14 Dec 06
Austin Osprey
Herbert Austin, former chairman of Wolseley, set up his headquarters at a derelict printing works site at Longbridge, near Birmingham, in 1905. The company went into public ownership in 1914, and quickly did its bit for the country: during World War I, it made over 8,000,000 shells, guns, 2,000 trucks, 2,000 aeroplanes and 2,500 aeroplane engines. The plane it initially produced was the SE5a designed by ex-Daimler engineer Fred Green of the Royal Aircraft Factory, Farnborough; this was powered by either a 200bhp Hispano-Suiza or Wolseley Viper V8 (developed from the Hispano-Suiza unit), and it fought alongside the more famous Sopwith Camel on the Western Front. It was said to be more predictable to fly than the Camel, though not as agile for dog-fighting, and to be capable of 138mph - quicker than the German planes. Austin also produced a small number of RAF RE7s and Bristol F2Bs.
Encouraged by this programme, rapidly-expanding Austin built an airfield (which later formed the basis of the wider Longbridge manufacturing site) and set up an aircraft design department in 1917, to develop its own range of light planes for sale post-war under the guidance of flying ace Capt. Albert Ball, VC. The Austin aircraft division produced a handful of AFB1 Ball single-seaters, the Greyhound two-seater fighter plane, the Osprey triplane, the Kestrel, and, for civilian use, the Whippet single-seat biplane with folding wings for easy storage in a garage or barn. These featured Anzani three- or five-cylinder engines.
Austin Greyhound
However, there were few orders for these, and with the ending of World War I and the government munitions contracts, Austin found itself with 20,000 employees and little for them to do. Herbert Austin, close to declaring bankruptcy, focused on production of the mass-market, affordable Seven - which saved the company.
This wasn't entirely an end to aircraft production at Austin, however: during World War II, the factory was again put to work making planes for the RAF. Longbridge built around 3,000 Avro Lancaster and Stirling bombers, Hurricane fighters and the Fairey Battle planes, as well as Bristol Mercury and Pegasus aero engines and over 36,000 aircraft suspension units.
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