Parnall Aircraft Since 1914

ParnaIl Aircraft since 1914 , _~enneth E Wlxey

The only surviving ParnaH aeroplane. ParnaH Elf G-AAIN at Old Warden in 1981 after restoration by the Shuttleworth Trust. It has a 120 hp Cirrus Hermes II engine. (John A Long LRPS)

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Contents

© Kenneth E Wixey 1990.

First published in Great Britain by Putnam Aeronautical Books, an imprint of Conway Maritime Press Ltd, 24 Bride Lane, Fleet Street London EC4Y 8DR Published and distributed in the United States of America and Canada by the Naval Institute Press Annapolis, Maryland 21402 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 89-64220 ISBN 1-55750-930-1 This edition is authorized for sale only in the United States and its territories and possessions, and Canada All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication contravenes applicable laws. Manufactured in Great Britain

Introduction Acknowledgements Parnal! Works Lineage Chart Family Business The Fishponds Connection George Parnal! and Company Parnal! Aircraft Limited Parnal! and Sons Limited - Aircraft Built under Contract 1914-1918 Avro 504 Short 827 Short Bomber Hamble Baby Parnal! Scoutl Zepp-Chaser Parnal! Panther George Parnal! and Company 1920-1935 Parnall Puffin Parnall Plover Parnall Possum Parnall Pixie Series Parnall Perch Autogiros De Havilland D.H.9A Contracts Parnall Peto Parnall Pike Parnall Imp Parnall Pipit Parnall Parasol Parnall Elf Parnall Prawn Parnall GAI31 Hendy 302/302A Miles M.l Satyr Percival Gull Four Parnall F.5 133 Project Parnall Aircraft Limited 1935-1939 Parnall Heck Parnall Type 382 (Heck Mk.III) 5

7 11

12 13

25 36 53

69 69 74 77

80 85 88 100 100 105 112 118

133 137

142 146 160 164 167 175 181 190 193 197 200 203 207 214 214 220

Appendix A: Individual Aircraft Notes Appendix B: Dispositions of Certain Parnall-Built Aircraft on Naval Duty 1918 Bibliography Index

Introduction When Great Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914, the aeroplane was still at a very rudimentary stage in its development. Indeed even as the hostile nations clashed, there persisted a school of thought among some military officers that those flimsy contraptions of linen and spruce, which would admittedly carry a man aloft, would nevertheless be of little strategic value in the ensuing conflict. It was conceded that aeroplanes made excellent reconnaissance vehicles from which observation reports on enemy troop movements could be obtained, but other than that quite a number of the more short-sighted generals and admirals could foresee no advantage in the employment of aeroplanes as a key weapon in contemporary warfare. Before the First World War the apathy of the majority of British politic~ans towards supporting the development of military aviation in the United Kingdom was hard to understand in view of the rapidly worsening political situation in Europe. While Germany proceeded with the construction of her giant Zeppelin airships, together with the less impressive but numerically superior Military Aviation Service, the British Government was extremely reluctant to give financial backing to the country's aviation industry such as it was. Had it not been for the initiative of private enterprise, Britain would undoubtedly have been in even worse straits regarding her military aviation requirements when the war started. As it was, thanks to the more far-sighted military pundits such as Maj Brooke-Popham, Capt Hugh Trenchard (later a Viscount and Marshal of the Royal Air Force), Capt (later Rear Admiral Sir) Murray Sueter, Capt (later Air Chief Marshal Sir) Philip Joubert de la Ferte, and Cmdr Charles Rumney Samson RN, to name but a few, Britain was able to prepare more readily in the field of air power. Politically one member of Parliament in particular had the tenacity of purpose and firm belief in the aeroplane as a military weapon, enough to continuously warn the British Government of the day that they neglected the development of British military air power at their peril. That politician was Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, a keen airman, and first member of the British Government to pilot his own aeroplane. Eventually Prime Minister Herbert Asquith requested that the Imperial Defence Committee put forward proposals for the creation of an efficient British air force. As a result the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) came into being on 13 April, 1912. The new Service was at first divided into a

