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Aerospace in Lancashire and the North West of England has a long and distinguished pedigree and the region's contribution to the development of the industry is unequalled in the UK. A vast range of around 150 different aircraft types have been built in the area since the early years of the 20th century, many of which were also designed here. Altogether, it is reckoned that in the order of 50,000 aircraft, both military and civilian, have been built in the region since 1910.
Photograph of English Electric P.5 Kingston Mk II coastal patrol and anti-submarine flying boat, Lytham Works, Lancashire c.1925 Photos from 'Triplane to Typhoon: Aircraft produced by factories in Lancashire and the North West of England from 1910' by James H. Longworth, ISBN 1899907971. Photo courtesy of BAE Systems.
Ever since the Blackpool 'Flying Week' of 1909 Lancashire and the North West has been at the forefront of developments in the industry and in aviation generally. In June 1908 the Lancastrian aeronautical pioneer, Alliot Verdon Roe, made his first flight in his 24hp Roe I Biplane. In 1910 he established the world's first registered aeroplane company in Manchester exclusively for the series manufacture of aircraft, the first being the Roe II Triplane. Products carrying the "Avro" name range from the Avro Triplane built in Manchester in 1910 to the Avro 504 of WW1 and the inter-war years, the WW2 Lancaster and post-war Vulcan, the Avro 748 and the BAE Systems Avro Regional jet airliner of today.
Only some 60 aircraft of various types are believed to have been built in factories or series production in Lancashire and the North West between 1910 and the outbreak of war in 1914. By the time of the Armistice four years later, the total stood at around 4,500. These were mostly produced by Avro in Manchester, Vulcan Engineering at Southport, National Aircraft Factories at Stockport and Liverpool together with a number of airships made by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness.
Early development of the industry in Lancashire was closely associated with the former Strand Road works of Dick, Kerr & Co in Preston, later to become part of the English Electric Company. Manufacturers of railway and tramway equipment, in 1917 Dick, Kerr began manufacture of flight structures - wing and tail units - for Felixstowe flying boats and later established an assembly works on the Ribble estuary at Lytham providing direct access to open water. In 1923 English Electric secured a contract to design and build a prototype of a small ultra-light monoplane - the English Electric Wren - powered by a 298cc motorcycle engine. Further work on flying boats - the Kingston - resumed in 1923 and continued until 1926 when the company's Aircraft Department was closed and given over to railway locomotive work. It was to be another twelve years before aircraft work returned to Preston in 1938.
The development of aerospace in Lancashire as a significant industrial activity dates back to the re-armament drive prior to the Second World War. In 1936 the government announced a five-year programme of 'shadow factories' to boost the output of the parent aircraft and aero-engine factories by harnessing the mass production expertise of motor vehicle, electrical engineering and related industries. Funded by government but project-managed by industry these plants were dispersed across the country towards areas less vulnerable to air attack, at the same time freeing up capacity at the established aircraft factories, then principally in the South and Midlands, for vital new experimental and design work.
As part of this effort several 'shadow' aircraft and aero-engine manufacturing and assembly plants were established in the county. Dispersal of strategic industries from the South and Midlands of England played a key part in this as well as the local presence of an exceptionally strong engineering base (e.g. in textile machinery engineering, motor vehicles, trams and railway equipment manufacture) that provided a ready supply of labour with transferable skills.
English Electric (BAC) Lightning F.6 (Interim), on flight test between Samlesbury and Warton, flies over Blackpool in 1965Photograph of English Electric (BAC) Lightning F.6 (Interim) on flight test between Samlesbury and Warton,, flying over Blackpool in 1965 Photos from 'Triplane to Typhoon: Aircraft produced by factories in Lancashire and the North West of England from 1910' by James H. Longworth, ISBN 1899907971. Phot courtesy of BAE Systems.
By current day standards the scale of transfer through this programme over such a short period was staggering: in the early 1940s these plants employed more than 45,000 people in what is modern day Lancashire alone compared with a negligible pre-war presence. Aircraft such as the Hampden, Halifax, Blenheim, Wellington and Lancaster, together with Hercules, Merlin and Sabre engines, amongst others, were all constructed in Lancashire in plants owned or operated by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, English Electric, Avro, Rootes, Vickers-Armstrongs, Fairey, de Havilland, Rolls Royce, Lucas and others. The wider impact of this action was enormous; not only for the war effort but also in aiding the subsequent diversification of the post-war Lancashire economy, which had hitherto been dominated by the textile and allied industries, and laying the foundations for a major Lancashire aircraft manufacturing capability for generations to come.
