Reid and Sigrist

Reid and Sigrist was an English engineering company based at New Malden in Surrey. It later acquired sites at Desford and Braunstone in Leicestershire. Initially it developed and manufactured aircraft instrumentation and pilot selection aids but later diversified into flying training and aircraft design. During World War II the company was part of the Civilian Repair Organisation repairing, rebuilding and converting warplanes at the Desford site. Post-war it continued to manufacture aviation instruments and guidance systems but also diversified further to produce cameras and optical instruments. In 1954 the company was purchased and taken-over by the Decca Record Company.

Reid and Sigrist Ltd was formed in February 1928 as a private company with £4000 capital. The company was set up by Squadron-Leader (ret.) George Hancock Reid DFC and Frederick Sigrist, a joint managing director of H.G. Hawker Engineering Ltd, that would later become Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Ltd. The new company acquired the rights to the designs of Reid's previous company, Reid Manufacturing & Construction Company Ltd, which had designed and made precision aircraft instrumentation, most notably an aircraft turn and slip indicator, that Reid had invented and developed, and a pilot testing apparatus.

The company was initially located at The Athanaeum Works, The Vale in Hampstead, North London before moving to Canbury Park Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey and finally, in 1935, relocating to a new, purpose built factory at Shannon Corner, Kingston-by-Pass, New Malden, Surrey. As the company expanded and diversified further sites were acquired at Desford Aerodrome and Braunstone in Leicestershire. The company ceased to exist as a separate entity when it was bought by the Decca Record Company at the end of 1954.

Initially the main business focus for the company was the development and manufacture of aircraft instrumentation. An important product was a type of gyroscopic turn and slip indicator invented and developed by George Reid. A later version of this device was incorporated into the standard blind-flying panel adopted by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1937. A further development was the Gyorizon which combined the functions of a turn indicator and artificial horizon in one instrument. The design and manufacture of gyroscopic instrumentation and guidance systems continued after World War II and Reid and Sigrist 3-axis gyroscopes were used in the, RAE designed, guidance system for the Black Knight rocket.

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