Airspeed Ltd.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- 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). Following production of the AS4 Ferry, a three engined, ten passenger biplane, the company concentrated 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. In 1940, de Havilland bought the shares in Airspeed held by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited, the company retained a separate identity.
Their 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 by Commandos, Dakotas and other piston-engined aircraft.
The company reverted back to the company name Airspeed Limited on January 25, 1944 and the company became involved in adapting some surplus Oxford aircraft as AS65 Consuls for the commercial market, they 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 & first flight
- AS4 Ferry - April 5, 1932
- AS5 Courier - April 11, 1933
- AS6 Envoy - June 26, 1934
- AS8 Viceroy - August 1934
- AS10 Oxford - June 19, 1937
- AS30 Queen Wasp - June 11, 1937
- AS39 Fleet Shadower - October 18, 1940
- AS45 Cambridge - February 19, 1941
- AS51 Horsa I - September 12, 1941
- AS57 Ambassador - July 10, 1947
- AS58 Horsa II
- AS65 Consul - March 1946
Timeline of aviation
Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines
Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft
Notable military accidents and incidents · Notable airline accidents and incidents · Famous aviation-related deaths
Flight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft
[edit] Further reading
- Nevil Shute Norway, Slide Rule (William Heinemann, London, 1954) Norway's fascinating and classic biography covers his time at Airspeed in great detail
