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| Industry | Aircraft manufacture |
|---|---|
| Founder | Richard Fairey |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Marcel Lobelle, Ernest Oscar Tips |
| Products | Aircraft |
Avions Fairey was the Belgian-based subsidiary of the British Fairey Aviation that built aircraft for the Belgian government. It subsequently separated from the UK parent and became SONACA.
In the late 1920s, the Aéronautique Militaire (Belgian Air Force) set out to replace its old aircraft. Accordingly, Belgian officers attended the Hendon Air Display where they saw a Fairey Firefly and met Fairey staff. The Firefly toured Belgian air bases in 1930 and met with approval from pilots. This led to a contract for 12 UK-built Firefly II to be followed by a further 33 aircraft built in Belgium.
Fairey already had a number of Belgians in key roles in the company; Ernest Oscar Tips and Marcel Lobelle had joined during the First World War. Tips went to Belgium to set up the subsidiary company. He based the new company near Charleroi. The fighter ace Fernand Jacquet who operated a flying school nearby joined the company in 1931.
Avions Fairey received further orders for Fireflies followed by Fairey Foxes which would be the main aircraft of the Belgian Air Force; being used as a fighter, bomber and training aircraft.
E.O. Tips designed a number of light civil aircraft at Avions Fairey; the "Tipsy" family of aircraft. After the 1933 16 hp (12 kW) Tipsy, came the S2 with a more powerful 32 hp (24 kW) engine. The Tipsy B was a side-by-side seat training aircraft. A tandem trainer was the Tipsy M designed for the Belgian Air Force but overlooked for the SV4b. Tipsy series was successful and licence rights for production were sold in the UK and South Africa.
Most of Avions Fairey work was on military contracts. The contact with the Belgian military led to Fairey developing the Fairey Fantôme as a followup to the Firefly for the Belgians. Of the three prototypes, two ended up in Spain (via the USSR) the third as a test aircraft with the RAF.
Although they ordered 12 Fairey Battles in 1936 to replace the Fox, no further orders came until an order for Hawker Hurricanes to be built in Belgium. However, on 10 May 1940, the factory was heavily bombed by the Germans.
The company personnel evacuated to France, and then left for England. Their ship was sunk by German bombers outside St Nazaire and eight Fairey staff were killed; the survivors worked for the parent company during the Second World War.
After the war, Avions Fairey restarted at Gosselies airfield near Charleroi by servicing C-47 Skytrains of the Air Force; this was then extended to other aircraft.
Avions Fairey returned to production as a joint venture with Fokker to build Gloster Meteor jet fighters: 240 were built between the companies for the Dutch and Belgian air forces.
Tipsy development continued; the Tipsy Junior single seater followed by the Tipsy Belfair. Sales were poor due to a glut of ex-military aircraft. In 1957 the Tipsy Nipper which was a very low cost aircraft was produced either assembled or in kit form.
In 1953, Avions Fairey was contracted to produce 256 Hawker Hunter fuselages for the Dutch and Belgian air Force. This lasted until 1958. Avions Fairey continued in service contracts and, in conjunction with SABCA, built Lockheed F-104 Starfighters under licence from 1962.
After Fairey UK bought the Britten-Norman company, their Islanders were built in Belgium and Romania and a Trislander production line started in Belgium. Islanders built in Romania continued to be ferried to Britten-Norman for finishing flight certification as did all aircraft built in Belgium. Fairey UK had its own financial difficulties and the Belgian government took over Avions Fairey in order to preserve the Belgian F-16 project.
On 1 June 1976, the SONACA company was created from Avions Fairey.
SABCA is a Belgian aerospace company. Its main sectors of activity are civil aviation, space and defence.
The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire. Notable for the design of a number of important military aircraft, including the Fairey III family, the Swordfish, Firefly, and Gannet, it had a strong presence in the supply of naval aircraft, and also built bombers for the RAF.
