Airbus Design and Manufacturing in Manchester

1960s 1970s

In July 1967 agreement was reached to increase Aviation technology cooperation between European nations, and "for the joint development and production of an airbus". Under the workshare plan France would produce the aircraft's cockpit, control systems, and parts of the fuselage, Germany would produce most of the fuselage sections and in the UK, Hawker Siddeley Aviation (HSA) would provide the wings.

Twenty months later in April 1969 Britain pulled out of the project. Sir Arnold Alexander Hall was the Managing Director of Hawker Siddeley and he decided that his company would remain in the project but as a favoured sub-contractor, developing and manufacturing the wings.

Airbus Industrie was formed in July 1969 and launched the project now known as Airbus A300B. In the UK the work was spread across many HSA sites with Hatfield leading the wing design and Chester becoming the prime assembly site. Woodford and Chadderton with their strong design and manufacturing capabilities became heavily involved in the programme at the outset. Woodford Design developed wing leading edge slats and fixed trailing edge structure. It was also involved in creating engineering standards for use across the partnering nations which continue to be used by all Airbus programmes.

Chadderton with its manufacturing expertise gained the responsibility for making major wing components. Tooling assistance was provided by the local Hyde Group, which was the start of along involvement with the Manchester Factories. Significant investment at Chadderton in automated machines commenced in 1969. These machines provided all the Ribs, Spars and Stringers for the A300B wing which were then sent to by road to Chester for final assembly. The picture (Bottom Left) is the operation of a Coordinate Measuring Machine for quality checking of machined components for an A321. Copyright BAE Systems

(Colour Photograph Bottom Right) - A300B First Flight in Toulouse on 28th October 1972 - Copyright Airbus