Harry Hawker
got his start in the aviation industry with the Sopwith Aviation
Company which he joined as a mechanic in 1912. Sopwith went
out of business in 1920 and the H.G. Hawker Engineering Company
formed directly afterward.
Hawker was killed in an aircraft accident in 1921
but his name survived. Tom Sopwith took over the company
renaming it Hawker Aircraft Ltd. in 1933.
In 1935, Tom Sopwith formed Hawker Siddeley
Aircraft as a holding company for Hawker Aircraft, Gloster
Aircraft, Armstrong Whitworth and Armstrong
Siddeley Motors. Famous Hawker
aircraft include the Hart, Fury, Hurricane, Typhoon and
Hunter.
Hawker Siddeley added Avro
and Avro Canada in 1955. The deHavilland Company
and Folland were added in 1960. Engine operations (de
Havilland Engines and Armstrong Siddeley) were sold to Bristol
in 1961.
In 1977, Hawker Siddeley, along with the British
Aircraft Corporation and Scottish Aviation were nationalized and
merged into British Aerospace.