The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. The Battle was powered by the same high-performance Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that powered various contemporary British fighters like the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. The Battle was much heavier, with its three-man crew and bomb load. Though a great improvement over the aircraft that preceded it the Battle was relatively slow, had limited range, and had only two .303 (7.7 mm) machine guns as defensive armament, thus it was found to be highly vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire.
The Fairey Firefly is a Second World War-era carrier-borne fighter aircraft and anti-submarine aircraft that was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was developed and built by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation Company.
The Fairey Fox was a British light bomber and fighter biplane of the 1920s and 1930s. It was originally produced in Britain for the RAF, but continued in production and use in Belgium long after it was retired in Britain.
The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraft in the inter-war period, but was obsolete and already side-lined for newer monoplane aircraft designs by the start of the Second World War, playing only minor roles in the conflict before being retired.
The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service capable of speed higher than 200 mph. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawker Hart light bomber.
The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in the 1960s, over 750 are still in service with commercial operators around the world. The aircraft is a light transport with over 30 military aviation operators around the world.
Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA), also unofficially called Brussels-Charleroi Airport, Charleroi Airport or rarely Gosselies Airport, is an international airport, located in Gosselies, a part of the city of Charleroi in the Province of Hainaut in Wallonia, Belgium. The airport is 4 nautical miles north of Charleroi and 46 km (29 mi) south of central Brussels. In terms of passengers and aircraft movements, it is the second busiest airport in Belgium having served 7,303,720 passengers in 2016. It is also a busy general aviation airfield, being home to 3 flying schools.
The Vickers Vildebeest and the similar Vickers Vincent were two very large two- to three-seat single-engined British biplanes designed and built by Vickers and used as light bombers, torpedo bombers and in army cooperation roles. First flown in 1928, it remained in service at the start of the Second World War, with the last Vildebeests flying against Japanese forces over Singapore and Java in 1942.
The Tipsy Nipper T.66 is an aerobatic light aircraft, developed in 1952 by Ernest Oscar Tips of Avions Fairey at Gosselies in Belgium. It was designed to be easy to fly, cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. It was designed for both factory production and homebuild. "Nipper" was the nickname of Ernest Tips' first grandchild.
The Fairey P.4/34 was a competitor for an order for a light bomber to serve with the Royal Air Force. Although not produced in that form, it formed the basis for the Fulmar long-range carrier-based fighter for the Fleet Air Arm.
The Fairey Firefly IIM was a British fighter of the 1930s. It was a single-seat, single-engine biplane of all-metal construction. Built by Fairey Aviation Company Limited, it served principally with the Belgian Air Force throughout the 1930s until the outbreak of World War II.
The Avions Fairey Junior, also known as the Tipsy Junior was a single-seat light aircraft built in Belgium following World War II.
The Fairey Fantôme, also known as the Fairey Féroce, was a British fighter prototype of the mid-1930s. The prototype was designed and built by Fairey Aviation and three production aircraft were assembled in Belgium by Avions Fairey.
The Fairey Primer was a production version of the Avions Fairey Tipsy M tandem seat single-engined basic trainer. Two production aircraft were completed in the late 1940s.
The Tipsy B was a small sports two-seat monoplane designed by Ernest Oscar Tips, and built in both Belgium and the UK. A total of 42 was built, and a few are still flying.
The Tipsy S.2 was the production version of the Tipsy S, a single seat, low wing sports monoplane designed by Ernest Oscar Tips in Belgium in the mid-1930s. It was produced in both the Belgium and the UK.
The Sonaca Group is a Belgian aerospace company. It has subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Romania and Sri Lanka. In 2018, the Sonaca Group's operating revenues amounted to $900 million. The Sonaca Group currently employs 4,630 workers. 92.604% of the company is owned by SRIW S.A., 7.393% is owned by SFPI S.A. and 0.003% is owned by SABCA S.A.
Ernest Oscar Tips was a Belgian aircraft designer, who co-founded the Fairey Aviation Company in 1915 and its Belgian subsidiary Avions Fairey in 1931.
