De Havilland Propellers

de Havilland Propellers Ltd.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Aerospace, Defence
Founded	1935
Founder	de Havilland Aircraft company
Headquarters	Hatfield , United Kingdom
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Variable-pitch propellers, guided missiles, cold-air units, turbine-driven electric alternators, radar scanning devices, electronic systems, plastic structural components, wind turbines
Parent	de Havilland Aircraft company; later Hawker Siddeley Dynamics; British Aerospace Dynamics; BAE Systems (Guided Weapons Division)

Overview

de Havilland Propellers was founded in 1935 as a branch of the de Havilland Aircraft company, following the acquisition of a licence from the American firm Hamilton Standard for producing variable-pitch propellers. The licence agreement, which cost approximately £20,000, was finalised in June 1934.

Concurrently, a substantial manufacturing facility—considered among the largest globally at the time—was constructed at Lostock, Bolton, situated some distance from de Havilland’s primary aircraft manufacturing site at Hatfield. This factory was erected within nine months as part of the government's pre-war emergency shadow-factory initiative.

On 27 April 1946, de Havilland Propellers, Ltd. was officially registered, establishing its headquarters at Hatfield to serve as the hub for design, development, and flight testing. Despite this, the principal production operations remained based at the Lostock factory in Lancashire.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, missile development activities commenced at the Hatfield site, utilizing facilities previously dedicated to wartime aircraft propeller research and testing. By the early 1960s, the company transitioned into Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, which subsequently evolved into British Aerospace Dynamics and later became part of BAE Systems under its Guided Weapons Division. The Hatfield location ceased operations in 1990.

Post-war manufacturing developments

Following the conclusion of the war, the company expanded its range of products. A significant shift away from producing airscrews occurred in 1950, when they began limited production of electronic vibration-measuring instruments intended for broad industrial use. These items originated from the vibration division, whose early electronic expertise in 1952 formed the foundation of a team that initiated the design of guided weaponry. In addition to guided missiles, de Havilland Propellers engaged in manufacturing aircraft cold-air units, turbine-driven electric alternators, radar scanning devices, electronic systems, plastic structural components, and even developed an experimental 80 ft wind turbine to harness wind power. That same year, the company secured a contract from the Ministry of Supply (MoS) to develop a compact turbo-alternator tailored to supply electrical power for missiles produced by other manufacturers. Additionally, a second contract was awarded to develop an infra-red homing guidance system.

Upon completing these projects, the MoS commissioned de Havilland Propellers to develop a full weapon system featuring an air-to-air missile equipped with infra-red homing guidance. Initially codenamed Blue Jay, this system was later renamed Firestreak. The manufacturing responsibilities for Firestreak were distributed across all U.K. de Havilland Propellers facilities: design, research, and development were managed at Hatfield; Lostock produced part of the missile components (with the remainder subcontracted) and handled assembly and testing; Farnworth focused on manufacturing and assembling development rounds; while final assembly took place at the Walkden plant. Test firings were conducted at both Woomera, Australia and Aberporth.

The company also played a key role in developing the Blue Streak rocket, Britain's indigenous nuclear missile. Although cancelled as a weapons system in 1960, its technology was repurposed to create Europe's own satellite launch vehicle. Serving as the first stage of the Europa rocket, Blue Streak achieved a flawless track record with every test flight, earning recognition as the only rocket to attain a 100% success rate during test firings. During initial assessments of Blue Streak's propellant system—where DHP was the primary contractor—engineers from de Havilland consulted with the Convair Division of Dynamics Corporation in the United States to address refuelling challenges. Both companies maintained a reciprocal technical information exchange agreement.

Related product lines

Under license from Hamilton Standard, de Havilland Propellers manufactured cold-air units for a wide variety of both civilian and military aircraft. When paired with heat exchangers, these units were capable of lowering compressor-bleed air temperatures by over 300 °C.

De Havilland Propellers Ltd., based at their Stevenage facility, extensively developed epoxy resin/glass fibre-reinforced plastics used in airscrew spinners, blade root fairings, and other parts. Dr. Norman de Bruyne, FREng, FRS (of Aero Research Limited - ARL), pioneered the application of reinforced phenol-formaldehyde resins for producing variable-pitch propellers for de Havilland. This material was particularly advantageous due to its density being approximately half that of aluminium alloy, which significantly reduced centrifugal force stresses at the propeller root.

Additional products included radar scanner production and the assembly of a wind-driven electricity generator commissioned by Enfield Cables Ltd. The earliest large-scale industrial wind turbines constructed in the UK were erected under the guidance of the British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Association—commonly known as the Electrical Research Association (ERA)—during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953, de Havilland Propellers installed a 24 m diameter two-bladed Enfield-Andreau type turbine in St. Albans. Furthermore, components such as undercarriages for the de Havilland Comet were manufactured at their Lostock facility.

See also

• Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
• de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre
• List of aircraft propeller manufacturers