The history of BAE Systems – Dave Ward

On Monday 18^th November, Dave Ward gave a fascinating talk about the growth of BAE Systems sites in the North West of England during the last century.  Most of the 35 guests were aware of the current Warton and Samlesbury sites, and thanks to a link to the last speaker at the Society who talked about the Dick, Kerr ladies football team, had learned about the Preston site in the early part of the 20^th century. 

As a historical aside, the Dick Kerr company took over English Electric in 1902 which, after a series of mergers in 1960, became the British Aircraft Corporation. Nationalisation (and further mergers) in 1977 formed British Aerospace which then transformed into BAE Systems when it took over the electronic systems part of Marconi in 1999.

Dave’s illustrated talk showed how major aircraft sub-assemblies were manufactured at Preston in the 1930s before being shipped elsewhere for final assembly and first flight.  Samlesbury site was developed at the start of the Second World War, and at its peak, assembled close to 80 aircraft per month.  Warton site started life as a Base Air Depot for the US Air Force in 1941 and when the Americans left after the war, Warton was seen as a perfect base to develop and test new aircraft products. 

The long runway and the installation of wind tunnels soon meant that Warton became the main development site for the Canberra jet bomber, followed later by the Lightning, Jaguar, Tornado and now Typhoon aircraft.  Apart from the apprentice training school, the Preston site was closed in 1990 and work transferred to Samlesbury and Warton and in 2016 the apprentice training school closed its doors at Preston and moved to a purpose-built building over the old runway at Samlesbury.