Hewlett & Blondeau

Last updated

Hewlett & Blondeau Limited
IndustryAerospace, Engineering
Foundedcirca 1910
Defunct1920
Fatebankrupt
Headquarters Luton, England, UK
Key people
Hilda Hewlett, Gustav Blondeau
ProductsAircraft
Number of employees
700

Hewlett & Blondeau was a manufacturer of aeroplanes and other equipment based in Leagrave, Luton, England which produced more than 800 aeroplanes and employed up to 700 people.

Contents

History

An Avro 504 near Cambridge.Avro 504 of the type produced by Hewlett & Blondeau Avro 504 by ndrwfgg.jpeg
An Avro 504 near Cambridge.Avro 504 of the type produced by Hewlett & Blondeau

The company was formed by Hilda Hewlett and Gustav Blondeau. The two met at Brooklands, Surrey where Blondeau had opened his own flying school. Hewlett was the first British woman to earn a pilot's licence. [1] Together they formed "Hewlett and Blondeau" and built Farman, Avro, Caudron and Hanriot aircraft under licence. They were the first company to build Caudron aircraft in Britain. The first factory was a disused ice-skating rink called The Omnia Battersea, London, where eventually they produced ten different types of aircraft. [2]

In May 1914, Hewlett & Blondeau purchased a field in Leagrave, Bedfordshire, specifically to build Farman aircraft. In order to retain links with its former base in Clapham, the firm kept the old telegraphic address 'Aeromnia', and named the factory The Omnia Works. When the First World War started in August 1914, the factory was able to meet government orders for aircraft for the wartime expansion of the Royal Flying Corps.

The factory employed around 700 people at its peak, but by 1919, despite a full order book, the firm encountered difficulties. The Air Ministry appointed Ashley Pope to oversee the factory because one of the aircraft in production at the time had a large 90 hp (67 kW) engine which was vital to the war effort. Pope noted that Hewlett worked tirelessly nearly 24 hours per day, barely stopping for breaks or meals.

A reporter from Implement and Machinery Review was invited to look around the site in September 1919. He reported the following

"Having made a notable contribution to the war efforts of the nation by manufacturing large numbers of aeroplanes, Messrs. Hewlett & Blondeau Ltd., of The Omnia Works, Leagrave, Beds. have, for some time now, directed their attention to agricultural engineering. There are adequate reasons why their venture should be highly successful. In the first place, on the ten acres of freehold land which form the works site has been built a series of up-to-date substantial shops, fitted with the latest type of machinery and replete in every way with labour saving devices. The whole of the 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m2) of buildings is commodious, airy and thoroughly modern, for the works were of 'mushroom growth' so common during the war, albeit it cannot be too strongly emphasised that they are solidly and well constructed. "In addition to the usual offices, stores, etc., the works comprise machine, fitting, inspection, woodworking, erecting and smithing shops, a sheetmetal works, hardening & annealing rooms, an iron foundry and an acetylene welding department. Over three hundred 'hands' are today employed and the promising outlook makes the prospect of an increase in this number very probable."

Post WWI

Adverts for Hewlett and Blondeau engines and sawbenches appeared in the Luton News during late 1919 with the last advertisement being on 12 February 1920. A decision was made to close the works and Fuller, Horley and Son & Cassell of London arranged a six-day sale of the site and contents of the factory starting on Tuesday 19 October 1920. The 8-acre (32,000 m2) site with 110,000-square-foot (10,000 m2) of buildings failed to reach the second asking bid of £50,000 and went for private treaty, eventually being sold to Electrolux and forming part of the then new Electrolux factory where some of the original buildings remain to this day. Much of the site was redeveloped in the 1990s and early 2000s into residential housing.

The plant, machinery, stock and effects sold well to a large number of businesses including Vauxhall Motors and Hayward Tyler, the latter still having a factory in Luton. Mrs Hewlett, having separated from her husband in 1914, eventually emigrated with her family to New Zealand where she died in 1943. She is commemorated by a street name, Hewlett Road, in Leagrave. Gustav Blondeau died on 3 March 1965 at 176 Old Bedford Road Luton.

Aircraft

Aircraft built by Hewlett & Blondeau include:

French aircraft built by Hewlett & Blondeau

Related Research Articles

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avro 504</span> 1913 multi-role military aircraft family

The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in any military capacity during the First World War. More than 10,000 were built from 1913 until production ended in 1932.

Castle Bromwich Aerodrome was an early airfield, situated to the north of Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. The site now falls within the City of Birmingham.

