Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth Aircraft Ltd was initially formed as the aerial department of Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company Ltd. Upon creation it was focused on the production of Royal Aircraft Factory designed BE.2c aircraft for a government order. During the First World War this continued, along with the production of designs produced by Frederick Koolhoven. In 1920 Armstrong-Whitworth acquired Siddeley-Deasy and created the Armstrong Whitworth Development Company as a subsidiary. Also, at this time the aerial department was reorganised into a subsidiary of the new Development Company under the name Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd. Initially this was based in Parkside, near Coventry, but construction later moved to the Whitley airfield, while the design office remained at the original site. The Development Company did not stay under the ownership of the parent Armstrong Whitworth Company, as in 1927 it was sold and became the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company. This sale included the aircraft subsidiary which also came under this ownership and was not sold with the rest of the defence holdings to Vickers. Following John Siddeley’s retirement from the company’s board Hawker Aircraft purchased the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company and then sold it to a new parent company, Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co Ltd. Despite this new ownership the constituent companies continued to produce aircraft under their own names and as such Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft continued to produce its own designs. During the Second World War the company produced both its own designs and those of others and following the end of the conflict its parent company changed its name to the Hawker Siddeley Group. Also, during the 1950s, additional facilities where added to Armstrong Whitworth with production of jet aircraft being introduced at Baginton and Bitteswell. In 1963 Hawker Siddeley decided to merge all of its aviation division into one single entity, Hawker Siddeley Aviation. This was partly due to a government decision that there should be a reduction in the number of aircraft manufactures, as there were fewer contracts being offered. As such aircraft where no longer produced under the Armstrong Whitworth name.

Hawker Siddeley Group PLC was initially formed as the Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Company on 11th July 1935. The new company was established to acquire all of the shares of the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company and 50% of the shares of the Hawker Aircraft Company. This merged the two largest British aircraft manufacturers and included the subsidiaries of the two companies involved. These consisted of Armstrong Siddeley Motors, Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd and A.V. Roe and Co, which were part of the Armstrong Siddeley Development Company, and the Gloster Aircraft Company, which was part of Hawker, all of which continued to produce aircraft under their own names. During the Second World War Hawker Siddeley was one of the most important aircraft manufacturers in Britain. During the course of the conflict it produced several important designs including the Hawker Hurricane and Avro Lancaster as well as working on Britain’s first jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, and the first British jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor. In 1945 the company also purchased Victory Aircraft from the Canadian government and transferred to its subsidiary Avro. This then became A.V. Roe Canada but was most often know as Avro Canada. On 22nd June 1948 the company underwent a restricting when it was transformed from a private to a public limited company and underwent a name change. As such it went from being Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Company Limited to Hawker Siddeley Group Limited. In 1957 the Hawker Siddeley Group purchased the Brush Group, which included Brush Electrical Machines and Brush Traction. At the time it also acquired Mirrlees, Bickerton and Day. It also formed Hawker Siddeley John Brown Nuclear Construction as a joint venture to produce nuclear power equipment for marine propulsion, electrical generation and other industrial applications. In 1958 it formed another join company this time with Beyer Peacock, under the name Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Ltd, in order to manufacture diesel hydraulic locomotives. 1959 saw a further joint company, Primapax, which made, hired and sold vending machines. During the late 1950s the British government decided that the number of aircraft manufacturers should be decreased as the number of contracts being offered was being reduced. As a result of this Hawker Siddeley merged all of its aviation interests, Hawker, Avro, Gloster, Armstrong Whitworth and Armstrong Siddeley, into a single division, Hawker Siddeley Aviation during October 1958. In 1959 it also merged its aircraft engine business, Armstrong Siddeley, with Bristol Aero Engines to form Bristol Siddeley Engines. The group also acquired Folland Aircraft and in 1960 purchased both the de Havilland Aircraft Company and the Blackburn Group. By 1961 the Hawker Siddeley Group was made up of 3 major operational groups, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Industries and A.V. Roe Canada. Avro Canada would be dissolved in 1962 due to the cancellation of the Avro Arrow aircraft with its remaining assets being transferred to Hawker Siddeley Canada. The new company focused on the manufacture of railway vehicles, subway cars and trams. In 1963 the group underwent a further restructuring as the names of its constituent companies were dropped in favour of a single Hawker Siddeley branding. As a result, the company’s products were rebranded with a HS number in place of their previous number. During 1968 the group expanded further by acquiring Crompton Parkinson, which was later combined with Brook Motors, when they acquired this company in 1970, to form Brook Crompton. On 29th April 1977 the Hawker Siddeley Group underwent a major change when, as a result of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act, its Aviation and Dynamics groups were nationalised and merged with the British Aircraft Corporation and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace. Despite this loss of its aviation interests, they only accounted for 25% of the group’s business and as such it was able reorganise its remaining interests in a holding company, Hawker Siddeley Group PLC. The decision was taken to focus this group on railway engineering, industrial electronics and signalling equipment. During the 1980s the Hawker Siddeley Group continued to expand, acquiring Carlton Industries between 1981 and 1984, and GEC Small Machines Company and GEC Alsthom Electromotes in 1989. This success made the group a target for a hostile takeover by the BTR conglomerate and in November 1991 they acquired it for £1.5 billion. The Hawker Siddeley name continued to be used in the group’s switchgear division which was later sold to FKI and later Melrose PLC.

