Fairey Aviation

Formed in 1915, Fairey Aviation produced some iconic fixed wing aircraft of the 20th century including the Fairey III, Swordfish, Battle, Fulmar, Firefly and the Gannet. Building initially at its North Hyde Road works in Hayes, it opened a factory in Stockport in 1935 to satisfy the larger orders it was receiving in the build up of British forces prior to WWII. The Hayes site was never really satisfactory in that it did not have its own airfield, the aircraft making the journey by road, in the early days to RAF Northolt, then Heston and in its latter years to White Waltham for flight testing.

Its helicopter arm was bought by Westland, in the great UK aeronautical manufacturing shake up of 1960, although Fairey did retain some of its weapons and engineering activities independently, thereafter.