Marinens Flyvebaatfabrikk - The Navy's Flying Boat Factory - was the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service' aeroplane manufacturer. It was established in Horten in 1915 and produced 120 aircraft from then until it ceased to exist in 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avro Tutor</span> Type of aircraft

The Avro Type 621 Tutor is a two-seat British radial-engined biplane from the interwar period. It was a simple but rugged basic trainer that was used by the Royal Air Force as well as many other air arms worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leagrave</span> Human settlement in England

Leagrave is a former village and now a suburb of Luton, in the Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, in the northwest of the town. The current council ward is roughly bounded by Vincent Road, Torquay Drive and High Street to the north, Roman Road and Stoneygate Road to the south, the M1 to the west, and Marsh Road and Leagrave Park to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3</span> British military biplane

The Armstrong Whitworth F.K.3 was a British two-seat general-purpose biplane built by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft during the First World War. By the end of the war it was considered obsolete for combat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilda Hewlett</span> Aviator and business entrepreneur

Hilda Beatrice Hewlett was an early aviator and aviation entrepreneur. She was the first British woman to earn a pilot's licence. She founded and ran two related businesses: the first flying school in the United Kingdom, and a successful aircraft manufacturing business which produced more than 800 aeroplanes and employed up to 700 people. She later emigrated to New Zealand.

Luton is a town located in the south of Bedfordshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le Rhône 9C</span>

The Le Rhône 9C is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by Société des Moteurs Le Rhône / Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 80 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was fitted to many military aircraft types during the First World War. Le Rhône 9C engines were also produced under license in Great Britain, the United States and Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanriot</span> French aircraft manufacturer

Aéroplanes Hanriot et Cie. or simply 'Hanriot' was a French aircraft manufacturer with roots going back to the beginning of aviation. Founded by René Hanriot in 1910 as The Monoplans Hanriot Company Ltd., the company survived in different forms until 1916 when it established itself with the Hanriot-Dupont (HD.) fighters and observation aircraft. The company lasted through several takeovers and structural changes until, in 1936, it merged with Farman to become the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Centre (SNCAC). 'Central Air Works' consortium.

Gustav Jules Eugene Blondeau (1871-1965) was an early pilot and went on to form Hewlett & Blondeau Limited, an aircraft manufacturer in the United Kingdom. He was born on 8 March 1871 in Tergnier, France, and graduated from Farman Aircraft at Mourmelon in France on 10 July 1910, then joining the Gnome engine works. He later opened his own flying school at Brooklands, Surrey, where he met Hilda Hewlett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Air Park</span> Airport in Feltham, England

London Air Park, also known as Hanworth Air Park, was a grass airfield in the grounds of Hanworth Park House, operational 1917–1919 and 1929–1947. It was on the southeastern edge of Feltham, now part of the London Borough of Hounslow. In the 1930s, it was best known as a centre for private flying, society events, visits by the Graf Zeppelin airship, and for aircraft manufacture by the Whitehead Aircraft Company during World War I and General Aircraft Limited (GAL) 1934–1949; in total over 1,650 aircraft were built here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Pixton</span> Early British test pilot and racing pilot

Cecil Howard Pixton was a British aeronautical engineer, test pilot and air racing pilot who was most famous for winning the 1914 Schneider Trophy seaplane race.

The Naval Air Service was the air arm of the Hellenic Navy from 1915 to 1930.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salmson water-cooled aero-engines</span>

The Salmson water-cooled aero-engines, produced in France by Société des Moteurs Salmson from 1908 until 1920, were a series of pioneering aero-engines: unusually combining water-cooling with the radial arrangement of their cylinders.

The Renault 4P, also called the Renault Bengali Junior, was a series of air-cooled 4-cylinder inverted inline aero engines designed and built in France from 1927, which produced from 95 hp (71 kW) to 150 hp (110 kW).

The Dyott Bomber was a prototype twin-engined British biplane bomber aircraft of the First World War. Two examples were built but the type was not adopted for service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydroaéroplane Caudron-Fabre</span> Type of aircraft

The Hydroaéroplane Caudron-Fabre, (Caudron-Fabre), was a French amphibious seaplane that competed in the 1912 Monaco event. It was one of the first true amphibians, able to take-off from water and touch down on land.

References

  1. Hewlett, Gail (2010). Old bird : the irrepressible Mrs Hewlett. Leicester: Matador. ISBN   978-1-84876-337-1. OCLC   506252738.
  2. History of the company. People.bath.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2011 Archived on 17 July 2012.
  3. list of manufacturers of the Avro 504. Gregorie.org. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
  4. Bruce 1957, pp. 216–217.