Brief History of the Marque: Dowty
Dowty Co of Cheltenham
1934 A major breakthrough occurred when he offered to H. P. Folland a pair of oleostruts of new design for the Gloster Gauntlet aircraft. This gave him his first large production order and was followed by a similar order for the Gladiator. Dowty leased a factory and bought Arle Court, Cheltenham.
1936 The firm went public with George Dowty holding a small percentage of the equity. Thanks to the concurrent technical revolution in aircraft design to include retractable undercarriages, brakes, and flaps, his work and knowledge expanded rapidly.
WWII During the Second World War twenty-eight different aircraft were fitted with Dowty equipment, which included 12,900 sets for the Hurricane, over 90,000 other undercarriage units, and more than a million hydraulic units. Plants were set up throughout Britain and in Canada and the USA.
After the Second World War Dowty applied his new approaches to hydraulics to wider fields including motorcycle forks, hydraulic pit props and a prime support system, industrial pumps, and hydraulic control systems.
In 1954 a group holding company was formed with the Canadian operation generating 50 per cent of the total turnover.
1954 Rotol Airscrews was acquired
1959 Boulton Paul acquired
1960 Advert for Roofmaster fully mechanised hydraulic roof support by Dowty Mining Equipment of Ashchurch
1964 Meco acquired
1975 George Dowty died
1992 Acquired by TI Group
Source: Graces Guide
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