The great Newcastle upon Tyne engineering company of Armstrong Whitworth branched out into aeronautical engineering in 1913 to build aeroplanes for the War Office and airships for the Admiralty. Initially it built BE2a, BE2b and BE2c aeroplanes that had been designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, but soon moved on to build aircraft to its own designs, particularly the FK3 and FK8 which were built in large numbers.
In parallel with AW's aviation activities during the First World War, the Siddeley Deasy Motor Car Company of Coventry had started to build aero-engines and aeroplanes at their Parkside works. Shortly after 1918 AW took over Siddeley Deasy, at the same time closing down the aircraft, airship and motor car departments at Newcastle, leaving that work to be continued at Coventry. In 1920 a subsidiary company, the Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd was formed specifically for the design and manufacture of aircraft, keeping alive the famous Armstrong Whitworth name long after it had disappeared in Newcastle following the takeover of the company by Vickers. The Armstrong Whitworth name continued until 1961 when the company was merged with the Gloster Aircraft Company to become the Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Company.
This volume of over 220 photographs tells the Armstrong Whitworth story, showing not only well known aircraft like the Siskin and Atlas and the Whitley bomber, but also less familiar types such as the peculiar variable geometry Ape aerodynamic research aircraft and the modernistic AW 52 flying wing of fifty years ago.