The story of the rapid expansions and retrenchments in our industry are explored by Ron Smith’s investigation into the six phases of the British industry after the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903.

Starting with the period of exciting experimentation before 1914, Dr Smith gives us a snapshot of the major firms that were part of the industry in 1910. He then moves onto the second stage, the rapid developments brought World War I and gives a flavour of the larger and more diverse companies that made aeroplanes during the period.

Smith goes onto discusses the deep retrenchment after 1918, a period where manufacturers had to diversify and compete for each requirement issued by Government, and which led to the first phase of rationalisation in 1928 and 1934-35. The fourth phase looks at the increase in production brought about the preparations and then fighting the Second Wold War.

Smith concludes by briefly looking at the industry up to the second period of rationalisation of the industry, with the formation of the British Aircraft Corporation & Hawker Siddeley, and then modern times with the establishment of British Aerospace and beyond. These last two sections of the lecture were bolstered by the question and answer sessions, which prompts questions and comments from those who worked and shaped post-war projects.

Dr Ron Smith gave the lecture to the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 2 February 2004. The podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.