By former employee Martin Robins.

The Dowty Group traces its origins back to George Dowty’s first business- Aircraft Components – formed in Cheltenham in 1931. George Dowty was an inventive genius whose ideas ,with regard to aircraft engineering ,found a ready response in the rearmament programme prior to the Second World War.

The business then developed significantly ,after wartime, into other applications of George Dowty’s skill such as mining machinery. During the 1970s the Dowty Group had achieved a reputation ,world wide , for engineering excellence and employed 15,000 people.

A number of short papers are being written concerning the business 

The success and failure of the Dowty Group