Avro Changes Hands Again and Once Again

1920s 1930s

1920 - After the takeover by Crossley Motors, Avro continued aircraft manufacture independently from the motor vehicle business. However, one area of joint interest was in Aero Engines. Charles Redrup was a Crossley motor engineer who working alongside A.V. Roe developed a 5 cylinder radial engine which on first test hit its target of 100 HP (Horse Power). Called the Alpha 1, this engine had great potential and later in 1927 was installed on the Avro Avian.

Also in the same year and in agreement with John Siddeley the Armstrong Whitworth Company acquired the Siddeley-Deasy business creating Armstrong Siddeley. The aircraft side of the business remained as the Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company. The two companies then created a new consortium named the Armstrong Whitworth Development Company, based near Coventry. Later, due to the huge economic downturn of the mid 1920's the Armstrong Whitworth companies were severely impacted and so John Siddeley repurchased the ex Deasy aircraft engine business and the Armstrong Whitworth Development Company was renamed The Armstrong Siddeley Development Company in 1927.

1920 also saw the bankruptcy of the famous Sopwith Aviation Company. The former Sopwith test pilot Harry Hawker and three others including Thomas Sopwith bought the Sopwith assets and formed H.G. Hawker Engineering. Harry Hawker was killed in an aircraft accident in 1921.

1928 - Crossley Motors sold AVRO to Armstrong Siddeley Holdings Ltd and Alliot Verdon Roe resigned from the company he had founded and formed the Saunders-Roe company based in Hamble. The cause of this was because sales of the Willys Overland Crossley car Joint Venture did not reach expectations and in 1925 the company reported a large financial loss. Responsibility for this loss fell on Crossley Motors, which eventually sold the AVRO aircraft company to keep going. John Siddeley now owned Avro and one of his first decisions was to cancel the Alphal Radial Engine as it was a serious competitor to his Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engine.

1933 - H.G. Hawker Engineering renames itself to become Hawker Aircraft Ltd and a year later buys Gloster Aircraft Co.

1935 - In 1935, at the age of 69 John D. Siddeley retired and his Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft business was purchased by Hawker Aircraft, the new group named as Hawker Siddeley Aircraft. AVRO had now become part of the Hawker Siddeley group. The Chairman of the new group was Thomas Sopwith.

The constituent companies continued to produce their own aircraft designs under their own name as well as sharing manufacturing work throughout the group. Hawker Siddeley company was one of the United Kingdom's most important aviation concerns during WW2 producing aircraft such as the Hawker Hurricane, Avro Lancaster, Hawker Tempest and the jet powered Gloster Meteor.

(Monochrome Photograph showing) - Hawker Hurricane Mk1 of 85 Sqn October 1940