de Havilland Propellers was established in 1935, as a division of the de Havilland Aircraft company when that company acquired a licence from the Hamilton Standard company of America for the manufacture of variable-pitch propellers at a cost of about £20,000. Licence negotiations were completed in June 1934. At the same time an extensive new factory, claimed to be one of the largest in the world, was laid down at Lostock, Bolton, some distance away from de Havilland's main aircraft plant at Hatfield.This factory was built in only nine months as part of the government's emergency pre-war shadow-factory programme.

The de Havilland Firestreak is a British first-generation, passive infrared homing air-to-air missile. It was developed by de Havilland Propellers in the early 1950s, entering service in 1957. It was the first such weapon to enter active service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm, equipping the English Electric Lightning, de Havilland Sea Vixen and Gloster Javelin. It was a rear-aspect, fire and forget pursuit weapon, with a field of attack of 20 degrees either side of the target.