Slingsby Aviation
Encyclopedia : S : SL : SLI : Slingsby Aviation
Slingsby Aviation is an aircraft company based in Kirbymoorside, Yorkshire, England. The company was founded in nearby Scarborough as Slingsby Sailplanes by Frederick Nicholas Slingsby, a furniture manufacturer, World War One aviator and gliding enthusiast. Its first aircraft was a German designed Falke which flew in 1931. In 1934 the company moved to Kirbymoorside. Slingsby’s last glider, the T65 Vega, ceased production in 1982.
The company is now a subsidiary of Cobham PLC. Cobham has 3 main groups of companies; FR Aviation, Aerospace Systems (formerly Flight Refuelling Group) and the Chelton Group of companies (of which Slingsby Aviation is a member).
Slingsby designs and manufactures composite structures, ranging from large marine structures, such as submarine rudders, to lightweight helmets for helmet mounted display systems, mainly for the aerospace and defence industries.
Slingsby Aviation’s SAH2200 hovercraft has operated in such varied regions as the Arctic Circle and Africa. Two are seen in the James Bond movie, Die Another Day.
The company builds the T-67 Firefly, a two seater military training aircraft.
Slingsby Aviation employs around 130 people on its 12,220 square metres (131,000 square feet ) site. The company has its own airfield with a 750 metre reinforced grass runway.
History
In the Second World War, Slingsby contributed to the production of military gliders with the Slingsby Hengist.
Reference
Slingsby Sailplanes, by Martin Simons, Airlife Publishing 1996 ISBN 1 85310 732 8: drawings, descriptions and many photographs of all Slingsby gliders.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.