FPT Industries

FPT Industries was formed in 1939 as Fireproof Tanks Ltd (commonly known as FPT) in the boardroom of Airspeed Ltd at Portsmouth Airport in response to an Air Ministry requirement for the development and manufacture of self-sealing fuel tanks for the impending war with Germany.

The intention of the board of directors was to commence work on the manufacture of self-sealing fuel tanks for aircraft entering service with the Royal Air Force, the highest priority being the Fairey Battle single engined bomber which although obsolete was regarded as a front line bomber by the Royal Air Force.

The early tanks were of welded aluminium structure with the sealing material applied as a composite layer on the outside. A major problem with welded aluminium tanks is weld decay and metal fatigue in the seams due to vibration in service. In response to this, the company started to develop flexible fuel bladders in the early 1940s. One of the earliest examples of this was a composite flexible fuel bladder with self-sealing coatings for the Supermarine Spitfire MkIX.

During the war years and into the emerging jet age, Fireproof Tanks Ltd developed new technologies in rubber formulation, moulding and sheet production in order to remain a leader in other specialist markets such as the creation of hovercraft skirts. Working with Saunders Roe at Cowes on the Isle of Wight, the company became so important to the hovercraft industry that the now renamed FPT Industries was bought by the British Hovercraft Corporation in 1966.

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