Chilton Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft design and manufacturing company of the late 1930s and 1940s.
Foundation
The company was founded in early 1937 by two former
de Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
Technical School students and
Old Etonian
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...
s, the Hon. Andrew Dalrymple, (b.1914) the son of
Sir John Dalrymple, and Alexander Reginald Ward, (b.1915) the son of Hon. Sir
John Ward, whose father was the 1st Earl of Dudley. It established a small factory on the
Chilton Lodge estate at
Leverton, near
Hungerford
Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
, from which location the firm's name was derived.
The Chilton D.W.1
![Chilton D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Chilton_D.W.1_Netheravon_04.68.jpg)
The founders designed a small, low-powered, but fast, sporting monoplane, designated the Chilton D.W.1. The aircraft had a clean aerodynamic design, which required split flaps to lower the landing speed. The
Carden Ford 32 h.p. gave it a declared top speed of 112 mph, but during racing, 129 mph was eventually reached.
Four aircraft were built between early 1937 and July 1939, the last having a 45 h.p. Train 4T engine, being designated the D.W.1A. A further development, the Chilton D.W.2, was commenced, but had not been completed at the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The four aircraft were stored during the war and the jigs, spares and the half-completed D.W.2 were taken over by the College of Aeronautical Engineering at
Redhill Aerodrome
Redhill Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome located south-east of Redhill, Surrey, England, in green belt land.
Redhill Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P421) that allows flights for the public transport of ...
.
All four D.W.1s flew post-war, taking part in many air races, but after accidents, only two survived in airworthy condition in 2005. From the mid-1980s, three examples have been commenced by amateur builders, one of which first flew in 1987. These aircraft are powered by a
Lycoming O-145
The Lycoming O-145 is a family of small, low-horsepower, four-cylinder, air-cooled engines. It was Lycoming Engines' first horizontally opposed aircraft engine and was produced from 1938 until the late 1940s. The family includes the reduction-ge ...
engine.
Gliders
The firm had been planning to make a small
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
called the Chilton Cavalier, after the war. However a glider pilot, Dudley Hiscox, brought the drawings of a better glider, the
DFS Olympia Meise
The DFS Olympia Meise (German: "Olympic Titmouse") was a German sailplane designed by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) for Olympic competition, based on the DFS Meise.
Design and development
After the Olympic games in Berlin ...
, to Chilton and so a prototype was built in a converted chicken house on the Chilton estate. The German drawings were not detailed and so new drawings were made in which the Meise was altered for cheaper production. Aircraft consultants, called 'A and EP', checked the stresses for British airworthiness conditions and consequently the spar and joint fittings were strengthened. The maiden flight was made on 11 August 1946. At that time the firm had a long order list for Chilton Olympians.
The building of the wings for the prototype had been sub-contracted to
Elliotts of Newbury
Elliotts of Newbury was a British company that became well known for manufacturing gliders.
Beginnings and World War II
The company was founded by Samuel Elliott in 1870 as a joinery works, Elliott's Moulding and Joinery Company Ltd. It produc ...
. On completion of the prototype's wings, Elliotts refused to sell the wing jigs to Chilton. Andrew Dalrymple was killed in a crash of a
Fi Storch on 25 December 1945 near Hungerford, and this event soon ended aircraft production. After the death of Dalrymple an agreement was reached to sell production rights and all the work in hand on the redesigned Olympia to Elliotts, who went on to build 150
EoN Olympia. The Chilton prototype was eventually declared un-airworthy in 1970 and destroyed.
In Australia
Plans for the Chilton Olympia were imported into Australia. Three were constructed, and two were still flying in 2015.
VH-GDQ "Columbus": written off.
VH-GFW "Yellow Witch": homebuilt by Arthur Douglas Hardinge, Bendigo, owned by K. Nolan, Melbourne.
VH-GLY: built 1959, refurbished by Mike Valentine.
Aircraft
*
Chilton D.W.1 light monoplane
*Chilton Cavalier glider (not built)
*Chilton Olympia glider – became the
EoN Olympia
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
External links
* http://www.chilton-aircraft.co.uk/
Detailed history of the Olympia
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Berkshire
West Berkshire District
History of Berkshire