Hyde Group's Work At Woodford

1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

The Hyde Group has a rich history working at Avro Woodford.

Beginning in the 1970s, our tooling division manufactured assembly jigs for the Hawker Siddeley HS146 short-haul airliner.

Hyde Aero Products division began its work here at Woodford when it supported Avrotec in the early 1990s. Avrotec was a BAE Systems business designed to support the RJ146 regional jet aftermarket.
Hyde Group provided key structural tooling and components on the programme as well as hosting various AOG services.

Our work was then recommended to Avro; another BAE Systems company which oversaw the work of Avrotec and other subsidiaries. This endorsement led to Hyde Group securing key long-term
strategic contracts for the RJ146 including yaw damper, AC socket housing, canopy railing and flap track fairings work. The division also supported on-going work for the Hawk advanced trainer and the Tornado multirole combat aircraft.

We were also heavily involved with the Nimrod submarine hunting, maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Nimrod was designed around the de Havilland Comet 4C fuselage; therefore, Hyde Group had to
update and manufacture tooling and test equipment for the new airframe structure. We also undertook rebuilding, machining, fabricating and reverse-engineering projects for this aircraft. Our work on Nimrod extended to their MRA4 variant. Here we manufactured sub-assemblies and component parts including auxiliary power units, flying controls, engine cover doors, droop nose ribs, wing tips, egress
hatches and radomes. Hyde Group also supported the design and integration of the AC/DC navigation crates and major harnesses and systems across the airframe.

We also contributed to work on the Avro Vulcan bomber. We provided the former nuclear deterrent with extensive tooling and frequent airframe modifications.

The work generated by Avro Woodford and the technology and solutions that we developed here have played a pivotal role in accelerating the growth and development of the Hyde Group.


(Colour Photograph Top Right) -Hawker Siddeley 146 © Dejan Milinkovic
(Colour Photograph Middle Right) - Nimrod MRA4 © Ronnie Macdonald
(Colour Photograph Bottom Right) - Avro Vulcan © Alastair Barbour