History

The Age of Flight

The age of flight was arguably initiated by the likes of The Montgolfier Brothers who developed passenger carrying (lighter than air) balloons back in the 1700s. More locally Dr Edward Jenner of Berkeley, the inventor of vaccination, released a hydrogen balloon that came to rest at Birdlip, near what we know today as the Air Balloon roundabout.

Powered flight came into being in the early 1900’s with piston engine biplane’s, however, it was the work of Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine, which was responsible for enabling much of what we take for granted today – long haul flights around the globe.

The First Jet Powered Flight

From a Gloucestershire perspective much of the development of jet powered flight was undertaken by the Gloster Aircraft Company (GAC) that developed the first jet powered aircraft – the Gloster Meteor. GAC also built 2750 Hawker Hurricanes which were responsible for great successes in the Battle of Britain fought during WWII.

Within Gloucestershire there were over 100 aircraft systems and equipment suppliers at the time of WWII of which over 50 are still active today developing landing gear, propeller systems, avionics, power management, actuation and hydraulic systems.

Timeline

1900s

27 April 1901

George Dowty born

17 December 1903

First flight by Wright Brothers

1910s

1 April 1911

Royal Engineers Air Battalion formed. Britain’s first air unit.

5 June 1917

Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Ltd founded.

1920s

20 June 1921

First flight of Gloster Mars I (Bamel) racing biplane G- EAXZ

19 December 1921

Gloster Mars I (Bamel) G- EAXZ sets new British air speed record of 196.4 mph

24 October 1925

Gloster IIIA shipped to Baltimore USA for Schneider Trophy competition.

11 November 1926

Gloucestershire Aircraft Company renamed Gloster Aircraft Company

2 March 1928

Gloster Grebes form the basis of the New Zealand Permanent Air Force

5 October 1929

Gloster Journal reports

One of the biggest and most important air industries in the British Isles will shortly be established at works 10 minutes’ drive from Gloucester…up to 1000 men will be employed…the greater part of the weekly wages will be spent in the City

1930s

20 September 1931

First Dowty components to fly – undercarriage struts on Cierva autogyro.

12 September 1934

First flight of Gloster Gladiator

18 November 1936

Staverton Airport opens, first used by Bristol to Birmingham Railway Air Service.

19 August 1938

First turf cut for new Hucclecote Shadow Factory, later to build 600 Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle aircraft. In 1940 this would have a WW1 tank as a strong point.

12 October 1938

RAF Aston Down opens.

3 April 1939

First flight of Gloster F9/37 with twin Bristol Taurus radial engines. World’s most heavily armed fighter. 360 mph.

27 October 1939

First Hawker Hurricane produced by GAC

1940s

22 February 1940

Second F9/37 first flown with RR Peregrine engines.

18 August 1940

Avro Anson and Heinkel III collide near RAF Little Rissington.

27 October 1940

1000th Hawker Hurricane produced by GAC.

14 November 1940

Luftwaffe ‘Moonlight Sonata’ raid on Coventry forces Dowty to relocate subcontractors to Isle of Man

8 April 1941

First hop of Gloster E28/39

15 May 1941

First official flight of Gloster E28/39 at RAF Cranwell

27 May 1941

First GAC built Hawker Typhoon flown by Michael Daunt

22 July 1942

Ground trials begin on Gloster F9/40, later to be known as the Gloster Meteor.

5 March 1943

First flight of Gloster Meteor with Michael Daunt at the controls.

12 July 1944

Gloster Meteor F1s enter RAF service with 616 Squadron.

29 July 1944

Spitfire IX with Dowty contra rotating propeller crashes near Boddington. Test Pilot Jack Hall killed.

4 August 1944

First Meteor victory over V1 flying bombs, knocked over with wing tip.

20 September 1945

Trent Meteor is First turboprop to fly.

7 November 1945

Meteor EE545 sets World Air Speed Record of 606.25 mph, first by a jet.

13 December 1945

Last Hawker Typhoon built by GAC

21 April 1947

Meteor 4 G-AIDC sets new Brussels to Copenhagen Record of 630 mph

14 October 1947

Chuck Yeager breaks Sound Barrier in Bell X-1

6 February 1948

Meteor 4 sets 100 km closed circuit record of 542.9 mph

12 October 1948

First flight of Meteor F8 by Jan Zurakowski

1950s

4 April 1950

Jan Zurakowski breaks three speed records London to Copenhagen in Meteor F8 VZ468 at 541 mph

12 October 1950

Lord Trenchard, Marshall of RAF, visits Moreton Valence to fly in Meteor T7.

15 July 1953

23 NA Harvards from RAF Little Rissington form part of Coronation fly past.

9 April 1954

Last Meteor flies out of Hucclecote

26 November 1951

First flight of Gloster GA5, later Javelin

7 July 1952

Gloster Javelin put into super priority production due to Korean War

22 July 1954

First flight of first production Javelin XA544

31 December 1955

First Javelins delivered to RAF

4 October 1957

Sputnik 1 becomes First artificial Earth satellite.

1960s

1 April 1960

Dowty Equipment Ltd merges with Rotal Airscrews.

21 October 1960

First flight of Hawker P1127, ancestor of the Hawker-Sudeley Harrier, with Dowty zero track undercarriage.

7 November 1960

Gloster Gladiator L8032 G-AMRK given to Shuttleworth Trust.

1 October 1961

GAC merged with Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft to become Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Company.

27 March 1963

Dowty Vickers Varsity G- APAZ crashes on house in Tuffley.

6 April 1964

Hucclecote factory sold to Gloucester Trading Estate.

30 April 1968

Last Javelins leave RAF service.

2 March 1969

Meteor NF11 is chase plane for first flight of Concorde 001.

1970s

7 December 1975

Sir George Dowty dies.

24 May 1976

First flight of Concorde to USA with fate paying passengers. Much Dowty Equipment on board.

10 June 1977

First flight of Britten Norman Islander fitted with Dowty ducted fans.

1980s

27 October 1982

Roll out of SAAB 340 with Dowty propellers and electronics.

1990s

5 April 1996

First flight of Lockheed C-130J with Dowty six bladed composite propellers.

Plan Your Visit

Opening Hours: Standard hours are Saturday – Sunday 10am – 4pm. View additional days.

Admission: There is no charge for admission to the Museum site, to the building or any exhibits, but donations to help meet our running costs and to fund our expansion plans are most definitely welcome! Click here to donate.

Find us: Meteor Business Park, Cheltenham Road East, Gloucester, GL2 9QL

Group Visits

What’s On