Gloster Aircraft
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| Industry | Aviation |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with Armstrong Whitworth (1961) and Avro (1963) |
| Successor | Hawker Siddeley Aviation |
| Founded | 1917 (as Gloucestershire Aircraft Company) |
| Defunct | 1963 |
| Headquarters | Hucclecote, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom |
| Parent | Hawker Aircraft (1934) |
The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963.
Founded as The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Cheltenham it produced fighters during the war. It was renamed as foreigners found 'Gloucestershire' difficult to pronounce. It later became part of the Hawker Siddeley group and the Gloster name disappeared in 1963.
Gloster designed and built several fighters that equipped the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the interwar years including the Gladiator, the RAF's last biplane fighter. The company built most of the wartime production of Hawker Hurricanes and Hawker Typhoons for their parent company Hawker Siddeley while its design office was working on the first British jet aircraft, the E.28/39 experimental aircraft. This was followed by the Meteor, the RAF's first jet-powered fighter and the only Allied jet fighter to be put into service during the Second World War.
The Gloster Aircraft Company Limited was formed in 1917 with the name The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited. Its owners were Hugh Burroughes (1884-1985) and H H Martyn & Co Limited with a 50% share, and Airco the other 50%. On the board were A W Martyn, Burroughes, and George Holt Thomas of Airco. It acquired the aircraft component construction activities that were being carried out by H H Martyn & Co Limited for the war effort in order to build subcontracted work from Airco. H H Martyn were architectural engineers and had produced items such as propellers before moving to whole fuselages for Airco They rented their Sunningend works in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. By the spring of 1918 they were putting out 45 new Bristol Fighter aircraft a week. As orders for aircraft increased, other companies in the Gloucester and Cheltenham district were contracted with work. Where any flying was involved the aircraft were moved to an Air Board aircraft acceptance park at Brockworth seven miles (11 km) away by motor transport. Although Brockworth aerodrome was used by the company it had no hangars until 1921 when it rented part of a hangar from the Air Board.
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