At one point in time, there were hundreds of aircraft manufacturers in the UK. All of them producing aircraft on the bleeding edge of technology. But now, this has been reduced to a mere handful- and not really a handful, only five aircraft manufacturers remain in the UK – and only two are truly British.
So what happened to the rest of them?
Since the 1950’s, aircraft manufacturers in the UK have come together, buying one another out. This was done so that they could compete with Boeing. They needed to be more centralized in order to remain competitive with Boeing, and produce aircraft for the RAF and British airlines.
Today, there are only really five major aircraft manufacturers in the UK. These are:
- Bombardier UK
- BAE Systems
- AgustaWestland
- Airbus UK
- Britten-Norman
However, in the 1950’s, there were many more aircraft manufacturers in the UK, these included:
- Folland (who produced the Folland Gnat!)
- Supermarine (who produced the Spitfire)
- Hawker (who produced the Hurricane)
- de Havilland (who produced the Vampire)
- Britten-Norman (who produced the Defender)
- Avro (who produced the Lancaster, of which only one is still airworthy)
- Bristol (who produced the Bristol 188)
- Vickers (who produced the VC10)
- Gloster (who produced the meteor)
- Boulton Paul (who produced the P.111)
- Handley Page (who produced the Victor)
- Short (who helped to produce the English Electric Lightning)
- English Electric (who produced the aforementioned Lightning)
- Blackburn (who produced the Buccaneer)
The real reason there were so many aircraft manufacturers in the UK to begin with
The UK never really seemed like the best place to test aircraft, due to its stereotypical bad weather. However, there was something that made it especially attractive for the aviation industry: The British Empire.
The start of aviation coincided with the beginning of the end of the British Empire. Britain was still looking for the best aircraft possible and there were people willing to manufacture them.
To begin with, these aircraft were high-quality, low output commercial aircraft, for the rich to use to get around the Empire, much like a proto-business jet of sorts!
We managed to interview a man who was 12 when he first flew in 1928:
It was an amazing feeling! We all knew that we were some of the first people of our generation to fly. My mother, my father, my two brothers, my sister and I all understood that this was monumental!
We got into the aircraft (he is unsure as to what type of aircraft it was), sat down on the most comfy seats imaginable.
When we took off, all we could hear was the “Wirr Wirr! Wirr Wirr! Wirr Wirr!” of the engines.
We flew all the way to Paris, from London, which took so long! So that my father could attend a business meeting in Paris for something. And on the way back, it was the same!
The reason there were so many aircraft manufacturers in the UK was down to the number of wealthy people who would pay for flights. This subsequently happened to be the start of the first airlines, who charged high prices, but had luxury in mind, something that continued until the 1980’s!
Through the two major wars of the twentieth century, the aircraft manufacturers changed their stance, they stopped producing commercial aircraft in order to help with the war effort.
After the wars, they went back to producing commercial airliners and producing some aircraft for the air force when necessary!
Why did so many manufacturers go out of business?
This is common misconception in the British aviation scene. These manufacturers, who before had been on top of the world (both figuratively and literally), just went under. But they didn’t.
Most of the time, these manufacturers chose to merge together and become one aircraft manufacturer, rather than letting one or both of the manufacturers go out of business.
But, it was often more than just financial reasons why the aircraft manufacturers in the UK went out of business…
Boeing
Since the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, Boeing did nothing but grow. They produced more aircraft than any other aircraft manufacturer. They made sold more aircraft than any other manufacturer. Their aircraft were being used by even more airlines.
Even some European airlines- even those with incredibly developed aircraft manufacturing sectors like the UK, France and Germany, were interesting in buying Boeing aircraft.
In order to prevent themselves from being out competed by Boeing, many of the aircraft manufacturers in the UK chose to come together and become a single manufacturer in order to get some semblance of a competitive advantage over Boeing in the UK.
This allowed the two manufacturers to co-ordinate on designs, just as manufacturers do with joint aircraft ventures today! This helped to speed up the introduction of more jet airliners, abandoning the old piston-driven aircraft of the pre-war era.
Profitability
Manufacturing aircraft is much like operating an airline. They operate on low margins for the most part, and even at a loss, but if you can pay your cards right, you can be worth billions! This is the reason why Boeing is worth $190 billion as of the time of writing!
However, when you look at the aircraft manufacturing business in the UK, you’ll realize one key issue: a lack of profit.
This led to many of the aircraft manufacturers balancing on a knife’s edge. One wrong move financially-such as an aircraft not being very popular. And the whole company will come crashing down.
Often, when this happened, the other companies in the industry came together and one of them would buyout the manufacturer.
This led to the point where BAC (British Aircraft Corporation) was established, which would own all of the aircraft manufacturers in the UK. Something that BAC still does… just under a different name- BAE Systems.
Unions
When you think of manufacturing giants, the UK doesn’t normally spring to mind. And that is with good reason- British Worker’s Unions.
Whilst the goal of many unions are to increase worker’s pay, get better working conditions and so on. They did the opposite for the aircraft manufacturers in the UK.
Matthew Booten, from Politic-Ed can explain this more:
The unions came in an said to the aircraft manufacturers in the UK “Give the workers better pay and hours, and make the factories safer!” To which, the aircraft manufacturers agreed and implemented.
This led to a rise in costs, in an industry that was becoming less and less profitable.
These patriotic aircraft manufacturers were given three choices: go bankrupt, move abroad to somewhere with cheaper labor or consolidate. They chose the latter.
This made the aircraft manufacturers in the UK very consolidated, and that is the reason why there are only a few left, where there were several before!
Why do you think there were so many aircraft manufacturers in the UK? Did I miss anything out? Tell me in the comments!
Image courtesy of kitchener.lord via Flickr