The Airscrew Company
| Industry | Aviation, engineering |
|---|---|
| Fate | Ceased aircraft equipment and laminate manufacture |
| Predecessor | Lang Propeller Co. |
| Successor | AMETEK UK Ltd, Egger UK Ltd |
| Founded | 1923 |
| Defunct | 1990s |
| Headquarters | Addlestone & Weybridge, Surrey, England |
|
Key people
|
J.D.Titler, Dr.H.C.Watts |
| Products | Propellers, fans, laminate products |
The Airscrew Company Ltd (incorporating the Jicwood company) was a British manufacturing company based in Surrey manufacturing propellers.
The Airscrew Company was established in Weybridge, Surrey, England in 1923 when John Dodds Titler bought the assets of Lang, Garnett and Company, otherwise known as the Lang Propeller Company of Riverside Works, Weybridge. Lang Propellers was based at Hamm Moor Lane and at its peak supplied wooden propellers to nearly every aeroplane company in England. Alcock and Brown flew the Atlantic in a Vickers Vimy fitted with Lang propellers; a letter held at Chertsey Museum confirms this and one of these four-bladed propellers survives at Brooklands Museum. The Lang company was absorbed into another aeronautical enterprise and vacated its works in Surrey.
Airscrew became a limited company in 1931, and by 1938 had formed Jicwood Ltd as a joint venture between Itself and Halila, Ltd., of Bush House, London. The nominal capital of £36,000 was taken up between the Airscrew Co. and Halila. The board consisted of Mr. J. D. Titler (chairman), Dr. H. C. Watts (co-designer of the Leitner Watts propeller), Mr. R. Bradfield and Mr. F. T. Swann. Mr. Swann, who was a director of Halila, Ltd., joined the board of The Airscrew Co.(Flight of 9 December 1937)
The organisation employed around 200 staff at a site in Hamm Moor Lane,Addlestone. By the beginning of World War II, the company was also making wooden-bladed ventilation fans and wind tunnels. Jicwood Ltd., the subsidiary company, manufactured fully compressed wood for various purposes. An extremely light sandwich material which consists of expanded rubber between either plywood or a light alloy were also manufactured. Samples of this product 24 ins. sq., weighing 52 ozs., were able to withstand a distributive load of 1 ½ tons when supported at two edges. The properties of this material were those required in aircraft flooring, bomb doors, superstructures and bulkheads for motor torpedo boats.
Wartime production requirements raised staff numbers to nearly 2,000 by 1945, and the company had its own Home Guard platoon, fire brigade and St John's Ambulance sections.
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