For this week’s blog post counting down to the 2014 Farnborough Airshow, we take look at the 1959 show – which focused heavily on innovations made by UK industry in ‘vertical take-off and landing’ technology.
The Short SC1 made its air show debut, a prototype built following an MoD request in 1953 to develop a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The prototype is shown at 7mins59 in the video below, and was a vital precursor to the eventual development of the globally successful Harrier.
In addition, 1959 also showcased what was described as a ‘revolution in transport’ in the Hovercraft, as well as the ungainly and loud Fairey Rotodyne. While eventually cancelled, (primarily due to its sheer noise levels) the technology behind it would go on to inform UK thinking in the rotorcraft market, as Fairey became subsumed by Westland Aircraft.
Another interesting aspect shown in the 1959 video, are the statements made about the ‘UK’s globally successfully industry’. The video suggests that over a 14 year period, almost £900m of overseas orders had been placed on UK aircraft content – around £18bn in today’s money, and equating to £1.2bn a year. With the UK exporting around £11bn in aerospace in 2013, the UK’s industry continues to be globally successful.
The video also highlights the demonstration of the ‘NA39’ as it was called in 1959 (seen at 4mins50) – a developmental carrier strike aircraft which would eventually become the Blackburn Buccaneer.
