- The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd, with works at Stag Lane aerodrome, Edgware, London, was established in 1920 by aircraft designer and pioneer Geoffrey de Havilland and George Holt Thomas, founder of Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd and de Havilland's former employer. The private company was partly financed by Thomas. Despite some successful single- and two-seater military biplane designs, de Havilland decided to focus on the emerging commercial and private aircraft market. In 1921 the firm built a DH37 sporting aircraft for businessman Alan Butler, who subsequently invested heavily in the company and was appointed chairman in 1924. This allowed de Havilland to concentrate on design, whilst Butler ran the business, developing the sales, marketing and production resources. In the 1920s the company expanded its propeller production and established manufacturing facilities in Canada and Australia. In 1925 the company began production of the successful Moth series of light aircraft. Previously de Havilland had matched his aeroplane designs to suitable aero-engines and originally used the Aircraft Disposal Co Cirrus and the Armstrong Siddeley Genet for the Moth. However, in 1926 De Havilland with consultant F B Halford designed the company’s own new light 4-cylinder aero engine, Gipsy. The Gipsy, which was tried out in the D.H.71 Tiger Moth, a racing monoplane, and immediately won a world speed record. It subsequently became the engine for the de Havilland Gipsy Moth and a number of different models of Gipsy engines followed. The company went public in 1928. By 1930 The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd had acquired land at Hatfield which became its main manufacturing facility, although it also used other works, notably at Leavesden and Witney, when it returned to the design and production of military aircraft during the Second World War. In 1940 the company created one of the fastest and most successful fighter bombers of the era, the de Havilland Mosquito. The company acquired Airspeed Ltd in 1940 and in 1944 the growing Engine Division of The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd was hived off as a separate company, The De Havilland Engine Co. In 1951 Airspeed merged fully with The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd. The company’s DH106 Comet, the worlds’ first pressurised jet airliner, launched in 1949, suffered a series of disasters in the early 1950s and, by the time it returned to service in 1958, the impetus had been lost. In 1960 The de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd was acquired by Hawker-Siddeley and became the de Havilland Division of Hawker-Siddeley Aviation Ltd in 1963.
Piston engines: Gipsy I 98hp (1926); Gipsy R 135hp (1927); Ghost 198hp (1928); Gipsy II 108hp (1930); Gipsy IV (1931); Gipsy III 110hp (1932); Gipsy Major (1932); Gipsy Major I srs I 130hp (1934); Gipsy Major I srs II 138hp (1934); Gipsy Major IC (n.d.); Gipsy Major IF (n.d.); Gypsy Six srs I 200hp (1934); Gypsy Six R 220hp (1934); Gypsy Six srs II 205hp (1936); Gypsy King I 405/425hp (1937); Gypsy XII 405/425hp (1938);Gypsy Queen I 205hp (n.d.); Gypsy Queen II 210hp (1939); Gypsy Queen III 200hp (1940); Gypsy Queen IV (1941).
Turbojet engines: de Havilland Goblin, originally H.1 (1942).
C Martin Sharp, D H: A history of De Havilland (1982); A J Jackson, De Havilland aircraft since 1909 (1987); Maurice Allward, The De Havilland Aircraft Company (1996); Janic Geelen, Magnificent enterprise: History of de Havilland Aircraft Company, vol.2 1926-39 (2004).
Various records 1920-63.
Memorandum and articles of association n.d. [L001-2416: 6498]; certificate of incorporation 1920 [L001-2416: 6496]; directors’ and general meeting minute books 1937-55 [L001-2416: 6495-96, 6521]; extraordinary general meeting papers 1953-55 [6523, 6525]; stockholder papers 1960-64 [L001-2416: 6522]; papers re company reorganisation 1955-56, 1960-63 [L001-2416: 6523, 6525]; patent licences 1923-47 [L001-2416: 6524]; papers re trademarks 1953, 1960-63 [L001-2416: 6522-23]; accounts 1920-46 [L001-2416: 6490]; contract costs Mosquito Hornet Chipmunk on Comet 1945-50 [L001-2416: 6521]; agency agreements 1929-45 [L001-2416: 6524]; files re aircraft sales 1934-37, 1946-57 [L001-2416: 6521, 6523-24]; agreements, correspondence and schedules of deeds c.1929 [L001-2416: 6524]; SARO companies, correspondence and reports 1959-61 [L001-2416: 6523]; agreements: de Havilland Canada 1928-29, capital assistance from Ministry of Supply 1952-56, Ferranti and Pegasus computer copyrights 1959, sale of shares in de Havilland Engine Co Ltd 1961, Hunting Aircraft, Fairey Co and Airco 1959-62 [L001-2416: 6524, 6498]; correspondence: 1952, accidents and defects c.1953-54, Canada 1960-63 [L001-2416: 6522, 6523]; loss claims 1953-57 [L001-2416: 6523]; award claim re hollow aircraft structures 1953-54 [L001-2416: 6523]; papers re leases and licences 1943, 1949, 1954-56 [L001-2416: 6523, 6498]; correspondence re lease of premises at New York airport 1954 [L001-2416: 6523]; stationery 1960-63 [L001-2416: 6523].
