Kingston Aviation Centenary Project-The Great Richmond Road Factory.Ham.

[Kieron Kirk]

It is 100 years since the National Aircraft Factory No.2 was built alongside the Richmond Road at Ham in Surrey, and 25 years since the factory was closed by Bae.

The link below provides details for Saturday 9th September and Sunday 10th September.

We are particularly interested in former employees who worked at Canbury Park Road, Kingston, Langley near Slough in Berkshire, Dunsfold near Cranleigh in Surrey and of course the Richmond Road factory.

The part that the Leyland Motor Co. played in the history of the factory from 1920 until 1948 will also feature in the exhibition.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Download the Exhibition Poster - News - Kingston Aviation

[treadigraph]

Hmmm, if I am home that weekend looks like a nice day out...

[Expatrick]

Thanks for this - I have passed this onto my Mother, who with my (now long deceased) Father worked for HS in Kingston in the '50s.

[Kieron Kirk]

When Winston Churchill became Minster of Munitions in 1917 he was faced with a demand from the frontline in France to almost triple the rate of production of new aeroplanes.

With existing aircraft manufacturers like Sopwith Aviation in Kingston already stretched to the limit, he approved a bold plan to build four huge Government aircraft factories around the country.

National Aircraft Factory No.1 was to be alongside the existing airfield in Croydon and No.2 on 38 acres of land beside the Thames at Ham requisitioned under the Defence of the Realm Act from Lord Dysart of Ham House.

Surrey County Council and Ham Urban District Council sent a deputation to Churchill to insist that it should not be built in this unspoilt rural riverside location. With the compelling need to shorten the war, Churchill was determined to go ahead but he did agree to move the building away from the riverbank and assured them that it was temporary, to be dismantled at the end of the war.

A single huge factory building covering eight and a half acres was completed in 24 weeks over the winter of 1917/18. The planned airfield never happened, the hasty decision to move the building to the north east corner of the site blocked any good length runs into prevailing westerly winds. The completed aircraft all had to be taken 12 miles by road to Sopwith’s final assembly and flight test sheds on Brooklands airfield at Weybridge.

The young but very influential Tommy Sopwith was not keen on the prospect of losing his best workers to another aircraft factory within a mile of his in Kingston. After negotiations the government factory was leased to the Sopwith Aviation Co. more than doubling their capacity to build their highly regarded single-seat fighters. They had already built about 100 each Sopwith Pups and Sopwith Triplanes and 550 Sopwith Camels. They were now building 1,500 Sopwith Dolphins in Kingston. With the Ham factory came orders from the Ministry of Munitions for 1,500 Sopwith Snipe type fighters, a potent replacement for the Camel. The first was delivered in June 1918. When the war ended in November 1918, a year earlier than the military planners expected, Sopwith’s workforce in Kingston exceeded 3,500, a third of whom were women. After the war the company struggled to find enough suitable work, they retreated to their base in Canbury Park Road and in September 1920 went into voluntary receivership.

Meanwhile, Churchill had reneged on his promise to demolish the National Aircraft factory at Ham and had sold it to Leyland Motors. There were angry letters from the local councils deriding this “breach of faith” but it was all to no avail.

Through the 1920s Leyland Motors used that huge factory to re-furbish and re-sell over 3,000 four- ton WW1 trucks bought back from the Royal Air force, and to build 17,000 Trojan two-stroke utility cars and vans. In the 1930s they built thousands of Leyland Cub and Lynx light lorries and buses at Ham.

In 1932 Ham Urban District Council was disbanded. Although mostly incorporated into Richmond, the southern part of the district up to and including the factory was taken into Kingston.

Through the Second World War Leyland produced all sorts of military equipment including complete battle tanks and some munitions. By 1948 they were building electric trolley bus chassis.

Back in 1920, shortly after the closure of the Sopwith Aviation Company, Tommy Sopwith restarted a much smaller company named after their well known Australian test pilot Harry Hawker. After recruiting a brilliant young aircraft designer Sydney Camm, the Hawker Aircraft Company became extremely successful making fast biplane light bombers and fighters including the Hawker Hart and Fury. In 1935 Sydney Camm came up with the Hawker Hurricane monoplane fighter which proved so crucial in winning the Battle of Britain.

By 1938 Hawker Aircraft had established a large satellite factory at Langley near Slough with its own airfield which would assemble thousands of Hurricanes, Tempests, Sea Furies and Hunters during and after the war.
By the late 1940s however, Langley was deemed unsuitable for building the next generation of Hawker aircraft, the jet fighters. Langley was too close to the burgeoning new Heathrow airport and had relatively short grass runways.
With most of their key staff based in Kingston, Hawker Aircraft sought a large local factory. The obvious choice was the old National Aircraft Factory No.2 on Richmond Road, Ham. In 1948 they bought that factory from Leyland Motors for £500,000.

