Handley Page Aircraft Company
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| Industry | Aviation |
|---|---|
| Fate | Voluntary liquidation |
| Successor | Scottish Aviation |
| Founded | 17 June 1909 |
| Defunct | March 1970 |
| Headquarters | Cricklewood, Radlett |
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Key people
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Frederick Handley Page, Hedley Hazelden, Charles Joy, Gustav Lachmann, Reginald Stafford, George Volkert, |
| Subsidiaries | Handley Page Transport (until 1924) |
Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909 as the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist in 1970. The company, based at Radlett Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, was noted for its pioneering role in aviation history and for producing heavy bombers and large airliners.
Frederick Handley Page first experimented with and built several biplanes and monoplanes at premises in Woolwich, Fambridge and Barking Creek. His company, founded on 17 June 1909, became the first British public company to build aircraft.
In 1912, Handley Page established an aircraft factory at Cricklewood after moving from Barking. Aircraft were built there, and flown from the company's adjacent airfield known as Cricklewood Aerodrome, which was later used by Handley Page Transport. The factory was later sold off to Oswald Stoll and converted into Britain's largest film studios, Cricklewood Studios.
During the First World War, Handley Page produced a series of heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the German Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the Admiralty to produce a "bloody paralyser of an aeroplane". These aircraft included the O/100 of 1915, the O/400 of 1918 and the four-engined V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 had only just entered operational service as the war ended in 1918.
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