Folland
Folland was a
British aircraft manufacturing company.
British Marine Aircraft Ltd was formed in February 1936 to produce
Sikorsky S-42-A flying boats under licence in the UK. The company built a factory on the western side of the
Hamble peninsular with a slipway to
Southampton Water. The Sikorsky deal came to naught, however, and the company was sold to
Henry P. Folland , formerly Chief designer for
Gloster Aircraft Company, who renamed it Folland Aircraft Limited on
December 24 1937. Folland began aircraft assembly at Hamble making parts for
Bristol Blenheim and
Beaufort bombers. Folland later took on sub-contract work making parts for
de Havilland Mosquitos and
Vickers Wellingtons.
The company flew the first aircraft of its own design, the
Folland 43/47 (Design number FO 108) in
1940.
W. E. W. Petter, who had designed the
Westland Lysander,
English Electric Canberra and
English Electric Lightning, joined the company as
managing director in
1950. He designed the
Folland Midge, which first flew
August 11 1954, and the
Folland Gnat training jet (
July 18 1955). Both were built at Hamble until the
1960s. In
1959 Folland was acquired by
Hawker Siddeley, and ultimately became part of
British Aerospace (BAe). Although Hamble airfield closed in
1986, BAe continued to use the premises there for the production of major assemblies for
Harrier and
Hawk jets.
|
A privately owned Folland Gnat previously used by the RAF Red Arrows airshow team. It has been painted as an aircraft of the earlier Yellowjacks display team, a forerunner of the Red Arrows. |
*
'Folland', British Aircraft Directory (
May 1 2004) Retrieved
May 20 2005*
Fagan, Dave. 'Hamble' Aviation in Hampshire UK 1900 to 2000 Retrieved
May 20 2005*
Haselden, Derek. Aviation at Hamble (
January 8 2005) Retrieved
May 20 2005
