ADC
Aircraft Disposal CompanyAirdisco
A.D.C Aircraft Ltd
Contents
History
Formed by Frederick Handley Page, the Aircraft Disposal Company (also known as Airdisco from its telegraph address) was established in March 1920 to take over from His Majesty's Disposals Board surplus aircraft not required for use by the diminishing RAF. ADC then converted them to various civil and military roles before selling them on.
For the 1922 Itford gliding competition, Airdisco produced a single seat glider called the Phi-Phi, designed by Major Grant and Mr. Rankin, but it crashed on its second flight.
In 1923 a drawing office was formed under John Kenworthy, formerly with Austin and Westland. In March that year, Flight Magazine [2] showed a “Variable Camber Monoplane - An Interesting Aircraft Disposal Co. Experiment”. This was not an Aircraft Disposal Co product, but a Stemal III, designed by Major S. Malinowski and built in the first half of 1922 in the workshops of the Pilot School in Bydgoszcz in northern Poland, with monoplane wing featuring a mechanism hidden inside, mounted on a Nieuport fuselage. The machine, without engine, was acquired by the Aircraft Disposal Company in 1923, though it not known wat they intended to do with it.
After the Bankruptcy of Martinsyde in 1924, ADC acquired the company, and Kenworthy effected highly successful modifications to the Martinsyde F.4, resulting in the A.D.C.1. (for completeness, the ADC developments of Martinsyde designs are covered under the Martinsyde entry). As a result of this increased involvement in aircraft design, from 1925 the company was officially known as A.D.C Aircraft Ltd.
The chief engine designer for A.D.C. Aircraft was Major Frank Halford, who was one of the designers of the B.H.P. engine, the forerunner of the Puma, and later the chief designer with de Havilland engines.
The company name was changed to The Imperial and Foreign Corporation Ltd and was finally wound up in 1930.
Company References
- The Great War-Plane Sell Off, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2005)
- Flight 15 Mar 1923
- http://www.samolotypolskie.pl/samoloty/1782/126/Stemal-III
Project Data
| Project No | Type No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year | Spec (Requirement) | Status | Qty | Description | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phi-Phi | 1922 | Proto | 1 | 1S glider | 1,2 |
Project References
- British Gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970, Norman Ellison (Adam and Charles Black, 1970)
- Flight 26 Oct 1922
Production Details and Type Description
All wood parasol monoplane with a rectangular cross-section fuselage. Its wing section was thick enough to allow for semi-cantilever construction, supported centrally by two pairs of cabane struts and two steeply rising lift struts from the lower fuselage longerons, though there were a pair of drag wires from nose to wing tip. The wing plan was unusual, with a gently curving leading edge, elliptical tips and straight trailing edge. The tip-mounted ailerons were horn balanced. Originally fitted with a pair of small main wheels rigidly attached to the lower fuselage directly below the cockpit and aided by a sprung, articulated tailskid, the wheels were replaced at Itford by a pair of skids and then by skids with small wheels attached to them.
| ADC Phi-Phi Specification | |||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW |
| 45 ft | 21 ft 3 in | 150 sq ft | |||
| 13.72 m | 6.48 m | 13.94 m2 | |||
One aircraft only, built for the 1922 Itford Gliding Competition. Flown with Competition Number 27, it recorded one competitive flight but crashed on a second attempt.
Total ADC Production1
Page Revision History
Revised at Version 2.1.0- Added comment on Variable Camber Monoplane.
- Added Type Description and Specification details.