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Aircraft Manufacturing Company - Airco - was established at The Hyde in Hendon, north London, England during 1912 by George Holt Thomas. Geoffrey de Havilland joined two years later as the chief designer, on leaving his post with the Royal Aircraft Factory. His designs for Airco were marked with his initials "DH". The first great success was a pusher engine fighter DH.2 of 1916, that helped to defeat the "Fokker scourge" of 1915. More than 2,280 examples of the DH.6 trainer were built. The DH.4 and DH.9 were important light bombers of World War I - these types, and the DH.9A, a developed version that served for many years with the postwar Royal Air Force, formed the basis of early de Havilland designed airliners - including the company's DH.16 and DH.18 types which were operated by Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, the first airline established in the United Kingdom, that was also owned by George Holt Thomas.

Following the cessation of hostilities the large number of war-surplus machines, sharp fluctuations in business confidence and the government's failure, unlike those of USA and France, to provide any form of support Airco and BSA announced on 1 March 1920 Airco had merged with Birmingham Small Arms Company. Within days BSA discovered Airco was in a far more serious financial state than George Holt Thomas had revealed. Thomas was immediately dropped from his new seat on the BSA board and all BSA's new acquisitions were placed in the hands of a liquidator. BSA failed to pay a dividend for the following four years. Using Airco's aircraft bought from the liquidator BSA established under Daimler Hire Limited, Frank Searle, Daimler Airway and Daimler Air Hire. The group's assets he required were bought by Geoffrey de Havilland to form de Havilland Aircraft Company in 1920.

List of Airco Aircraft

• DH.1 (1915) — Two-seat biplane fighter with single pusher propeller
• DH.2 (1915) — One-seat biplane fighter with single pusher propeller
• DH.3 (1916) — Two-engine biplane bomber. Two prototypes only built; formed basis for later DH.10 design
• DH.4 (1916) — Two-seat biplane day bomber with single tractor propeller
• DH.5 (1916) — One-seat biplane fighter with single tractor propeller
• DH.6 (1916) — Two-seat biplane training aircraft with single tractor propeller
• DH.9 (1917) — Two-seat biplane day bomber with single tractor propeller.
  • DH.9A
  • DH.9C
• DH.8 (1918) — Development of DH.9 with more powerful engine and greater wingspan
• DH.10 Amiens (1918) — Two-engine biplane bomber. First prototype used pusher propeller; second prototype and production aircraft used tractor propellers. Manufactured by Daimler.
• DH.11 Oxford (1919) Variant of DH.10 with radial engines. One prototype built; not produced
• DH.16 (1919) — Variant of DH.9A with cabin for four passengers. Used as airliner
• DH.18 (1920) — Single-engine biplane airliner. Cabin for eight passengers

Airco DH121/ Hawker Siddeley Trident project

In July 1956 British European Airways (BEA) issued a requirement for a medium-haul aircraft to replace their Vickers Viscount on their longer European routes with a jet-powered aircraft. Several designs were returned for this role, such as the Bristol 200, the Avro 740, the Vickers VC11 and De Havilland's Airco consortium DH.121. The DH.121 which would see service as the Hawker Siddeley Trident was selected as the winner in 1958.

The DH.121 was the first "tri-jet" design, the designers felt this offered the ideal tradeoff between economy and takeoff safety in case of an engine failure. The aircraft resembled a smaller DH Comet with three engines, including a tail design similar to the de Havilland Comet, as opposed to the T-tail later used. With the engines clustered at the rear as in the Sud Caravelle, which De Havilland's had also contributed design work, the wing was left free from engine mounts and was designed with a speed of over 600 mph being the goal. The DH121 was to be powered by 13,790 lbf (61.34 kN) Rolls-Royce Medway engines, have a gross weight of 150,000 lb (63,000 kg), a range of 2,070 mi (3,330 km), and seat 111 in a two-class layout. BEA felt the design was too large for their existing routes, and they had de Havilland redesign the aircraft to their new requirements. The result was an aircraft powered by much smaller Rolls-Royce Spey 505 engines, with a gross weight of 105,000 lb (48,000 kg),and a range of 930 miles (1,500 km), and seating for just 97 people. Other design changes included the use of the T-tail , as well as a new nose design, these changes made it look very different from the Comet-like original version. In 1958 it was confirmed by the British Government that it had given approval for British European Airways to conclude a contract with the Airco consortium for 24 DH.121 aircraft. At a cost about £29 million, for delivery between 1964 and 1966. 67½ per cent of the financial risk was to have been borne by de Havilland, 22½ per cent by Hunting Aircraft, 10 per cent by Fairey Aviation. The total cost of the installation and development of the engines was to be met by Rolls-Royce. Production facilities were available at Christchurch, at Hatfield, at Chester, and at Portsmouth; additional production facilities were available through Hunting Aircraft and Fairey Aviation at Luton and Hayes. However the AIRCO consortium which would also have included subcontracting support from Handley Page and Saunders-Roe failed to materialise and instead de Havilland was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley group in 1960, with the aircraft becoming the HS 121 Trident series.

