De Havilland Propellers Limited was established as a division of De Havilland Aircraft in 1935 to manufacture variable pitch propellers under licence from the Hamilton Standard Company. In 1946 it was incorporated as a subsidiary company based at Hatfield, with a manufacturing facility in Lostock. In addition to the manufacture of propellers the company would work on missile projects from the late 1940s and would diversify into industrial equipment in the 1950s. This decade would also see the company begin work on the Blue Jay project, which became the Firestreak heat-seeking missile, and Blue Streak, both as a missile and later as part of the European satellite launch programme. In 1960 the company, along with its parent, would become part of the Hawker Siddeley Group and the decision was taken to merge De Havilland Propellers and the De Havilland Aircraft Company into a single entity. This was known as the de Havilland Aircraft Company and removed the need for de Havilland Holdings which ceased to function. The new join company would continue to operate independently inside the Hawker Siddeley Group until 1963 when a reorganisation transferred the missile and equipment interests that had been de Havilland Propellers into Hawker Siddeley Dynamics.