Oddy worked with the early aircraft pioneer Robert Blackburn, founder of the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company. W. D. Oddy & Company were advertising their airscrews at least as early as 1917.[2] In 1919 Oddy patented a propeller copying and profiling machine. The limited liability company was formed in October 1919,[3] set up with £25,000 of share capital and Blackburn as co-director. In just over a year from its establishment, Oddy had been granted other patents concerning the design, making and finishing of propellers.[1]
Until the mid-1920s, W. D. Oddy & Co. was the main supplier of airscrews to Blackburn Aircraft.[1] They also provided propellers for other aircraft, including 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) diameter ones for the R38 class airship. These, built entirely from Honduras mahogany and fitted with a lightning conductor strip from tips to boss, were amongst the largest of their day. Another Oddy propeller took the Alliance-Napier Seabird, powered by a Napier Lion engine, from London to Madrid in less than 8 hours.[4]
In 1920 Oddy were developing a propeller with variable and reversible pitch.[4]
As well as making airscrews for propelling aircraft, W. D. Oddy also built them for other purposes. They saw a future for motor boats driven by aerial propellers and provided a four bladed airscrew for A. E. Guinness' Napier Lion powered boat Oma.[4] Other, smaller Oddy airscrews drove dynamos to provide electrical power.[5]
The company disappears from the records after about 1925; it may have been absorbed into Blackburns later.[1]