Within days BSA discovered Airco was in a far more serious financial state than Thomas had revealed.

Airco was bought by the BSA Company, but BSA was only interested in using the company factories for car production.

The acquisition of Airco in February 1920 was a financial disaster for the BSA group, the blame since laid at Percy Martin's door, and all dividends were passed from 1920 to 1924.

Advertised in 1918 as the largest aircraft company in the world, Airco established the first airline in the United Kingdom, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, as a subsidiary.

By December 1918, Holt Thomas claimed in an advertisement that Airco was the largest aircraft company in the world and was building aeroplanes, engines and propellors in large numbers, as well as airships and flying boats.

The company built hospital trains during the Second Boer War, Handley Page bombers and Airco DH10s in World War I, and tanks ( including the A10 Cruiser, Churchill tank, Cromwell tank and Challenger ), plus Hamilcar gliders in 1939-1945.

Airco was completing on average a new aircraft every 45 minutes.

Aircraft Transport and Travel, a subsidiary of Airco, started the world's first regular daily international service on 25 August 1919, between Hounslow Heath Aerodrome and Le Bourget.

Wishing to recognize the contributions of the Patterson family ( owners of National Cash Register ) the area of Wright Field east of Huffman Dam ( including Wilbur Wright Field, Fairfield Air Depot, and the Huffman Prairie ) was renamed Patterson Field on July 6, 1931, in honor of Lt. Frank Stuart Patterson, who was killed in 1918 during a flight test of a new mechanism for synchronizing machine gun and propeller, when a tie rod broke during a dive from, causing the wings to separate from his Airco DH. 4.

Initially lacking a synchronizer, the Royal Flying Corps relied on pusher aircraft such as the Vickers F. B. 5 Gunbus and the Airco D. H. 2 in which the propeller was behind the pilot, and therefore out of the way of forward firing guns.

The COW gun had been developed in 1918 for use in aircraft and had been trialled on the Airco DH. 4.

Fairey's workforce employed on manufacture of the outer wings of the Airco D. H. 121.

* November 11 – United States Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot and Gunnery Sergeant Robert Guy Robinson become the first U. S. Marine Corps aviators to receive the Medal of Honor, for an action in an Airco DH. 4 against German fighters over Belgium on October 14, 1918.

8 Squadron reformed at Helwan, near Cairo, Egypt, as a day-bomber squadron equipped with the Airco DH. 9A on 18 October 1920.

No. 32 Squadron was formed as part of the Royal Flying Corps on 12 January 1916 at Netheravon and moved to France as a fighter squadron equipped with Airco DH. 2s in May.

The Handley Page 0 / 400 ferried across petrol, ammunition and spares for the fighters and two Airco DH. 9s, and itself bombed the airfield at Deraa early on 23 September and nearby Mafraq on the following night.

No. 120 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Cramlington on 1 January 1918, as a day bomber unit and was planned to be equipped with Airco DH. 9.

Flying Officer Ellis Wackett was assigned to instruct volunteers at RAAF Richmond, and made the country's first freefall descent from a military aircraft, an Airco DH. 9, on 26 May.

Over thirty aircraft are on display, dating back to the First World War ; notable early aircraft include rare examples of an Airco DH. 9 and an Royal Aircraft Factory R. E. 8.

An Airco DH. 9 crashed on 24 March 1927 with the loss of three lives after the plane stalled while landing.

* R-1 biplane reconnaissance aircraft based on the British Airco DH. 9A bomber

When Kingsbury County School was opened in 1925, it was originally housed in a building that once belonged to the Aircraft Manufacturing Company, ( or Airco as it often referred to ) on the Edgware Road opposite Colindale Avenue.

The squadron was reformed in 1 January 1918 as a bomber and reconnaissance unit, operating Airco DH9s.

This pioneering fighter, like the Royal Aircraft Factory F. E. 2b and the Airco DH. 1, was a pusher type.

On 1 April 1920, No. 27 was reformed by re-numbering No. 99 Squadron RAF then in India, flying Airco DH. 9A light bombers from Risalpur over the North-West Frontier.

