ABC Motors Limited ("All British (Engine) Company") of Hersham, Surrey, England was a manufacturer of cars, aircraft, motor scooters, and engines for road and air. Established by Ronald Charteris in Hersham, Surrey in 1912, its chief designer was the young and talented Granville Bradshaw.Lumsden 2003, p. 51. It was absorbed into

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

in 1951 and the factory finally closed in the 1970s. Some of the premises survive today as part of the Riverdean Estate, Hersham and are occupied by a Lidl supermarket (opened February 2019)

Products

First flying and administrative officers of the Royal Flying Corps RAE-O790

The ABC radial aero engines of the World War I period were extremely advanced for their time, and were initially thought to be very promising indeed. Unfortunately they were all more or less plagued by problems – and although a number of types for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

were designed around ABC engines (especially the ill-fated ''Dragonfly'') none saw squadron service with the RAF. ABC also made a large number of engines for electrical generators and other purposes – mostly with a flat twin cylinder layout and unusual exhaust-over-inlet valve configuration. These smaller ABC engine have the distinction of being possibly the first airborne APUs- the Coastal class blimp (first flown in 1916) had a 1.5-horsepower unit installed to provide electricity for the onboard wireless set, whilst a similar engine was used to power the searchlight of the

Supermarine Nighthawk The Supermarine P.B.31E Nighthawk was a British aircraft of the First World War and the first project of the Pemberton-Billing operation after it became Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. It was an anti-Zeppelin night fighter operated by a crew of ...

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, ...

killer' of 1917.

Aero engines

* ABC 6 hp Midge (1951) National Archives Kew (AIR 10/7172) *

ABC 8 hp The ABC 8 hp is an 8 hp (6 kW) two-cylinder aero engine designed by the noted British engineer Granville Bradshaw for use in ultralight aircraft. The engine was derived from a specially tuned motorcycle unit and was built by ABC ...

(1923) *

ABC 30 hp ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televis ...

(1912) *

ABC 60 hp ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

(1912) *

ABC 100 hp ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televis ...

(1912) * ABC Dragonfly (1918) * ABC Gadfly (1920) *

ABC Gnat The ABC Gnat was a 45 hp (34 kW) two-cylinder aero engine designed by British engineer Granville Bradshaw for use in light aircraft. The Gnat was built by ABC Motors, first running in 1916, production ceased in December 1918. 17 eng ...

(1916) *

ABC Mosquito The ABC Mosquito was a 120 hp (90 kW) six-cylinder radial aero engine designed by the noted British engineer Granville Bradshaw for use in light aircraft. The single Mosquito engine was built by ABC Motors, first running in 1916. It i ...

(1916) * ABC Hornet (1929) *

ABC Scorpion The ABC Scorpion is a 30 hp (22 kW) two-cylinder Aircraft engine, aero engine designed by British engineer Granville Bradshaw for use in light aircraft. The engine was built by ABC Motors, ABC Motors Limited and first ran in 1921.Gun ...

(1923) * ABC Wasp (1918)

Aircraft

* ABC Robin

Automotive

* ABC (1920 automobile) * ABC Supersports * ABC Skootamota * ABC motorcycles

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Lumsden, Alec (1994) 'British Piston Aero Engines and Their Aircraft' (Airlife, Shrewsbury) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abc Motors Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Defunct companies based in Surrey Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in England Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1951 1951 disestablishments in England 1951 mergers and acquisitions British companies disestablished in 1951 British companies established in 1912