Also in my garage: Armstrong Siddeley jet engines

By Martin Buckley

| 20 Jan 2026

Classic & Sports Car – Also in my garage: Armstrong Siddeley jet engines

Keith Dewhurst decided he wanted an Armstrong Siddeley in the late ’80s, while working for the BBC as an engineer: “I bought a 346 in 1988, which I still own – I’ve done 80,000 miles in it.

“There’s also a 234 Manumatic, and a Star Sapphire joined the fleet more recently.”

The Dewhurst line-up includes a Rolls-Royce Cloud III MPW Coupé and a rare pre-war Ford Prefect drophead, which turned into what Keith believes is “the most expensive Prefect restoration ever”.

These Fords are in the blood: as a schoolboy Keith did one up in his parents’ garage, with only a parts book to help him.

Armstrong Siddeley’s complex turbojet unit was in service from 1953 to the 2010s

Now based in Shropshire, near the Armstrong Siddeley Owners’ Club headquarters, Keith joined the board of the ASOC in 2012 and has been chairman since 2015.

“The club and the Armstrong Siddeley Heritage Trust have adjoining premises in Pentre, near Shrewsbury, under the name of the Armstrong Siddeley Centre,” says Keith.

Still under development, the ASC is bringing together the archives, library and collections of the club and the trust.

“The history of Armstrong Siddeley is very overlooked,” he continues, “particularly its contribution to aviation. It produced the first commercially successful modern jet engine, the Sapphire, as used in the English Electric Lightning, Gloster Javelin and Hawker Hunter.”

Formed in 1962, the club owns a number of aeronautical artefacts, including two radial engines – a Jaguar and a Genet – and an early turbojet engine, the Adder: “These are out on loan to the Science Museum and to Bamburgh Castle, the home of the Armstrong family.”

The Viper turbojet is one of four aircraft engines owned by the Armstrong Siddeley Owners’ Club

The unit pictured above at the ASC is a Viper turbojet: “These came into service in 1953, for trainers and larger aircraft such as the Avro Shackleton.

“They were still using them in 2011 in the Hawker Siddeley Dominie, although the branding had changed first to Bristol Siddeley and later Rolls-Royce as Armstrong Siddeley Motors gradually disappeared.”

The history of the firm is complex, as Keith explains: “John Davenport Siddeley produced all sorts of things, including the preselector gearbox, which was originally designed to help army tanks steer.”

In 1935 his companies combined with the Hawker Aircraft business to become Hawker Siddeley and include AV Roe (Avro).

The firm made a huge contribution to the war effort, says Keith: “Between 1935 and ’39, at its own initiative and expense, Hawker Siddeley stockpiled Hurricane fighter aircraft.”

Armstrong Siddeley Owners’ Club chairman Keith Dewhurst is rightly proud of his favoured marque’s aviation heritage

In 1945, Armstrong Siddeley was the only manufacturer to introduce a completely new range of automobiles, all named after its aircraft products – Hurricane, Lancaster and Typhoon – and advertised under the slogans ‘By land, by sea, by air, by Armstrong Siddeley’ and ‘Cars of aircraft quality’.

From 1952, the Sapphire range took its name from the firm’s jet engine.

“The common thread through all of these developments,” says Keith, “is the ideology of JD Siddeley, later Lord Kenilworth.

“The ASC wants to bring together this legacy, along with his philanthropic work rebuilding Coventry after the war, in our exhibitions.”

Keith notes that the last recorded use of a Siddeley military product was during the Falklands War, when the ARA General Belgrano sank after being hit by an Armstrong Siddeley torpedo: “It was seen as being more accurate than later products from other sources.

“An example of the gyroscope that guided the torpedo will be on display in the ASC.”

Images: Jack Harrison

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