* March 4 – Airco DH. 10

In early 1916 however No. 29 became the fourth squadron to receive the Airco DH. 2 " pusher " fighter, and was posted to France in March 1916-helping to end the Fokker Scourge and establish Allied air superiority in time for the Battle of the Somme.

The Aircraft Manufacturing Company Limited ( Airco ) was a British aircraft manufacturer operating from 1912 to 1920.

Following the take-over of Airco and its subsidiaries in February 1920 services included scheduled services London-Paris as well as " Taxi Planes " to " anywhere in Europe ".

In 1920 during their suppression of the " Mad Mullah " in Somalialand used a Airco DH. 9A fitted out as an air ambulance.

* Airco DH. 9A 1920 — 1927

On 8 January 1920, Airco DH. 9 ( G-EAQM ), piloted by Lieutenant Ray Parer, with co-pilot Lieutenant John C. McIntosh, took off from Hounslow Heath.

The first aircraft to go missing in Bass Strait was a military Airco DH. 9A that was engaged in a search for the missing schooner Amelia J in 1920 — it was believed to have gone into the sea off the southern coast of Flinders Island.

This is appropriate as the station was built as a Training Depot for aircrews, who had completed basic flying training, to learn to fly the Handley Page Type O and Airco D. H. 9 bombers.

Wigley, who in 1906 had driven the first motor car to Mount Cook, used 6 ex-RAF Avro 504 and 3 Airco DH. 9s for sightseeing flights and any other work available.

This extension was in memory of Mrs. Perrin's daughter Muriel Ida Perrin, an artist who had trained at the Royal College of Art and worked for the catalogue section of the The Aircraft Manufacturing Company ( Airco ) during the First World War.

An alternative was to build a " pusher " scout such as the Airco DH. 2, with the propeller mounted behind the pilot.

De Havilland's designs for Airco were marked with his initials " DH ".

Fitted with a developed version of this gear, the M. 5 became the Fokker Eindecker which, due to its revolutionary armament, became one of the most feared aircraft over the western front, its introduction leading to a period of German air superiority known as the Fokker Scourge until the balance was restored by aircraft such as the Nieuport 11 and Airco DH. 2.

A prime example is John Stevenson Stubbs, an Airco DH. 9 bomber pilot credited with 11 aerial victories, including one over a German observation balloon.

* Airco DH. 2 with No. 24 Squadron RFC

* Airco DH. 4 with No. 55 Squadron Royal Flying Corps

* Airco DH. 5 with No. 24 and No. 32 Squadrons, Royal Flying Corps.

* September 28 – Flying an Airco DH. 9 with the Royal Air Forces No. 218 Squadron, U. S. Marine Corps First Lieutenant Everett R. Brewer ( pilot ) and Gunnery Sergeant Harry B. Wershiner ( observer ) become the first U. S. Marine Corps personnel to shoot down an enemy plane in aerial combat.

The Squadron reformed at RAF Andover in January 1923 as a day bomber squadron equipped with Airco DH. 9As, quickly moving to RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk.

The squadron continued to fly patrols over the Western Front, including over the Somme and Arras battlefields, for a year before beginning to re-equip with the Airco DH 5, specialising in ground attack missions.

It was immediately reformed at RAF Station Leuchars, Scotland, as a naval observation squadron equipped with the Airco DH. 9A, receiving the Westland Walrus and Avro Bison before being disbanded to form two independent flights in April 1923.

The allied fighter squadrons were equipped with obsolete ' pushers ' such as the Airco DH. 2 and F. E. 8, and other outclassed types such as the Nieuport 17.

It re-equipped with Airco DH. 4s, which carried twice the bombload of the Martinsyde at greater speed and height, while carrying a gunner to defend against enemy fighters, from between September and November 1917, flying missions in support of the British offensive at Cambrai, and low level missions against the attacking German troops during the Spring Offensive of 1918.

It was equipped with a mixture of aircraft, with flights equipped with Airco DH. 9 and DH. 9A bombers and Sopwith Camel fighters.

* Engineering Division USD-9A, a modified Airco DH. 9A ( 1921-the first aircraft to fly with the addition of a pressurized cockpit module )

Slots were first developed by Handley-Page in 1919, and the first aircraft to fly with them was the experimental H. P. 17-a modified Airco DH. 9A.