Aeronca

History

In 1909 Arthur Alexander Dashwood Lang (b. January 1885 in Acton, Middlesex - d. 10 January 1953 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) became interested in aircraft propeller design and made some propellers in his own name. Lang developed and patented processes covering the tips of propeller blades with copper or fabric. In 1910 he went to work for the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later the Bristol Aircraft Co.) as manager of the propeller shop. He left in 1912 and set up in partnership with David Garnett at the Riverside Works Weybridge, Surrey.The company was called Lang, Garnett and Co. This enterprise lasted a matter of months before Garnett left the firm. Lang established the Lang Propeller company in 1913 and continued to use the Riverside Works. These premises were later used by The Airscrew Company to manufacture propellers and associated components. At its peak the company supplied wooden propellers to nearly every aeroplane company in England.

Light Aircraft Ltd of Hanworth, Middlesex, was registered on 26 August 1935 by Flt-Lt Bernard J.W. Brady and John Vivian Prestwich (b. January 1900 in Edmonton, Middlesex - d. 6 February 1938 in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire), the son of JAP engine maker and founder, John Alfred Prestwich, to produce 2-seater aeroplane with low cost of ownership, comparable to that of a cheap car. Light Aircraft acquired the British Empire license to manufacture the American designed Aeronca C.3 from the Murray Aeronautical Corporation of Canada. A total of 11 Aeronca C.3s was built in 1935/6.

In April 1936 the Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain, Ltd. (Originally styled Aeronco, presumably to avoid confusion with the American original, but eventually reverting to Aeronca) was incorporated, through a merger of Lang Propellers Ltd, Light Aircraft Ltd and Aircraft Accessories Ltd of Peterborough. Besides Brady and Prestwich, directors included H.V. Roe, who with his brother A.V. Roe had founded A.V. Roe and Co Ltd in 1913. Lang did not continue with the new concern and joined the Board of Hordern-Richmond, another British company which was closely involved in the development and production of airscrews and propellers. Sales were to be dealt with through Aircraft Exchange and Mart, another of Brady’s companies. Aeronco also contracted J.A. Prestwich and Company, Ltd. (J.A.P.) in London to build a dual-ignition version of the Aeronca E-113C engine under license as the Aeronca-J.A.P. J-99. This engine was used extensively in British light aircraft.

Business was set up at the Aircraft Accessories factory (the Walton works) in Peterborough, which had originally been the site of Frederick Sage and Co. Ltd. A version of the Aeronca C-3, with fabric-covered ailerons instead of metal and British specification materials, designated the Aeronca 100 was produced, but the expected sales never materialized and only 24 were manufactured before production was halted. An improved version, the Aeronca 300 was in development when financial scandal saw the whole of the original board resign in April 1937, but on November 5th, 1937, the Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain declared bankruptcy.

Company References

1. British Light Aeroplanes 1920-1940, Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume (GMS Enterprises, 2000)
2. Plane to Plane - the Story of Frederick Sage and Company Ltd., Martyn Chorlton (Old Forge Publ., 2004)