Notes

1. The Times, Monday, Mar 01, 1920; pg. 14; Issue 42347
2. Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior R. P. T. Davenport-Hines 1984 Cambridge University Press

References

v t e Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
Economy of the United Kingdom Manufacturing in the United Kingdom
companies	current AD Aerospace Airbus UK Airbus Defence and Space Surrey Satellite Technology AirTanker Services Babcock International BAE Systems Military Air Solutions Eurofighter GmbH (33%) MBDA (37.5% as MBDA UK) BBA Aviation Boeing Defence UK British Airways Engineering Britten-Norman Chemring Group Cobham Technical Services Draken Europe Dunlop Aircraft Tyres Europa Aircraft General Dynamics UK GE Aviation Systems GFS Projects GKN Hybrid Air Vehicles IRVIN-GQ Leonardo AgustaWestland Finmeccanica UK Ltd Lockheed Martin UK Marshall Aerospace Martin-Baker Meggitt Qinetiq Rolls-Royce Rotol Safran Landing Systems Selex ES Short Brothers Skyrora Swift Aircraft Telespazio VEGA Thales Air Defence Thales Optronics TUI Airways Ultra Electronics defunct ADC Aircraft Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes ABC Motors Air Navigation and Engineering Company Airco The Airscrew Company Airship Industries Airspeed Airwork Services Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Arrow Aircraft Auster Austin Motor Company Aviation Traders Avro Beagle Aircraft William Beardmore and Company Blackburn Aircraft Boulton & Paul Boulton Paul Aircraft Bristol Aeroplane Company British Aerial Transport British Aerospace British Aircraft Company British Aircraft Corporation British Aircraft Manufacturing BTR Aerospace Central Aircraft Company Chilton Aircraft Chrislea Aircraft Clayton & Shuttleworth Comper Aircraft Company Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft Dart Aircraft de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School Propellers Desoutter Aircraft Company Dowty Group Dunlop Standard Aerospace ED Abbott Edgar Percival Aircraft Elliotts of Newbury English Electric Euravia Fairey Aviation Company Fane Aircraft Company Ferranti Folland Aircraft Foster, Wikner Aircraft Garland Aircraft Company General Aircraft General Electric Company Gloster Aircraft Company Grahame-White Handley Page Hants and Sussex Aviation Hawker Aircraft Hawker Siddeley Heston Aircraft Company Hewlett & Blondeau Hordern-Richmond Hunting Aircraft Kingsbury Aviation Lakes Flying Company Lindstrand Technologies Luton Aircraft M. B. Arpin & Co. Marconi Company Electronic Systems Martinsyde Matra Marconi Space Miles Aircraft Moss Brothers Aircraft D. Napier & Son Nash & Thompson National Aircraft Factory No. 2 Nieuport & General Aircraft Norman Thompson Flight Company Parnall Parnall & Sons Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot Lang Propellers Reaction Engines Reid and Sigrist Rollason Aircraft and Engines Royal Aircraft Establishment Saunders-Roe Scottish Aviation Seaplane Experimental Station SELEX Galileo SELEX Sistemi Integrati Siddeley-Deasy Sopwith Aviation Company Spartan Aircraft Supermarine Vickers Vickers-Armstrongs Westland Aircraft Westland Helicopters J. Samuel White
government and regulatory bodies	Civil Aviation Authority Defence Electronics and Components Agency Defence Science and Technology Laboratory European Aviation Safety Agency
related topics	ADS Group Farnborough International Airshow NATS Holdings NDI UK ParcAberporth Royal Aeronautical Society Royal International Air Tattoo Society of British Aerospace Companies
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• Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom
• De Havilland
• Companies established in 1912