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Further Reading

UK Aerospace Industry

The American and European aviation industries began to develop within a few years of each other, but Europe took the first formal steps to establish dedicated aircraft companies in the early decades of the 20th century. During this time, there was a shift from aircraft designers, builders, and pilots all being the same people to having entrepreneurs who ran the business and built the planes and others who flew them.

In England, the Short brothers-Horace, Albert, and Hugh, three experienced balloon-makers, established the first British airplane manufacturing company in 1908. After two unsuccessful planes, Albert obtained a license from Wilbur Wright in February 1909 to manufacture six Wright airplanes in Britain. This order made the Short company the first to produce a series of planes, rather than one of a model.

The brothers went on to design and build their own aircraft. Horace designed their first successful airplane, the Short biplane No. 2. In 1913, they produced a seaplane with folding wings that allowed the plane to be parked on a ship. In 1915, the Seaplane 184 was the first aircraft to sink a ship with a torpedo, when it sank a Turkish merchant ship in the Dardanelles. This bomber saw service until better heavy bombers came along and the Short was reassigned to reconnaissance duties. They also built a small number of land-based bombers and what some claim to be the first twin-engine plane to fly-the Triple-Twin biplane.

A.V. Roe & Co. was another early British entry into the aviation business. Established in 1910, by Alliot Verdon Roe, the company (which soon took the name Avro) built some of the first planes with enclosed fuselages and celluloid windows for the pilot. The 1912 Avro F was the world's first cabin aircraft to fly.

The company went on to build the 504 series, beginning in 1913. This World War I plane has been ranked as one of the greatest planes of the era, seeing duty as a fighter, trainer, bomber, and reconnaissance plane and continuing in use as a civilian training plane until the 1930s. It could fly at more than 80 miles per hour (129 kilometers per hour) and it set a British altitude record of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters).

The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (soon known as Bristol Aeroplane Company) was formed in February 1910 by Sir George White. Bristol's first successful aircraft became known as the Bristol Boxkite. The plane was a great commercial success and remained in production until 1914. In all, 130 were built.

Also in Britain, the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough evolved from His Majesty's Balloon Factory. When it became apparent that fixed-wing powered craft would replace lighter-than-air craft, the balloon factory, under the direction of Mervyn O'Gorman, began constructing heavier-than-air craft. The factory had no funds but relied on donations of used aircraft. In 1910, it managed to acquire a wrecked Blériot monoplane with a tractor propeller from the Army. O'Gorman and his designers, F.M. Green and Geoffrey de Havilland, who would establish his own aircraft company in 1920, "repaired" and transformed the craft into the S.E.1 single-seat biplane with a pusher engine. Not surprisingly, the plane crashed soon after takeoff.

Its next plane worked better and lasted almost three years. It began as a Voisin pusher biplane that Farnborough acquired in 1911 and ended up as the B.E.1 tractor biplane. The B.E.2 appeared early in 1912. It was the first British aircraft to reach France at the outbreak of World War I. First used for reconnaissance, it was used in combat after a machine gun was added. The plane was difficult to maneuver swiftly, which made it a target for the "Fokker Scourge" of 1915-16 and "Bloody April" of 1917. More than 3,200 B.E.2 aircraft were built and many were used as trainers after the war. Farnborough also produced the B.S.1 in 1912, which was the first single-seat reconnaissance plane and predecessor to every future scout and fighter plane.

Another British company, Sopwith Aviation Co., Ltd., got its start during this time. Incorporated in 1912 by Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, it started by rebuilding and modifying aircraft. Although the company was known mostly for traditional airplanes, the first plane it built was the Bat Boat, one of the world's first amphibious airplanes and the first in Great Britain. Sopwith built several aircraft for World War I, including the Pup, an important pursuit aircraft, the 1-1/2 Strutter, and the Triplane. But its most famous plane and most important was the Sopwith F.1 Camel, which was regarded as the finest British fighter of the war although difficult to fly. It was known as the adversary of the German "Red Baron," and scored more victories against German aircraft than any other Allied plane in the war. The company prospered during the war, but faltered during the poor post-war market and was dissolved in 1920.

The peace treaty that ended World War I prohibited the manufacture of military aircraft in Germany. Nevertheless, several German aircraft firms were founded during the 1920's. They included the famous Heinkel and Messerschmitt companies. In the mid-1930's, Heinkel, Messerschmitt, and other German firms, such as Dornier and Junkers, secretly made hundreds of bombers and fighters for the German air force. On Sept. 1, 1939, German dive bombers attacked Poland, and World War II began. One European country after another fell to the Germans. Finally, the United Kingdom was left nearly alone to fight off the German air force. British aircraft companies, such as Avro, de Havilland, Handley Page, Hawker, and Supermarine, quickly increased their production of warplanes.

In 1937, British inventor Frank Whittle built the first successful jet engine. The first jet airplanes were developed for military use. Germany flew the first jet aircraft in 1939. By 1942, both the United Kingdom and the United States had developed experimental jet planes for military use. After World War II, aircraft manufacturers began the development of jet airliners. In 1952, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), now British Airways, started jet passenger flights with de Havilland Comets. But the flights were stopped after several Comets exploded in the air. Investigators discovered serious flaws in the plane's structure. De Havilland engineers then designed an improved Comet. In 1958, BOAC used the new Comets to begin jet passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean.

Beginning in the 1950's, several large aerospace companies were formed by mergers. Internationalization became an important trend in the aviation industry beginning in the 1960's. The term refers to cooperative manufacturing programs in which firms from different nations share research, development, and production costs. The consortium formed by the British and French to build the Concorde SST was an early program of this type. Some U.S. firms have formed partnerships with foreign companies to manufacture European-designed aircraft in the United States. For example, during the 1980's, McDonnell Douglas produced the British-designed Harrier -- a V/STOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing plane) -- in partnership with British Aerospace.

The UK aerospace industry is the third largest in Europe, with 2009 exports of $26.4 (in 2009 dollars). UK aerospace sector growth is due primarily to the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market, which is driven by increasing demands for air travel. The UK is home to several of the world's leading aerospace companies, including BAE Systems PLC and Rolls-Royce PLC. In addition, U.S. aerospace companies such as Boeing, Honeywell, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, and Lockheed Martin also maintain a presence in the UK. According to the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), UK aerospace companies directly employ 112,585 people, plus 40,091 people located in the United States.

One of the primary challenges facing the UK aerospace industry is the impact of an appreciating British currency against the U.S. dollar which has compelled some UK aerospace producers, such as Rolls-Royce, to move production and other activities abroad to dollar-denominated locations. Further appreciation of the British pound will likely expand and accelerate the trend of outward mobilization across the UK aerospace industry. Other challenges facing the UK aerospace industry include consolidation of SME manufacturers in order to enable them to better compete globally.

Individual member states of the European Union are free to shape their own aerospace policies. Recognizing the advantage of a unified aerospace policy that would facilitate enhanced competition, particularly with the United States, the EU has taken steps to strengthen the coherence of its regional aerospace market.