Originally Posted by
Allan Lupton
Yes the days of the charismatic Chief Designer were long gone by then, even in the design offices that could be traced back to the original pre-amalgamation companies.
Though the breed still survived in a certain UK commuter aircraft manufacturer into the late 1980s and beyond ...
I remember Tom in a meeting waxing lyrical over a sketch he had made (literally on the back of an envelope) while he had been waiting for a flight and idly admiring the design of the DC-8's horizontal stabilizer.