The Foster, Wikner Aircraft Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer formed in 1936.

History

The Australian aircraft designer Geoffrey N. Wikner moved to England in May 1934, where he looked for partners to build cheap and efficient aircraft. With V. Foster and J.F Lusty they formed the Foster, Wikner Aircraft Company Limited on 9 September 1936. J.F Lusty and the Lusty family were furniture manufacturers (William Lusty & Sons Limited). The company set up in their furniture factory at Lusty's Works in

Bromley-by-Bow Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. The area is distinct from Bow, which l ...

, London and built the prototype

Foster Wikner Wicko The Foster Wikner Wicko was a 1930s British two-seat cabin monoplane built by the Foster Wikner Aircraft Company Limited at Southampton Airport, Hampshire. History Geoffrey Wikner was an Australian aircraft designer who moved to England in M ...

. In 1937 the company moved to premises at Southampton (Eastleigh) Airport, Hampshire. Production of the Wicko was started but was abandoned after the eleventh aircraft due to the start of the Second World War. Geoffrey Wikner flew for the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between factori ...

during the war, and in 1946 returned to Australia in a converted

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its orig ...

bomber.

Aircraft

* Foster Wikner Warferry *

References

* * * {{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1936 Companies based in Southampton