David Brown Engineering Limited. Founded in 1860 as a pattern manufacturing company, by 1873 David Brown had focused on gear systems, and by 1898 was specialising in machine cut gears. The company moved in 1902 to Park Works at Huddersfield, where the firm is based today. When David Brown died in 1903, his sons Percy and Frank took over and began the manufacture of complete gear units, bearings and shafts and worm drive gears. Gearing manufactured by David Brown Ltd. and powered by electric motors manufactured by Brook Crompton (Electric) Motors, whose factory was in Brockholes, are used to rotate the top of the BT Tower in London. David Brown first ventured into tractor production in a joint project with Harry Ferguson in 1936 building the Ferguson-Brown tractor. David Brown became one of the biggest British tractor manufactures in the post war period, with a major manufacturing plant at Meltham, West Yorkshire England. The company broke new ground which others were only to follow later, but being a pioneering company ultimately lead to their downfall. The Ferguson-Brown had a lot of innovative features, including the use of cast alloy for a lot of the components, which was light but could be prone to damage. The Ferguson-Brown used a Coventry Climax engine for the first 350 tractors. Browns developed their own engine which was fitted to subsequent production. Total production was 1350 + 1 built from parts in 1940 after production finished. During the Second World War Brown's new heavier tractor, the VAK1, was produced, with over 7,700 units eventually sold, making Brown a wealthy man. Brown also built aircraft tugs (VIG) for the Royal Air Force and for pulling the bomb trolleys for aircraft re-arming. These tugs are distinctive, with truck like tyres, wrap around body work and HD bumpers front and rear, some being fitted with winches. In 1947, Brown saw a classified advertisement in The Times, offering for sale a High Class Motor Business. Brown acquired Aston Martin for £20,500 and, in the following year, Lagonda for £52,500, followed by the coachbuilder Tickford in 1955. He subsequently concentrated all the Aston Martin manufacturing at the Tickford premises in Newport Pagnell. The David Brown years led to the legendary DB series of Aston Martins. In 1972 Aston Martin was in financial trouble and both Aston Martin and Lagonda were sold to Company Developments Limited, for a nominal £100. The company, trading as David Brown Engineering Ltd, headquartered in Huddersfield, is now a supplier of heavy transmission systems for industrial, defence, railway and marine applications. These include transmissions for the British Challenger 2 tanks and American Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Railway transmissions are produced for their Chinese branch 'David Brown China', in a joint partnership called 'Jiangsu Shinri David Brown Gear Systems' at a factory in Changzhou near Shanghai. In September 2008 it was announced that David Brown Gear systems and associated companies, David Brown Hydraulics based in Poole in Dorset, Maag Pumps of Switzerland, and Union Pumps of the USA were to be sold to Clyde Blowers of Scotland, owned by entrepreneur Jim McColl, in a £368 million deal. Huge thanks to Tryphon for the DB Tractor and bomb trailers and his excellent RAF gear....stunning stuff!