{{Short description|British company}} {{About|the British manufacturer|the American manufacturer|Spartan Aircraft Company}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox company |name = Spartan Aircraft Limited |logo = |caption = |image = Spartan Arrow 1 G-ABWP Coventry 06.54.jpg |image_size = |image_alt = |image_caption = The last surviving Spartan aircraft, an Arrow, still airworthy as of 2016 |fate = Merged with Saunders Roe, 1935 |predecessor = Simmonds Aircraft |successor = |founded = Woolston, Hampshire, UK {{Start date|1930}} |type = Limited company |industry = Aircraft manufacturing |founder = Oliver Simmonds |products = Civil aircraft |num_employees = <!--peak number of employees--> |parent = |subsid = }}
'''Spartan Aircraft Limited''' was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1930 to 1935. It was formed by reinvestment in '''Simmonds Aircraft''' which had suffered financially.
==History==
In 1928 Oliver Simmonds designed and built a prototype aircraft, the Simmonds Spartan, in a factory at Woolston, Hampshire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/iowweb/sim.html |title=Simmonds-Spartan Production |access-date=11 April 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409073237/http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/iowweb/sim.html |archive-date=9 April 2008 }}</ref> The design was a success with over 50 aircraft built.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929%20-%200011.html ''Flight'' 1929]</ref> Following financial difficulties and investment from Whitehall Securities Corporation Ltd<ref>A Pearson Group company</ref> Simmonds Aircraft Limited changed name in 1930 to Spartan Aircraft Limited.
The first aircraft from the renamed company was the Spartan Arrow a two-seat biplane of which 15 were built.<ref>Jackson, 1974, p. 180</ref> The next design was a three-seat open-cockpit biplane the Spartan Three Seater. The company ceased to build aircraft in 1935.
In January 1931 ''Flight'' magazine revealed that Whitehall Securities had acquired a substantial holding in Saunders Roe Ltd. and arising out of this investment Spartan was effectively merged into Saunders Roe. Spartan Aircraft's final product was the Spartan Cruiser a three-engined light airliner developed from the Saro-Percival Mailplane.
==Aircraft== * Simmonds Spartan * Spartan Arrow – first flight 1930, 15 built * Spartan Three Seater – first flight 1931, 25 built * Spartan Cruiser – passenger, first flight 1932 17 built * Spartan Clipper – 1 built 1932
==See also== * Spartan Air Lines
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References==
*{{cite book |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985)|publisher=Orbis Publishing}} *{{cite book |last= Jackson|first= A.J.|title= British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 3|year= 1974|publisher=Putnam|location= London|isbn=0-370-10014-X }}
==External links== {{commons category|Spartan Aircraft Ltd}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080409073237/http://daveg4otu.tripod.com/iowweb/sim.html Simmonds/Spartan production]
{{Spartan aircraft limited aircraft}} {{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom}}
Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in Southampton Category:British companies established in 1930 Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1930 Category:1930 establishments in England