Gloucestershire Aircraft Company


Genealogy (Gloucesterhire Aircraft Company)
1917 | Gloucestershire Aircraft Company |
1926 | Gloster Aircraft Company |
1960 | Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Limited |
1963 | Hawker Siddeley Aviation |
1977 | British Aerospace |
1999 | BAE Systems |
Gloster Aircraft Company

At the outbreak of World War II, Gloster Aircraft Company had little in the way of modern designs and so undertook the manufacture of Hawker aircraft. During the first 12 months of the conflict, Gloster built over 1,000 Hawker Hurricanes, delivering the last of the 2,750 it constructed in 1942. Production then switched to Hawker Typhoons for the RAF of which it built all but 17 of the 3,317 aircraft produced.
Although deeply involved with the war effort, Gloster is probably best remembered for its involvement with a new technology, that of the turbo-jet engine invented by Sir Frank Whittle.
On 15th May 1941, the first test flight of the Gloster E28/39 took off from Cranwell (although during early taxying trials at Brockworth it is also claimed it became airborne). This aircraft led the way for the introduction of the Gloster Meteor, the only Allied jet-fighter to be used in World War II. Production continued post-war with more than 3,800 being built.

In 1952, the company turned to delta-winged aircraft with the Gloster Javelin although the restricted facilities at Brockworth meant that aircraft were finally completed and flown from nearby RAF Moreton Valence.
1961 saw Gloster Aircraft Company merge with Sir WG Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Limited to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Limited. In 1963 this was changed once again to become the Avro Whitworth Division of Hawker Siddeley Aviation and so finally, the Gloster name disappeared from aviation.
Brockworth was closed in 1964 although BAE Systems still retains premises in nearby Hucclecote.
Genealogy
Gloucestershire Aircraft Company | |
1926 | Gloster Aircraft Company |
1960 | Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Limited |
1963 | Hawker Siddeley Aviation |
1977 | British Aerospace |
1999 | BAE Systems |
Aircraft
1921 | Mars | 1927 | Goldfinch |
1921 | Sparrowhawk | 1927 | Gambet |
1922 | Mars VI Nighthawk | 1928 | Gnatsnapper |
1922 | Mars X Nightjar | 1929 | Gloster VI |
1923 | Gannet | 1929 | A.S.31 Survey |
1923 | Grebe | 1932 | TC.33 |
1923 | Grouse | 1932 | TSR.38 |
1924 | Gorcock | 1934 | Gauntlet |
1924 | Gloster II | 1934 | Gladiator |
1925 | Gloster III | 1937 | F.5/34 |
1925 | Gamecock | 1939 | F.9/37 |
1925 | Guan | 1941 | E.28/39 |
1925 | Goral | 1944 | Meteor / Meteor F8 Prone Pilot |
1926 | Goring | 1948 | E.1/44 |
1927 | Gloster IV | 1954 | Javelin |