Originally Posted by
gileraguy
"In the late 1980s, test pilot
Bill Bedford gave a talk in
Christie's auction room in South Kensington in London. He had been the original test pilot for the Harrier at
Dunsfold. Bedford talked about the various fighters he had flown, many of which had been powered by Hooker's engines. On the screen behind him, towards the end of his talk, he showed a picture of Hooker, and said, "I'll have to think about this a bit, but if I was asked who was Britain's greatest ever engineer, I'd have to decide between
Brunel and Sir Stanley Hooker, but I'd probably go for Sir Stanley."
As Brunel wasn't all that highly thought of by his contemporaries (grandiose, I believe they thought him, and not as good as the Stephensons), looking good for Hooker.
Two things stick in my mind from Hooker's autobiography, perhaps summing up the good and the bad of the UK aircraft industry.
He examined Whittle's impeller design, and concluded that he couldn't improve it. As Hooker made his reputation on the design of the supercharger impeller for the Merlin (and evidently had a proper pride in that), it suggests that Whittle was seriously good.
On the other hand, he spent some time at Bristol, and developed a very poor opinion of the management. It seems that lunch was good, so good that very little got done afterwards.
It's not especially well-put together as a book, but a very interesting read.