FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0156.PDF
MANUFACTURE and MAINTENANCE The Aircraft Division of Helliwells, Ltd.: Its Work and Structure SINCE the end of the war, and of lease-lend aid, that worthy and ubiquitous trainer the North American Harvard has been kept flying in this country largely through the work of Helliwells, Ltd. Holding the overhaul contract for these machines, the company has been respon sible not only for their modification and overhaul, but also for the manufacture of replacement parts. This has been but one aspect of the company's work. Other contracts include the maintenance of the M.T.C.A. Flying Unit fleet at Stansted, and sub-contracted manufacture and design pro jects. We were recently able to make a two-day tour of Helliwells' various units, using one of the firm's own aircraft, and to observe their various activities. From Croydon we flew to Cardiff to visit the company's factories at Treforest and Aberdare; then to Walsall (the company's main factory, headquarters and airfield) and Birmingham (where the research and development department of the Tube Investments group—of which Helliwells are members— is located) and then to Stansted. An account of the firm's back ground and our own impressions follow. Helliwells, Ltd., have been actively engaged in the aircraft industry for the past 20 years. At the beginning, the company was concerned mainly with component manufacture, but activities have widened since 1937 to include the modification, repair and overhaul of many types of aircraft, in addition to sub-contracted manufacture of major components. As mentioned, an important section of the firm's work has for many years concerned the overhaul of Harvards. The association began quite early in the war, when, by agreement with the North American company, Helliwells assembled all Harvards sent to this country under lease-lend. This was followed by the firm's assumption of full "sister firm" responsibility for the Harvard 2A, 2B and 3, which included the conversion of the aircraft to British standards to meet the R.A.F. requirements, and the regular overhaul of all R.A.F. Harvards in this country. In the post-war years, this work has played a large part in prolonging the useful life of the Harvard while more modern trainers have been under development. To meet this and other wartime commitments (which included the repair, overhaul and modification of Bostons, Seafires, Spit fires and other types) a design department was formed. Today, this department, A.R.B. and A.I.D. approved, is engaged to a large extent on development work for Bristols and other major companies. Helliwells' total factory space covers an area of almost 300,000 sq ft, and includes a fully equipped machine shop and detail section as part of its production capacity. It is at the South Wales factories that most of the company's manufacturing and sub-assembly work is carried out. This includes Harvard components and Pembroke sub-assemblies, which are subsequendy transported to the Walsall factory; and also sub contracted items, such as Canberra engine nacelles, cowlings and bomb doors, which are completed and delivered direct to the contracting firms. At present, much of this work is performed (together with Helliwells' non-aviation production in the field of metal tubing) at the Treforest factory, situated on a trading estate a few miles from Cardiff Airport: it is expected that increasing use will be made of the facilities of the well-equipped Aberdare factory also, in the near future. The technical director in charge of the South Wales factories is Mr. J. Ransom. The inter-factory journey from Cardiff to the Midlands can be made speedily enough, we found, using the company's own execu tive transport, Dove G-AKJG, flown on this occasion by Helli wells' chief test pilot, Mr. J. A. Goodrum. The Dove is one of three aircraft available for business use by officials of the firm or of the T.I. group. The other two machines are a Rapide and a Globe Swift (the machine entered for the 1952 air races by G/C. G. F. K. Donaldson). The Walsall factory, under Mr. G. Taylor Powell, general manager, is mainly engaged on the complete assembly of Pembroke wings, and the repair, overhaul and assembly of Harvard wings and other components. The last of the most recent batch of complete Harvard aircraft for overhaul—bearing the serial KF 448—was recently completed and is shown in the photograph (left). The Walsall facilities include those of a sheet metal-work section, engaged on prototype and small-quantity production work. We visited next Mr. S. H. Pickrell, chief designer. His design and experimental department in Walsall is kept busy on a number of varied projects, including sub-contracted work such as the design of the air-conditioning installation for the engine nacelles and inner wings of the Britannia 300, and installations for the M.T.C.A. Flying Unit. Its record of past work includes the design of modifications, investigation of defects and preparation of technical publications for the Harvard; a large number of installations for the radio, electric, photographic and calibration equipment of seven types of aircraft used by the M.T.C.A. Flying Unit; complete re-stressing of the Globe Swift for proposed manu- Final Walsall Harvard of the most recent overhaul batch: left to right) Jack Goodrum, chief test pilot; Roger Mills, assistant test pilot; Mr. R. Clark, chief inspector; and Mr. M. £. Holroyd, A.I.D. inspector-in-charge..
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
