Carden Aero Engines Limited was a 1930s British

fixed-wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using Lift (force), aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft (in which a Helicopter rotor, r ...

aero-engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbine ...

manufacturer, based at

Heston Aerodrome Heston Aerodrome was an airfield located to the west of London, England, operational between 1929 and 1947. It was situated on the border of the Heston and Cranford areas of Hounslow, Middlesex. In September 1938, the British Prime Minister, ...

History

Sir John Carden Sir John Valentine Carden, 6th Baronet MBE (6 February 1892 – 10 December 1935) was an English tank and vehicle designer. He was the sixth baronet of Templemore, County Tipperary, from 1931. Work Born in London, Carden ran a company from 1 ...

established the company in March 1936, while the

Flying Flea The Flying Flea () is a large family of light homebuilt aircraft first flown in 1933. The odd name comes from the French nickname for the Ford Model T automobile: ''Pou de la Route'', or "Louse of the Road", because Henry Ford's economy car w ...

craze was sweeping Britain. He saw a need for a cheap low-powered propulsion unit for

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

. The engine was an adaptation of the well-proven and reliable Ford 10 Model C motor car

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

. Following the death of Sir John in an air accident in December 1935, the company was taken over by Carden-Baynes Aircraft Ltd, and later sold to Chilton Aircraft Ltd,

Chilton Foliat Chilton Foliat is a village and civil parish on the River Kennet in Wiltshire, England. The parish is in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is on the county boundary with West Berkshire and is about northwest of th ...

, near

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The population of the parish at the 2021 census was 5,869. The Kennet and Avon Can ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

Engines

;Carden-Baynes Auxiliary :The Carden-Baynes Auxiliary engine, as used on the Scud III Auxiliary sailplane, was a 2.5 hp Villiers air-cooled two-stroke, capacity 350 cc.Jackson (1974), p.316 ;Carden-Ford 31 hp 4-cylLumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 1994. :A much modified Ford 10 car engine. ;Carden-Ford S.P.1 :Further development of the 31 hp engine, with a centric supercharger, 1.1:1 gear ratio, splined propeller shaft extension and horizontal mounting for flush wing mounting. Used exclusively on the

Carden-Baynes Bee The Carden-Baynes Bee was a 1930s British two-seat aircraft, with twin engines in pusher configuration buried in the wings. The wings rotated for storage. Financial problems limited the Bee to a single flight. Design and development Carden Ae ...

Aircraft using Carden engines

Aircraft that have used the Carden-Ford 31 hp engine are: Broughton-Blayney Brawney, B.A.C. Drone, Kronfeld Monoplane, Mignet HM.14 (''Flying Flea''), Perman Parasol, Taylor Watkinson Dingbat, and Chilton D.W.1 Monoplane.

Notes

References

*Jackson, A.J.J. 1974. British Civil Aircraft, Vol.1. Putnam *Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 1994. {{ISBN, 1-85310-294-6

External links