The former Ministry of Aircraft Production 'shadow' aircraft factory at Squires Gate Aerodrome, Blackpool, together with a satellite assembly line at nearly Stanley Park Aerodrome managed by Vickers-Armstrongs, provided 11,000 jobs during the war building some 3,400 Wellington bombers up to 1945. In Preston at Strand Road, employment at the then English Electric electric traction and locomotive plant soared from 1,200 to 13,500 as war-time orders grew for the twin-engined Handley Page Hampden and later four-engined Halifax heavy bombers, with production rising to a peak of 80 aircraft a month. Various premises throughout the district were also requisitioned as satellite factories for component, detailed parts and small assembly production and from 1939 nearby Samlesbury was developed as an aerodrome for final assembly and flight testing. The first Preston-built Hampden flew on test at Samlesbury in February 1940. Over the course of the war years the Preston works built 770 Hamdens and no less than 2,145 Halifax bombers, all flight-tested from Samlesbury. A smaller centre of aircraft sub-assembly and component production employing about 2,000 people was temporarily based in Lancaster. In the east of the county large centres of aero-engine production were established. In Accrington/Clayton-le-Moors more than 11,000 people were employed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company to shadow its principal plant at Filton in the manufacture of Hercules engines. Nearly 14,400 engines were made for installation in Lancaster, Halifax, Stirling, Wellington and Beaufighter aircraft together with a small number of its more powerful development, the 18-cylinder Centaurus. In Barnoldswick and Clitheroe, with about 5,000 employees, the Rover Company and Lucas - and from 1942 Rolls Royce - were engaged in the development and manufacture of Frank Whittle's centrifugal turbojet. A further 2,000 war-time aircraft-related jobs were also located in Burnley (Lucas).
Overall, it has been estimated that some 30,000 aircraft were manufactured in Lancashire and the North West of England during the war, including its immediate prelude and aftermath - nearly a quarter of the national total. As many again were assembled across the region from sets imported under Lend-Lease from the United States, or otherwise modified or repaired. Just six of the aircraft manufactured in Lancashire during the war years were jet-propelled - the Vampire fighters built under licence from de Haviland by English Electric at Preston and Samlesbury between late 1944 and May 1945.
Photograph of Eurofighter 2000 DA2, from British Aerospace (BAe) Warton Aerodrome, over Preston city centre in the 1990s Photos from 'Triplane to Typhoon: Aircraft produced by factories in Lancashire and the North West of England from 1910' by James H. Longworth, ISBN 1899907971. Photo courtesy of BAE Systems.
This war-time infrastructure gave the area much of its post-war capacity for its paramount role in the design and manufacture of a wide array of increasingly sophisticated aerospace products and systems. These included development of the world's first jet engine (Whittle's W.2B) and its derivatives together with later aero-engines like the Tay and RB-211 (the "B" standing for Barnoldswick) and latterly, the Trent.
On the airframe side early post-war developments included the production of the early fast jet fighters. These included the Vampire by English Electric at Preston and Samlesbury, where some 1,380 were produced for the RAF and for export markets between 1944 and 1952, and the Hunter made by the Hawker Aircraft Co. in the former wartime Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Squires Gate in Blackpool between 1951 and 1958 (when the factory closed with 4,250 redundancies). This progressed to the subsequent design and build of a whole generation of technically advanced products including the high altitude Canberra bomber and supersonic Lightning by English Electric (later BAC) at Preston and Samlesbury, the futuristic but ill-fated TSR-2 and subsequent projects such as Jaguar, Tornado and Hawk. Today the Eurofighter Typhoon is well into its production phase, with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) manufacturing programme in partnership with the United States well advanced at Samlesbury, as is pioneering work on unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) at Warton.
The expertise gained through such extensive involvement in the design and manufacture of military aircraft has also served the county well in its quest to establish a stronger presence in the world's civil and commercial aircraft markets. Thus, the region has also played a major role in the manufacture of later variants of Comet, the world's first commercial passenger jet aircraft and major sub-assemblies for the world's first supersonic airliner, Concorde, were manufactured at BAe, Preston and at Lucas in Burnley. With the rapidly changing political climate since the end of the 1980s, the pace of diversification into the civil market has increased markedly, with Lancashire companies competing world-wide. Today, BAE Systems at Samlesbury also work under contract on wing sets for Airbus Industrie at Chester, while many sub-contractors supply components and sub-assemblies for major aircraft programmes throughout Europe, North America, the Middle and Far East.
