National Aircraft Factory No. 2

An initial production contract was received by NAF No.2 for 500 de Havilland DH.9 single-engined two-seat biplane day bombers for the Royal Air Force.^[1] The first DH.9 to be shipped from the Heaton Chapel factory was serial D1001 on 16 March 1918.^[2] A total of 444 DH.9s had been built when production ceased in spring 1919.^[3] Early production aircraft were despatched from NAF No.2 by rail, using the factory's adjacent LNWR sidings, to an Aircraft Acceptance Park at Coal Aston Aerodrome near Sheffield for final erection and testing. From May 1918 the DH.9s were transported in sections by rail or road to an Aircraft Acceptance Park at the newly opened Alexandra Park Aerodrome in Manchester where the aircraft were assembled and flight tested before delivery to the RAF.^[1] Some aircraft were also flown out of an airfield set up on the nearby Cringle Fields Park.^[2] The last 50 aircraft plus further NAF No.2 contracts for additional DH.9s were cancelled after the Armistice.^[1]

A further contract was received for the production of 200 de Havilland DH.10 Amiens twin-engined biplane day bombers. The first seven DH.10s (serials F351/357) were completed at NAF No.2, and test flown, from February 1919 onwards before the remaining machines on order were cancelled.^[1]

After the cancellation of remaining orders for military aircraft, the factory was sold to Crossley Motors for the manufacture of cars and goods vehicles by Willys Overland Crossley, a joint venture between Crossley and the American Willys-Overland Motors.^[2][4] Motor vehicle production at Heaton Chapel ended in the early 1930s, and the Fairey Aviation Company of Hayes, Middlesex, needing more production capacity to fulfil large contracts for military aircraft, purchased the Heaton Chapel facilities in November 1934.^[2][5] In late 1935, the factory buildings were refurbished in preparation for aircraft production, and the first of a batch of thirteen Fairey Hendon bombers was completed in September 1936, being moved by road to Barton Aerodrome for flight testing.^[2][6] In 1937, production switched to the Fairey Battle bomber, and later that year flight test activities were moved to Ringway Airport (now Manchester Airport).^[2]

In 1940, a shadow factory was built next to Fairey's Heaton park factory. This new factory, known as Errwood Park, was also managed by Fairey. It built Bristol Beaufighter fighters and Handley Page Halifax bombers during the war. Aircraft production at the shadow factory was stopped shortly after the end of the war, and at the end of 1945, Errwood Park was leased by Crossley from the Board of Trade, being used to build buses.^[7]

Nearly 4,400 new aircraft were built at the two factories between 1936 and 1958.^[8]

• Jenks, George (1998), "Stockport Aircraft Factories", Aeromilitaria, no. 1, Air-Britain, pp. 3–10
• "National Aircraft Factory Near Manchester" (PDF), The Engineer, 127: 422–424, 2 May 1919
• Scholefield, R.A. (1998), Manchester Airport, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-1954-X
• Scholefield, R.A. (2004), Manchester's Early Airfields: an extended article in Moving Manchester, Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, ISSN 0950-4699
• Taylor, H. A. (1974), Fairey Aircraft since 1915, London: Putnam, ISBN 0-370-00065-X

53°25′59″N 2°11′18″W / 53.4331°N 2.1884°W / 53.4331; -2.1884