piston engine airliner
- Variant of Horsa with openable nose section for front loading
[edit] Further reading
- Nevil Shute Norway, Slide Rule (William Heinemann, London, 1954) Norway's biography covers his time at Airspeed in great detail
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