Racal
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| Public limited company | |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Fate | Acquired by Thomson-CSF |
| Successor | Thales plc |
| Founded | 1950 |
| Founder | Raymond Brown, George Calder Cunningham |
| Defunct | January 2000 |
| Headquarters | Weybridge, United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Sir Ernest Harrison OBE (Chairman) |
Racal Electronics plc was once the third largest British electronics firm.
Listed on the and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including: voice loggers and data recorders; point of sale terminals; laboratory instruments; military electronics, including radio and radar. At its height, it operated throughout 110 countries worldwide and employed over 30,000 people. It was the parent company of Vodafone, before the mobile telephony provider was sold in 1991.
Racal was purchased by Thomson-CSF (now Thales Group) in 2000, thereby giving the French firm access to the lucrative UK defence and armaments market.
Racal was created in 1950 as Racal Ltd, the name being derived from the partners RAymond Brown and George CALder Cunningham.
Ernest Harrison joined the company as employee number 13 as an accountant, but later held the positions of chief buyer, personnel director and contract negotiator.
The first factory was located in Isleworth, west London. On outgrowing this site it moved to Bracknell, Berkshire in 1954, enticed by a 99-year lease at four shillings and sixpence per square foot - and no rent reviews.
Although Racal had won a Royal Navy contract to build and supply a variant of the American Collins Model 51-J Radio Receiver, they were not granted a licence to build these sets by Collins Inc. This meant that Racal had to design and build a radio receiver from scratch. After almost bankrupting the company due to a £40,000 overspend, the result was the 'RA17' - in production from 1955 to at least 1973 - designed in cooperation with Trevor Wadley and utilising his Wadley Loop circuit.
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Wikipedia