Photograph of Eurofighter Typhoon T.1 of No.17(R) Sqn. RAF, airborne at BAE Systems' Warton Aerodrome, 2004 Photos from 'Triplane to Typhoon: Aircraft produced by factories in Lancashire and the North West of England from 1910' by James H Longworth, ISBN 1899907971. Photo courtesy of BAE Systems.
The outstanding record in aircraft design and construction has been accompanied by a no less impressive contribution to aircraft propulsion. Lancashire and the North West of England have been at the forefront of aero-engine technology for nearly a century. Over the years this has included piston, gas turbine jet, turboprop and turbofan engines. At both ends of the spectrum lie the Edwards/Cowley/Avro 15hp piston engine of 1909 to the Rolls Royce Trent turbofan of today developing in excess of 100,000lb thrust (see below).
Rolls Royce, as one of the major local aerospace 'primes', is today most closely associated with the production of aircraft engines but the area can also celebrate aero-engine achievements by many other companies including Metropolitan-Vickers and Ford at Manchester, Bristol at Clayton-le-Moors near Accrington, Lucas at Burnley, Napiers at Liverpool and many others.
The region made Bentley, Beardmore and Green aero-engines during the First World War increasing power output twenty-fold in the process and produced great numbers of Rolls Royce Merlin, Bristol Hercules and Napier Sabre engines in the 1940s. At Clayton-le-Moors near Accrington nearly 14,000 Hercules engines were built between 1941-45 to power Lancaster, Halifax, Stirling, Wellington and Beaufigher aircraft. Moreover, Rolls-Royce and Ford produced a total of more than 56,000 Merlin engines at Crewe and Trafford Park respectively. Although unable to claim to have been the original birthplace of the jet engine it is a fact that Lancashire and the North West, with Rover, Lucas, Rolls Royce and Metropolitan-Vickers, became the cradle for the further development of Sir Frank Whittle's early centrifugal engines and the first axial engines.
The area has gone on to play a part in the development of later world-beating derivatives. Arguably, in respect of the Rolls Royce Nene with over 5,000lb thrust making it the most powerful jet engine of its time and Metrovicks' Sapphire axial and its predecessors, the region was the subsequent birthplace of the modern jet engine. Not only did engines such as the Nene and Sapphire pave the way for the UK's aero-engine industry of today, they were also instrumental in aiding the establishment of the industry overseas, most notably in the United States and Russia.
For nearly 60 years Lancashire has played a principal role in the development of the jet engine and, having taken the lead in wide-chord fan technology, maintains its position at the forefront of aero-engineering to the present day. During this period jet engine power has increased from under 1,000lb thrust to over 100,000lb with the latest Rolls Royce Trent engines. The Rolls Royce factory at Barnoldswick, in the heart of the Pendle Hill Country of Lancashire and supported by a large number of local sub-contractors, is still regarded by many as the cradle of the modern jet engine and remains a key part of Rolls Royce plc.
Daily, the initials 'R' of Rolls Royce and 'B' of Barnoldswick are carried around the world by aircraft powered by a whole family of Rolls Royce gas turbine engines. The internationally recognised maxim 'to the standards of Rolls Royce' is one with which the aerospace industry and local authorities of Lancashire and the North West of England are proud to be associated.
RAF roundel
2008 is the 90th anniversary of the Royal Air Force. Over the past 90 years aircraft manufactured in Lancashire and the North West have made a significant contribution to the flying strength of the RAF.
Over 100 majority types of military and civil aircraft, totalling some 50,000 have been produced in Lancashire and the North West since 1910. Of these, some 60 types totalling in excess of 40,000 aircraft have been made in the region to meet the requirements of the RAF (and Royal Navy) since 1918. They are listed below in chronological order.
Many of these aircraft have also been designed in Lancashire and the North West. Others were designed and initially produced elsewhere before their manufacture was transferred to the region, as a result either of wartime production location planning, later rationalisation and mergers within the aerospace industry, or through international collaborative programmes.
For more information on aircraft and aero-engines associated with Lancashire and the North West of England see details of our publications, both written by James H Longworth:
Classic and Modern Aero-Engines associated with Lancashire and the North West of England
This page was compiled by Ann Weaver .
All enquiries from the media should be sent to Corporate.Communications@lancashire.gov.uk .
Any other questions about the content of this page may be sent to EconInfo@lancashire.gov.uk .
For all enquiries about the county council's services , contact the Customer Service Centre on 0845 0530000 (01772 530000) or at Enquiries@css.lancscc.gov.uk .
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