Parnall Aircraft

Parnall was a British aircraft manufacturer, that evolved from a wood-working company before the First World War to a significant designer of military and civil aircraft into the 1940s. It was based in the west of England and was originally known as George Parnall & Co. Ltd.

In 1916, the Bristol based Parnall & Sons shopfitters started to manufacture aircraft at the Colliseum Works at Park Row in Bristol. During the First World War, the skilled staff were moved to sites around the city and in neighbouring South Gloucestershire producing planes to their own designs and, under contract, those of other companies.

In 1919, the aircraft business was split from the parent company Parnall & Sons as George Parnall and Company. In the 1920s, aircraft manufacture was centralised at a factory in Yate close to an airfield used by the Royal Flying Corps. In the 1930s, gun turrets for bomber aircraft were produced. The site was a strategic target for Luftwaffe bombing and during 1941, over fifty people were killed during the raids.

In 1935, Parnall Aircraft Limited was formed when George Parnall and Company amalgamated with the Hendy Aircraft Company and Nash and Thompson Limited. After the Second World War as aircraft component manufacture reduced, domestic appliances were built at the site. To reflect this move away from aviation the company changed its name to Parnall (Yate) Limited in 1946.

The Parnall Scout was a prototype single-seat anti-airship wooden biplane fighter aircraft developed in the 1910s. It was too heavy and slow and never went into production.

The Parnall Panther was a carrier-based wooden, single-bay biplane spotter and reconnaissance aircraft designed by Harold Bolas, who had joined Parnall and Sons after leaving the Admiralty's Air Department. It had a 230 hp Bentley BR2 rotary engine. Following contractual disputes production was transferred to the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

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