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Military Wing and aNaval Wing, but under the auspicious eye of Winston Churchill, who was already setting up a system of seaplane stations around Britain's coasts, the Naval Wing developed its own specialist techniques, and on 1 July, 1914, became the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Meanwhile the seething cauldron of political unrest in Europe finally spilled over on 28 June, 1914, when the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the town of Sarajevo in Serbia. This event had within two months spread its political consequences across the nations, and inflicted upon the world its first experience of global conflict. On the outbreak of this first world war, Britain possessed few Britishbuilt military aeroplanes, the majority in service being of French origin. This state of affairs was soon rectified when British aeroplane manufacturers began producing an increasing number of their own products. Indeed, Great Britain became a major producer of military aeroplanes, and during four years of war her aircraft industry grew in proportion until, by the time of the Armistice in November 1918, it was employing 350,000 men and women. During the four years of war from 1914 to 1918, this growing body of aircraft workers between them produced 55,000 aeroplanes of all types for military service. This rapid expansion of the aviation industry was due not only to the more prominent manufacturers such as the Royal Aircraft Factory (RAF) at Farnborough, A V Roe & Co Ltd (Avro), the British & Colonial Aeroplane Co Ltd (later Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd), Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd (Airco and later de Havilland Aircraft Co Ltd), Sopwith Aviation Co Ltd, Short Brothers, and Vickers (Aviation) Ltd, but also to the numerous smaller firms throughout Britain which undertook sub-contract work on behalf of aeroplane manufacturers and government departments to produce aeroplanes and their many components. The majority of these early military aircraft were constructed mainly from wood, so it was not surprising when companies renowned for their expertise and skill in cabinet-making, woodworking and joinery, were called upon to consider the construction of wooden aeroplanes and parts. A number of these sub-contractors became so successful at aeroplane manufacture that it was not long before they had continuous production lines of complete new aeroplanes awaiting delivery to the squadrons. The significance of the effect some of the contractors were having by their inroads into the aircraft industry was soon made apparent. For example, Samuel Waring (later Lord Waring) of the Waring and Gillow partnership was responsible for founding the British Nieuport & General Aircraft Co Ltd at Cricklewood, an event which followed an agreement with the French Nieuport concern to construct that company's aeroplanes in Great Britain. At Cheltenham, the high-class woodworking firm of H H Martyn & Co Ltd, became part of a new venture when it helped form the Gloucestershire Aircraft Co Ltd (later Gloster Aircraft). This company eventually acquired the design rights of the aforemen-

tioned British Nieuport & General Aircraft, when that concern was forced to close down in 1920, an arrangement which also included the services of H P Folland, British Nieuport & General's design engineer who would become chief designer to the Gloster Aircraft company. Meanwhile an equally well-known company in the West Country, recognised for its woodworking skills, was Parnall & Sons Ltd of Bristol. This firm, which specialised in shopfitting and allied equipment, was requested by the Admiralty to undertake the manufacture and reconditioning of naval aeroplanes. The contracts covered types designed by Avro, Sopwith, Fairey Aviation and Short Brothers, and before the end of the war, two designs created by Parnall's themselves after encouragement from the Admiralty. This progressive development in the company's history was to result in a lengthy association which Parnall's enjoyed with the Admiralty, Air Ministry and the British aircraft industry. This relationship induced the production of a series of naval aeroplanes, albeit mostly prototypes and experimental machines for the Air Ministry, as well as a number of civil types, including Parnall's own designs and those built under contract for other aeroplane manufacturers. The earlier types of aircraft originated in Bristol both with Parnall & Sons Ltd, and with George Parnall's own company after its formation at the Coliseum works in Park Row, Bristol. However, the majority of aeroplanes produced by George Parnall & Co were designed and built at Yate in Gloucestershire, after the company moved there in the mid-1920s. Parnall & Sons Ltd of Fishponds, Bristol (until recently a member of the Avery Group, but now part of GEC), still flourish as manufacturers of high-class shopfittings and other components. This firm owes its origins to Parnall's nineteenth-century family business, a concern from which were to evolve two entirely separate companies bearing the names of Parnall. Both establishments would accomplish much to further the cause of British aviation over three decades from 1915 until 1945. Indeed Parnall & Sons of Fishponds continued producing aircraft components well into the 1960s for both the civil and military market. It should, perhaps, be explained that George Parnall sold his Yate aircraft works in 1935, but the concern which took it over still retained the name of Parnall in its title when it became Parnall Aircraft Ltd, and this company's part in the history of Parnall's is fully described in the main text. The primary aim of this book is to firmly establish the name of Parnall in its richly deserved niche in the annals of British aeronautical achievements. It is intended also as a tribute to a comparatively small, but nevertheless, proud pair of family businesses which, through their largely unsung efforts, managed to uphold that hallmark of quality one expects from British companies steeped in traditions of craftsmanship. The first section of the book relates to the historical background and environment surrounding Parnall & Sons at Bristol, from the firm's early

