Originally Posted by
Kemble Pitts
Grenville Hodge, if I recall correctly, appeared on the horizon about the time Edgley Aircraft went into receivership - I think just before but memory is vague on the details.
I think he came in as Production Director or similar. I left about one year after the receivership/arrival of Alan Haikney but Grenville Hodge was there after that and, I believe, became more involved in the new company and control of the aerodrome. He might still be.
'Someone' should write the history of the project, it is full of technical interest, ingenuity and larger than life characters.
e.g. we did bird-strike tests on the Optica windscreen with John's Volvo, some Dexion, a composite 2lb chicken (thawed) and the western section of taxyway (only just long enough to go from 0 to 60mph and back to 0 before going through the hedge!
Hi Annakim,
Apart Kemble Pitts post, all I found about Optica was this. A military friend of mine told me that, despite Granville Hodge’s optimism, the army weren’t that interested in the aircraft because, unlike a helicopter, it couldn’t hover so wasn’t much use to them for crowd observation. Soon after, there was a fire which brought a halt to the whole thing anyway.
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightP...20-%201262.PDF