The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was formed in June 1918 when the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) was renamed, partly to avoid its abbreviation being confused with the newly formed Royal Airforce. In addition to this renaming there was also a shift away from the production that had previously been undertaken on the Establishment’s Farnborough site, and an increased focus on the research and development that was seen as its main role in the aviation industry, although a small number of aircraft continued to be constructed on site until the end of the war in November 1918. As part of this the sites function was defined as being to conduct experimental and development work on aeroplanes and engines, the testing of experimental instruments and accessories, undertaking flying instrument development for which there was little commercial demand, investigating failures within aircraft and components, liaison with industrial contractors for research purposes, technical supervision during construction of experimental machines, being available for approach for approval of designs and stressing of new aeroplanes, and the issue of airworthy certificate and of technical publications. The first director of the newly renamed RAE was W. Sydney Smith, who had replaced Henry Fowler as head of the RAF in April 1918. With the new focus on research and development he brought about some reorganisation of the departments with some being established or changed to focus on specialist areas including aerodynamics, engines, physics, instruments, metallurgy, mechanical testing, chemistry and fabrics. With the end of the First World War the RAE underwent a large reduction in staff and resources, with the numbers employed falling from 5,052 in November 1918, to 1,380 by the mid-1920s. There was a similar reduction in funding, with only 3.9% of the Air Estimate being allocated to the site in 1922, but research would continue to be conducted despite these difficulties. In 1919 there was also a shift away from purely military work as several companies approached the RAE for assistance with the design and handling characteristics of their new civil aircraft. The first Certificate of Airworthiness was also issue to a civilian aircraft at this time. As well as this 1919 also saw the beginning of the early helicopter work undertaken by Louis Brennan. Based in one of the airship sheds on the site he continued testing until 1925 when it crashed during a demonstration and the Air Ministry cut the project’s funding. In 1920 the Wireless and Photography department was formed, illustrating the growing importance of these technologies, and more sophisticated equipment was installed in the structures department to test wing loading, replacing the previous method of using sandbags to weight aircraft components. The research activities of the RAE continued throughout the 1920s. These included comparisons between the results gains from full scale flight tests and those from models tested in wind tunnels as well as theoretical studies of stability and other flight characteristics. Other work included the development of an early variable pitch propeller and the testing of many of the new types of aircraft that were being developed by numerous companies. The development of oxygen systems for aircrews was also undertaken due to the increased altitudes that were being encountered both in tests and in everyday flight. Also, during the 1920s a great deal of research was undertaken in the development of aircraft catapults. These used a compressed air and hydraulics to launch aircraft and would be later developed for use on the Royal Navy’s large warships. Further work would be undertaken on inflight refuelling and 1927 would see the start of experiments to develop turbine engines by Alan Arnold Griffith. There was also a great deal of work undertaken on the RAE Larynx, an pilotless aircraft designed as a guided anti-ship weapons and seen as a predecessor to both cruise missiles and modern drone aircraft. Seven of these were produced and tested and, although it did not enter production, it was the start of the development of numerous drone aircraft that were used for gunnery targets, such as the Queen Bee that was used by the Royal Navy during the 1930s. The development of photographic equipment was an important area of development in the interwar period and in 1929 the RAE produced the first of its F24 aircraft cameras. This was fitted to many aircraft during the Second World War for aerial reconnaissance and would continue to be used until the mid-1950s. An Instrument and Photographic Department was also formed to help with the development of equipment for aerial photography, reflecting its growing importance both in military and civilian circles. The problem of spinning in aircraft was also tackled at this time with the production of a 12ft wind tunnel in which to conduct tests. This was followed in 1935 by a 24ft tunnel that was used to test air and water-cooled engines and other full size components. A 660ft tank was also built to test the hydrodynamics of seaplane hulls. Finally, in 1937 an additional wind tunnel was constructed that was able to operate at 600mph, reflecting the growing performance of aircraft at the time. The declaration of war in August 1939 ““made little fundamental change in the policy and work of the Establishment since it was the expected culmination of what was known as the ‘Expansion Scheme’ which had been going on progressively since the adoption of a national rearmament policy in 1935”. Despite this there was a great deal of expansion with the number of staff increasing to 6,000 and new runways and hangars being constructed, which brought the airfield site up to 800 acres. Despite the site’s importance, the RAE was only bombed once during the course of the war. This occurred on 16th August 1940 when eight aircraft dropped a total of 20 bombs, although only half hit the site with the rest falling on nearby houses. Three members of staff were killed, and work was disrupted for three days but would then resume, with some operations being dispersed to other sites. During the war a large number of new systems were developed, including a gyro gun-sight that improved the accuracy of fighter aircraft and early forms of airborne RADAR, which were tested by the Radio Department. Tests on captured enemy aircraft were also undertaken as were early tests on