| Spartan Aircraft Limited | |
| Fate: | Merged with Saunders Roe, 1935 |
| Predecessor: | Simmonds Aircraft |
| Founded: | Woolston, Hampshire, UK |
| Type: | Limited company |
| Industry: | Aircraft manufacturing |
| Founder: | Oliver Simmonds |
| Products: | Civil aircraft |
Spartan Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1930 to 1935. It was formed by reinvestment in Simmonds Aircraft which had suffered financially.
In 1928 Oliver Simmonds designed and built a prototype aircraft, the Simmonds Spartan, in a factory at Woolston, Hampshire.[1] The design was a success with over 50 aircraft built.[2] Following financial difficulties and investment from Whitehall Securities Corporation Ltd[3] Simmonds Aircraft Limited changed name in 1930 to Spartan Aircraft Limited.
The first aircraft from the renamed company was the Spartan Arrow a two-seat biplane of which 15 were built.[4] The next design was a three-seat open-cockpit biplane the Spartan Three Seater. The company ceased to build aircraft in 1935.
In January 1931 Flight magazine revealed that Whitehall Securities had acquired a substantial holding in Saunders Roe Ltd. and arising out of this investment Spartan was effectively merged into Saunders Roe. Spartan Aircraft's final product was the Spartan Cruiser a three-engined light airliner developed from the Saro-Percival Mailplane.