Henri Ziegler (BZ's father) was, like his son in the case of the A320, the nominal head of the French end of the project, but I've seen no evidence whatsoever that he had any direct involvement in the systems design (which was very much a collaborative effort).
Really? The Ziegler family must have been incredibly powerful promoters of themselves. Ziegler senior is mentioned a few times in Concorde historical accounts. On the other hand, much of the media coverage has Bernard acknowledged as a key figure in the Airbus FBW design. The FSF award text seems to be fairly clear on BZ's influence:
Bernard Ziegler was the most influential figure in developing the cockpit design and fly-by-wire control system for the Airbus airliners. He was the guiding force in the creation of the flight-envelope protection incorporated in the Airbus flight-control software.
Not that it matters that much, but who am I (and others) to believe? Was the redoubtable Flight Safety Foundation (and Flight Global and the French government) so out of touch with reality that they too were taken in by some sort of subterfuge?
I would like to know more about Mr. Corps. Any references DW or recommended reading? Thank you! If Gordon Corps was the true "father" of FBW as opposed to M. Ziegler, then a terrible injustice and misinformation campaign bordering on fraud seems to be happening here.
That's not the only reason though. The "clean room" thinking was that with an all-hydraulic control setup and with only one flight crew member being PF at any given time, there was no real need to backdrive or connect the flight controls in the manner of earlier designs.
I follow this line of thinking if we are discussing a fighter where there is only one control stick, but on a transport aircraft it seems odd to me. Could you recommend some books on the history of the Airbus FBW development? Aside from the Cowboys book by Ziegler himself, there seems to be very little published on Airbus history (as opposed to voluminous materials published on the players aerospace, both large and small in the US) and I am not sure why that is, although several theories have been offered in attempts account for this.