De Havilland Holdings Ltd: memorandum and articles of association 1955 [L001-2416: 6498]; certificates of incorporation and change of name 1955, 1960 [L001-2416: 6498, L173]; directors’ and general meeting minutes and index 1955-64 [L001-2416: 6495-97]; seal book 1949-61 [L001-2416: 6496]; allotment of shares, annual return and balance sheet 1963 [L001-2416: 6496]; directors’ shareholdings 1953 [L001-2416: 6522]; directors' waivers of remuneration 1964 [L001-2416: 6496]; mortgages, debentures etc. papers 1955 [L001-2416: 6525]; papers re amalgamation with Vickers and English Electric 1959-60 [L001-2416: 6525]; reorganisation share transfers, resignations of directors etc 1962 [L001-2416: 6522]; papers re reorganisation 1955-60 [L001-2416: 6523, 6525, 6498]; papers re merger with Hawker Siddeley 1959-60 [L001-2416: 6525]; agreements re purchase of shares in Saunders Roe Ltd 1956-59 [L001-2416: 6498]; various operational legal agreements 1955-62 [L001-2416: 6498]; papers re proposed association with other companies 1958-59 [L001-2416: 6525]; probate registers 1946-62 [L001-2416: 6495]; papers re Saunders-Roe trade mark 1959-60 [L001-2416: 6523]; drawings for DH 9 n.d. [MAC10251-256]; type records for the Comet 4 1958-61 [AC98/14]; blank forms re aircraft inspection c.1930s [A1630]; drawing office handbook c.1958 [B3521]; papers: Sir Geoffrey de Havilland n.d. [AC96/52-53], Captain Hubert Broad n.d. [AC76/20], Henry Shaw 1938-62 [A558-A589, B1763, B1772]; permit to H Shaw to use amenities at Hatfield aerodrome 1934 [A442]; letter re results of 1927 King's Cup race entry 1929 [AC71/11/5]; personnel statistics n.d. [L001-2416: 6497]; application form, de Havilland aeronautical school n.d. [DC73/40/1]; project brochures submitted to Air Ministry and successors n.d. [AC94/27/317, 319-320, 338-355, 459]; film incl promotional films 1930s-50s [FC95/170-286]; war history re propellers n.d. [B3838]; house magazine, D H Gazette 1937-39, 1948-61 [Library].
Papers of A V Cleaver re development of aircraft propellers 1940-47 [cle]; operation and maintenance handbooks: Ghost 50 1953-54 [archive room bay 1, hub 58], Gipsy Major 1, 1C, 1D, 1F, 1G, 1H and 7 1952 [nal hub 58], Gipsy Major series 10 1957 [archive room bay 1]; pamphlets: Gipsy engines 1945 [5e pamphlet], Gipsy Major 10 1945 [5e pamphlet], Gipsy Queen series 70 1947 [m historic pamphlets 26], Ghost jet propulsion unit 1950 [f pamphlets 42], Ghost engine in Comet 1953 [5e pamphlet], summaries re Sprite, Super Sprite & Spectre rocket engines 1953 [m historic pamphlets 26], Sprite assisted take off rocket 1953 [basement pamphlet], Spectre rocket engine 1957 [basement pamphlet], Gipsy Major series 10 1957 [archive room bay 1], Gnome, Gyron Junior, Double Spectre, Gipsy Major and Gipsy Queen 1960 [m historic pamphlets 26], Gnome 1961 [5e pamphlet], Gnome engine gearboxes 1961 [5e pamphlet]; maintenance information re Gipsy Queen II 210hp 1949 [hub 69 top]; general statement re Gipsy Queen 30 Mk II 1950 [m historic pamphlets 26]; advanced draft copy of AP4665A vol.1 re Spectre assisted take off unit 1958 [basement pamphlet]; staff magazines: de Havilland propeller division 1940-46 [Cleaver Collection], de Havilland Gazette 1926-30 [B4], 1937-61 [B4 & B39, S6], Enterprise 1949-58 [B5, pamphlet collection].
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
Planning application to Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, re Swallowfields factory 1966-77 [UDC/21/77/1394]; postcard of Hatfield works, late 20th cent. [DE/X1025/2/37/4].
Staff club gala day programme 1960; company brochure 1961 [Donald Middleton Collection, X/192A/1].
Bulletins, newsletters, trade journals, manuals and maintenance reports 1920s-70s [Trade Literature Collection].
Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum
Manuals: Gipsy Six engine n.d. [2002/49.3], Gipsy Major 10 engine n.d. [2014/128.3], Gipsy Queen 30 engine n.d. [2014/128.4]; operation, maintenance and overhaul handbook re Gypsy Queen series 1947 [2025/38.1]; care and maintenance handbook re 200hp Gypsy Six engine 1938 [2025/38.4].