Dowty Rotol
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Dowty Rotol is the final incarnation of three major British aviation supply firms, Dowty Equipment, Rotol Airscrews and British Messier, who merged in 1960. Today they operate two closely associated plants, one as Dowty Rotol Propeller, the other as Dowty Messier. Their primary products are propellers and avionics.
Rotol Airscrews was formed in 1937 by Rolls-Royce and Bristol Engines to take over both company's propeller development, the market being too small to really need more than one company in this space. The name is a contraction of "ROlls-Royce" and "BrisTOL". Rotol props were always considered leading edge, their models equipping the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, and many other WWII-era aircraft. By the end of the war they had introduced the first five-bladed propeller to see widespread use, used on late-model Spitfires. In 1968 the company introduced the first fibreglass propellers, which went on to see widespread use. Since then they have migrated to carbon fibre, and remain a leader in propeller design.
Dowty Aviation, named for founder George Dowty, formed in 1935 to build landing gear systems, and later branched out in aviation hydraulic systems. Their work with the French firm Messier eventually led to the creation of Messier-Dowty which continues in France, with the British portions of the firm merging into Dowty Rotol along with Messier's UK operations.
Dowty's current propeller lineup is used on almost all turboprop feederliners, including the Dash 8 and Saab 2000, as well as turboprop transport aircraft such as the latest models of the C-130.
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