models of the Gloster E28/39, Britain’s first jet aircraft. Advances were also made in aerial photography and a new bombsite was also developed as was a rocket propelled catapult designed to fire aircraft from merchant ships. In August 1941 Beatrice Shilling, known as Tilly, developed the R.A.E. Restrictor, better known as Miss Shilling’s Orifice. This was developed to prevent loss of power in aircraft performing negative ‘g’ manoeuvres during combat and was a simple washer fitted to the fuel pipe that prevented the engine from being flooded by fuel. Although it did not completely solve the issue it did allow for quick low ‘g’ manoeuvres to be conducted and bought time for a more permanent solution to be developed by Rolls-Royce, in the form of pressure carburettors. With the end of the Second World War in 1945 the RAE again underwent a reduction in staffing. From a wartime peak of around 6,000 this dropped to approximately 3,000 as many of the site’s personnel returned to the civilian industry. Also, in March of the same year research into piston powered aircraft ceased and all attention was focused on jet propulsion. In November 1945 the RAE was opened to the public in order to illustrate the site’s war work. Not only was the site opened but there was also a display of British and German aircraft which drew a great deal of attention. In the immediate post war years research continued, although at a much reduced intensity, and included a great deal of research into transonic flight characteristics. Some of this was undertaken using rocket propelled models dropped from aircraft in flight. Some research was also conducted on the Miles M.52 prior to this project’s cancellation. A further area of investigation at this time was the installation of flexible decks on aircraft carriers. This hope to replace the undercarriage of aircraft with a sprung rubber deck on ships. It was hoped that this would increase the performance of aircraft, but it was never implemented in service. A more successful design was the angled flight deck, which was proposed by the Naval Aircraft Department and, after a model was produced and refinements implement, this was adopted as standard for all aircraft carriers at the time. In 1948 the Society of British Aircraft Constructors moved their annual display to Farnborough. This would continue to be held annually on the site until 1962, when it changed to a biannual display in partnership with the Paris Air Show. Although initially this was only open to British designs from 1974 it became the Farnborough International Airshow. In 1952 the air show was the site of an major accident when a de Havilland DH110 broke up during a display and crashed into the crowd, killing 31. During the 1950s a substantial amount of testing was undertaken on many new civilian designs if aircraft and, even though some of these did not enter service, a great deal of technical information was gained from the experiments. Helicopters also began to undergo testing at the RAE with numerous aspects of their design being tested. 1952 also saw the arrival of an Avro 707 which was used to examine the aerodynamic properties of delta wings, data that would be later used in the design of Concorde and the Avro Vulcan. Following the loss of two Comet aircraft in 1954 the RAE was the site of a major investigation into the causes of their loss. Parts were salved from both of the crashes and brought back to Farnborough where they were pieced back together. Further to this a large water tank was built where a complete Comet body was repeatedly pressurised to investigate the effect of repeated pressurisation and depressurisation. Other Comets were also sent to the RAE to conduct flight trails and other investigations. All of these tests found that the aircraft had been lost due to the failure of the structure and led to a redesign of the type, as well as a greater understanding of the science of metal fatigue. By 1958 the structure of the RAE had developed to have the following departments: Aerodynamics, Armament, Armament and Instrument Experimentation, Carrier Equipment, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Experimental Flying, Guided Weapons, Instruments, Instrument and Photographic, Mathematical Services, Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Naval Aircraft, Radio, Rocket Propulsion and Structures. 1958 also saw the beginning of calculations on the TRIDAC analogue computer as well as the launch of many of the rocketry projects that the RAE was involved in. These were the Skylark and Black Knight rockets that were both tested at the Woomera facility in Australia. During the 1960 the RAE was involved in a number of projects ranging from the development of the UK3 satellite, the first UK satellite, and the TSR2 aircraft to the invention of high strength carbon fibre. RAE scientists would also be present at the first launch of the Blue Streak rocket in 1964. This period also saw work undertaken as part of the development of Concorde, including testing the airframe for the effects of heat and stress. In 1970 the Royal Aircraft Establishment was involved in the launch of the R1 satellite by the Black Arrow rocket from the Woomera test site. This was the responsibility of the space department and built on the work they had undertaken on the previous Black Knight system. They would also have design authority for the Prospero satellite that was launched in 1971 and the Ariel IV, launched in 1973.`` 1970 also saw the opening of the RAE Museum on the site. For the rest of the 1970s the RAE was involved in the development of satellite and senor systems, for both military and civilian uses. The increase in importance of the satellite research was demonstrated in 1988 when the RAE changed its name to the Royal Aerospace Establishment. On 1st April 1991 the Royal Aerospace Establishment merged with the Admiralty Research Establishment, the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment and the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment to form the Defence Research Agency. This brought together all of the previously independent Defence Research Establishments before it was itself merged with other departments to form the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 1995. Research flying would continue at Farnborough under these new institutions until 1994 when this end and in 2003 all Ministry of Defence operations on the airfield ceased.