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beginnin~s. This in~lu?es the historical ~actory with ea~ly aVI~tlOn, i~s acquisition

association of the Fishponds by Parnall's and the company's mvolvement with vanous aircraft work at the site from 1939 until the mid-1960s. This first part also covers the story of George Parnall's break with Avery's, the forming of his own company in Park Row, the move to Yate, a summar? of the years at Yate until 1935, his retirement and untimely death. !t contams too the story of Yate's continuing involvement with the aircraft mdustry from 1935 until the end of the Second World War, and what followed. 1."he second p~rt of the book is devoted mainly to those aeroplanes designed and bUIlt by Parnall, and to types designed by other aircraft manufacturers which were produced by Parnall under contract for both military and civil use. . E:ach aircraft type, including those built under contract, is described and avallab~e data given. Numerous pho'tographs (a number previously unpubl1shed) and av~ilable drawings serve to portray the various subjects. ~uch of the techmcal data and details appertaining to certain Parnalldesigned aeroplanes were lost in the German air attacks on the Yate works in 1941, and as a. co~s.equence, despite the exhaustive research by a number of ve~y h~lpful m?1Vlduals and the author, information regarding a few ~achm~s IS un~v01dably sparse. Also in one or two cases, very few suitable Illus~ratlOns eXist of a ~articular aeroplane, thus accounting for the poor 9uaht~ photographs which may occasionally depict a certain machine. The mcluslOn of details extract~d from t?e personal flight log of the late Capt Frank T Courtney are by kmd permiSSIOn of Capt Courtney hims.elf.

Acknowledgements The author wishes to express his sincere gratitude to the following official establishments, private companies and individuals without whose ready help this book would never have materialised. Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, Boscombe Down; Beaumont Aviation Literature; British Aerospace (Aircraft Group), Kingston-upon Thames and Filton; J M Bruce; L Callaway (ex-works manager, George Parnall & Co, Yate); Ian Carnochan (one time PRO, T I Jackson Ltd, Yate); Ted Chapman; the late Capt Frank T Courtney (one time free-lance test pilot); Doubleday & Co Inc; E Draycott (ex-ground engineer, works inspector at George Parnall & Co, Yate); Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton; Mrs Margaret Fry (ex-women's supervisor, George Parnall & Co, Yate); Norman Hall-Warren (ex-design staff, George Parnall & Co, Yate); Eric Harlin; Imperial War Museum; the late A J Jackson; T I Jackson Ltd, Yate; Philip Jarrett; George Jenks (Avro Historical Research Group); John A Long (Parnall & Sons Ltd) Fishponds, Bristol; Macdonald & Janes; David Male; Ministry of Defence (Air Historical Branch); Mark Parnall of Launceston, Cornwall; Brian Pickering, Military Aircraft Photographs; the late Stephen Piercey (Flight International); Putnam & Co; Elfan Ap Rees (British Rotorcraft Museum); Richard Riding (Aeroplane Monthly); Bruce Robertson; RollsRoyce (Aero-engine division), Bristol; Royal Aeronautical Society; Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough (Main Library); Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon; Shell UK (Aviation division); G Stuart-Leslie; Westland Helicopters Ltd, Yeovil; J W Williamson (Parnall & Sons Ltd), Fishponds, Bristol. Finally I would like to record an appreciation of my wife's forbearance during those periods of research when silence was golden! Kenneth E Wixey Brockworth Gloucestershire.

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Parnall Works Lineage Chart 1820 William Pamall started business Narrow Wine Street, Bristol, as weights and measures manufacturer.

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1906-1907 Fishponds factory built and used by Brazil Straker. Motor vehicles and omnibus engirs produced. 1918 Fishponds site acquired by Cosmos Engineering Co. Produced aero-