Vickers was a British engineering group whose aircraft business produced military aeroplanes and civil transports. Its aviation department, established in 1911, became one of the constituent businesses of the British Aircraft Corporation in 1960. The Vickers name remained associated with aircraft developed at Brooklands and with the company's post-war airliner programmes.[1][2]
Corporate development
Vickers Limited and Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth combined in 1927 to create Vickers-Armstrongs. The aviation department became Vickers (Aviation) Limited in 1928, around the time that the group acquired Supermarine. A further reorganisation in 1938 brought the aircraft interests together, although Vickers and Supermarine aircraft retained their established identities. This structure accommodated distinct design traditions within the same industrial parent.[1]
Military aircraft at Brooklands
Vickers began manufacturing aircraft at Brooklands in 1915. Its early products included the Gunbus fighter and the twin-engined Vimy bomber. During the Second World War the site became an important centre for Wellington production and development. All 18 Wellington variants were developed and test flown there, while production also took place elsewhere. The concentration of manufacturing activity changed Brooklands substantially: wartime buildings, defensive measures and bomb damage helped bring its motor-racing life to an end.[2]
Airliners and the BAC transition
Vickers bought the Brooklands site in 1946 and developed the Viking transport, followed by the turboprop Viscount and Vanguard and the rear-engined VC10 jet. The Viscount prototype flew from Wisley in 1948; the Vanguard first flew from Brooklands in 1959 and the VC10 in 1962. These programmes straddled the formation of BAC, into which the aircraft business passed in 1960. Brooklands subsequently contributed to BAC projects, including Concorde, as its role gradually shifted from complete-aircraft manufacture towards work within a larger production organisation.[2][1]