- Fairey Aviation Ltd
- Hayes, London
- The Fairey Aviation Co Ltd was founded in 1915 by Charles Richard Fairey and engineer Ernest Tips, both formerly of Short Brothers. The company, based in Hayes, Middlesex, initially built aircraft designed by other manufacturers under licence or as sub-contractor. The first aircraft designed and built by Fairey was the Campania, a patrol seaplane, in 1917. Aircraft production was primarily undertaken in Hayes, with flight testing at initially at Northolt aerodrome and later at Great West, Heston and White Waltham aerodromes. The company went into voluntary liquidation in 1921 and was restructured as Fairey Aviation Ltd. The firm was re-registered as The Fairey Aviation Co Ltd in 1925 and became a public company in 1929. Charles Fairey had become interested in aero engines after seeing the Schneider Trophy race in 1923 and negotiated a license for use of the design of the winning US Navy’s Curtiss D.12A engine. 50 imported models became the Fairey Felix. In 1931 Capt. A Graham Forsyth, a former pilot who had worked with Wolseley and the Air Ministry, became the company’s chief engine designer and developed a number of Fairey engines although the company never secured any government support. However, it had established a core business as a supplier of naval aircraft and bombers and in 1931 formed a manufacturing subsidiary in Belgium, Avions Fairey SA. An additional large UK factory, that had been National Aircraft Factory no.2 during the First World War, was acquired in Stockport in 1935. Associated flight test facilities were established at Manchester’s Ringway airport. Before and during the Second World War, Fairey Aviation was sub-contracted to manufacture fighters and bombers in large numbers. After the war the company built naval aircraft and airliners and, as a sub-contractor, jet fighters. In 1959 the company was restyled Fairey Aviation Ltd, a new wholly-owned subsidiary of a diversified holding company, The Fairey Co Ltd, that brought together all of the group’s aircraft and allied manufacturing. In 1960, as part of the government’s drive to rationalise the UK aviation industry and ensure its demand for military helicopters was met by a single supplier, Fairey Aviation Ltd was acquired by Westland Aircraft Ltd.
- Felix (Curtiss D.12) (1926); Fairey V-12 Prince I 650/670hp and Super Prince II 720hp (n.d.); Fairey H-165 Prince 3 1,540hp (1939); Fairey P-24 Monarch (1939).
H A Taylor, Fairey aircraft since 1915 (1989).
General arrangement of Fairey Swordfish (2) 1935, 1940 [oversize plans]; data and methods used for analysis of Rotodyne performance and economics 1954 [f historic pamphlets 65]; consultant report no.1359 re variable flap gear 1922 [ogi/7/49]; notes on the development of pressure jet system of helicopter propulsion 1957 [f historic pamphlet 34]; flight development of the Rotodyne 1958 [2b pamphlet]; pamphlets: Fairey aircraft types 1930 [m historic pamphlets 29], Fairey high performance service aircraft 1930 [f historic pamphlets 58], Fairey IIIF aircraft 1932 [f historic pamphlets 58]; Fairey metal airscrew 1933 [basement pamphlet], Firefly IIM aircraft 1935 [f historic pamphlets 35], Fairey Gannet 1954 [basement pamphlet], Fairey Rotodyne 40-44 passenger helicopter 1954 [f historic pamphlets 35], Fairey's four decades 1955 [17e pamphlet], article re the family of Faireys 1955 [17e pamphlet], five aspects of air power 1955 [M historic pamphlets 67], Fairey Delta 2 1955 [M historic pamphlet 67], Gannet 1955 [M historic pamphlets 67], Jindicik pilotless target 1956 [basement pamphlet], Fairey's vertical take-off transport of the Rotodyne 1957 [2e pamphlets], flight development of Rotodyne 1958 [2b pamphlet]; scrapbook 1915-55 [M historic pamphlets 67]; films: Fairey Gyrodyne 1956 [NAL-906-028], Gyrodyne at 1st Farnborough air show 1948 [NAL-906-024 Gyrodyne-1]; book re Fairey high performance service aircraft 1930 [f historic pamphlets 58]; article re design survey of the Gyrodyne 1949 [m historic pamphlets 67]; various photographs re Gyrodyne (17) 1948-49 [M101615-25, 27, 38, 53, M101568, M100924, M101176]; company brochure re Rotodyne passenger helicopter 1957 [f historic pamphlets 35]; brochures and marketing materials 1933-59 [archive room]; publications: Fairey Affairs 1946-54 [B5], Fairey Review 1958-60 [B5].
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Gas turbine collaboration committee: noise sub-committee papers, printed research, notes, diagrams and letters, 1958-60 [DBL/1/1]; Captain Forsyth papers re noise suppression experiments 1952-53 [DBL/1/4].
Directors’ meeting minutes 1929-47, 1949-70; annual reports and balance sheets (microfilm copies) 1929-30, 1938, 1958, 1961 [M10,176]; drawings, photographs, type records and press cuttings n.d. [AC73/30]; reports on Prince aero engine and responses to Air Ministry aircraft specifications (microfilm copies) c.1925-50s [M10,177-10,179, M10,199-10, 287]; papers re testing of a high lift device 1940 [B2452]; report and correspondence re P24 aero-engine 1941 [B3744]; papers re sale of Fairey Battles to Egypt 1937-38 [AC94/44/1-8]; project brochures submitted to Air Ministry and successors 1950s-70s [AC94/27/238-253, 460]; film of various aircraft 1950s; house magazine, Fairey Affairs 1945-54 [Library].
Papers re company establishment n.d.; correspondence 1920s-50s; patents n.d.; technical drawings n.d.; technical manuals n.d.; C R Fairey’s press-cuttings books 1930s-40s; promotional material n.d.; staff magazines n.d.; photographs of aircraft, engines, wind-tunnel, factories, assembly shops and staff n.d.
Marketing brochures, specifications and press releases c.1950s [Trade Literature Collection].
Museum of Berkshire Aviation Trust
Various records n.d.
Employee journal, The Battle, vol.1, no.1 1938 [YA2004.11].
Ashurst Morris Crisp & Co, solicitors, client papers re Fairey Aviation, incl annual reports, correspondence, directors’ reports and informal minutes, service agreements, papers re Waltham airfield and overseas subsidiaries 1943-57 [ LMA/4537/C].