Origin, Basic Design Philosophy and Evolution
Background to the Design Development of the Hawker Siddeley 748 leading to the Series 2 aircraft, with an Outline of its Principal Features. TO build and produce an aircraft which is cheaper than its competitors, has higher performance and sufficient market appeal to enable it to sell in large quantities, was the aim stated in the directive which heralded A. V. Roe's re‐entry into the field of civil aviation. For many years the Company (now the Avro Whitworth Division of Hawker Siddeley Aviation) had concentrated on military types of aeroplanes, but when the Sandys White Paper on Defence appeared in 1957, with its forecast of no more manned military aircraft, the Avro design team began to examine the possibility of building a civil transport.