Airspeed aircraft you can see
| Type | First flew | Built | UK museums |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airspeed Oxford | 1937 | 8,586 | 2 |
| Airspeed Horsa & Waco Hadriangliders | 1942 | ~5,000 | 4 |
| Airspeed Ambassador | 1947 | 23 | 1 |
Airspeed in brief
In 1933 the company moved to Portsmouth. The Courier and Envoy followed. A 1936 engine project based on the Wolseley Scorpio was abandoned after heavy losses. De Havilland bought the shares in 1940, and Airspeed became a subsidiary under its own name. Wartime output was its peak: more than 8,500 Oxford trainers and about 3,800 Horsa troop gliders.
After the war Airspeed converted surplus Oxfords into Consul airliners. It built the Ambassador for British European Airways. In 1951 it was fully merged into de Havilland, which ended further Ambassador development.
Museums holding Airspeed aircraft
| Museum | Airspeed types | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IWM DuxfordCambridge, Cambridgeshire | 2 | £29 | 146 | Concorde 101 (G-AXDN), the pre-production development aircraft and the fastest Concorde of them all at Mach 2.23 — plus an SR-71A… |
| Army Flying MuseumStockbridge, Hampshire | 1 | £18 | 43 | Middle Wallop's Army Flying Museum covers everything the Army has flown from observation balloons to Apaches, with superb dioramas and a… |
| De Havilland Aircraft MuseumSt Albans, Hertfordshire | 1 | £12 | 35 | Mosquito prototype W4050, the original 1940 aircraft, in the place it was designed and first assembled. No other British museum has… |
| Royal Air Force Museum LondonLondon, Greater London | 1 | Free | 88 | Avro Lancaster R5868 'S-Sugar' — 137 operations, the RAF's highest-scoring surviving heavy — under the same roof as a Vulcan, a… |
| South Yorkshire Aircraft MuseumDoncaster, South Yorkshire | 1 | £7.50 | 109 | Doncaster's South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum sprawls across the old RAF Doncaster site: dozens of airframes and helicopters, strong… |
| Yorkshire Air MuseumYork, North Yorkshire | 1 | £17 | 54 | Halifax 'Friday the 13th' — the world's only complete Halifax reconstruction, honouring the type that flew from this very field —… |
Frequently asked
Did Nevil Shute really build aircraft?
Yes. As Nevil Shute Norway he co-founded Airspeed in York in 1931 with Hessell Tiltman.
How many Horsa gliders were built?
About 3,800, alongside more than 8,500 Oxford trainers.
What happened to Airspeed?
De Havilland bought it in 1940 and fully absorbed it in 1951.