Through the 1950s the Hawker Hunter jet fighter was a huge success, 1,972 were built at Ham, Baginton and Squires Gate(all Hawker Siddeley Aircraft locations) as well as by Avions Fairey/Sabca in Belgium and Fokker /Aviolanda in the Netherlands. This allowed the company to invest in an impressive new office block across the front of the old factory. By 1958 the whole company was located at the Richmond Road site. Aircraft were still leaving Kingston by road but now to the Hawker flight test centre at Dunsfold Airfield in Surrey.

The new offices also housed the headquarters of Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd. which under the bold leadership of Tommy Sopwith had bought many other major British aircraft companies including Avro, Gloster, and Armstrong Whitworth; and were about to buy Blackburn, Folland and De Havilland.

Before the move into Richmond Road was even complete the Government announced that interception of enemy aircraft would be done by ground to air missiles and they would not be buying any new fighter types,. The Hawker team of world-class fighter designers and manufacturers apparently had no future. Indeed they would never get to build any of their extremely promising supersonic fighter projects.

They did however pursue one very bold experimental project, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) combat aircraft. It took time to perfect and even longer to convince the RAF and others that they needed such things but the Hawker Siddeley Harrier eventually underpinned the company’s future.
Still seeking new outlets for their talents and skills, they also designed and built the Hawker Siddeley Hawk advanced jet trainer. This was to be equally successful and is best known as the aircraft used by the RAF Red Arrows Display Team.

In 1977 the aircraft industry was nationalised. The name outside the factory changed to British Aerospace but the specialised team remained largely intact. They went on to develop the Sea Harrier so vital in the recapture of the Falkland Islands. Eventually over 800 Harriers would be built. Hundreds of second generation Harriers, jointly designed with McDonnell Douglas in the USA, are still in service today, many with the US Marine Corps.

After the first 350 Hawks advanced trainers, that production line was moved by British Aerospace (BAe) to Brough in Yorkshire. With the reduced demand for military aircraft after the break-up of the communist block in the late 80s, BAe decided to close and sell most of their sites in the South of England.

In 1992 the Ham factory closed. Some of the 4,000+ employees moved to Dunsfold or Farnborough but most lost their jobs. Unemployment in Ham, for example, rose from 5% to 15%. The “temporary” 1918 National Aircraft Factory No.2 was eventually demolished in 1993 and 360 homes were built on the site.

All that remains is the company Athletic and Social Club now known as the YMCA Hawker Centre. There is a bronze plaque in the entrance lobby reflecting its aviation heritage. There are also two information panels by the traffic lights on the corner of Richmond Road and Dukes Avenue.

If you are interested in our local aviation heritage have a look at Kingston Aviation Heritage Project - Homepage. Kingston Aviation Centenary Project volunteers continue to develop this fascinating website with historical information, photographs, film clips and interviews with ex-employees. If you have memories, photographs or memorabilia which might be of interest, you can get in touch with them via that website.

Many thanks to David Hassard for researching this account of the history of The Great Richmond Road Factory.

[Kieron Kirk]

Hawkers Build for the Future at Kingston

This is the title of an article published in the Surrey Comet of March 7th, 1959, a cutting of which was recently passed to the Editor for the Brooklands Museum Hawker archive. It reads...

"For almost half a century Kingston has been closely associated with the aircraft industry and lays proud claim to being the birthplace of machines which bear some of the most famous names in the history of military aircraft. Mention the name of Hawkers and one phrase springs immediately to mind - renowned fighter aircraft. In all the successes and setbacks that have attended it since its early days, the people of Kingston have come to look upon the Company as an organisation in which they can take personal pride. The admiration is not one-sided: it is matched by the regard which the Company has for the town.

When, therefore, Hawkers decided to concentrate all their scattered offices on to one site the town was pleased that the new buildings were to be erected on the existing Hawker site at Richmond Road. It strengthened ties between town and Company. A huge new office block housing the Company's administrative section, design and pre-production departments has been built on the Richmond Road frontage. This has meant a break with the Canbury Park Road factory where in a disused roller skating rink, Sir Thomas Sopwith first began designing and building aircraft in 1910. Canbury Park Road remains as a factory and store, but the offices, including the design office, have been transferred to the new building. The new structure in Richmond Road with its clean lines seems to carry an air of quiet strength. For all its size it does not obtrude but enhances the landscape, hiding as it does the gaunt factory buildings to which it is attached.

A new architectural feature has been given to the town and one which has been praised by the planners as improving the appearance of the firm's Richmond Road property. Of special interest is the treatment of the facade with its long windows stretching from the first to the third floors. On the ground floor are situated the offices for accounts, buying, material control and printing departments that previously were scattered around the Canbury Park Road premises. Plainly, indeed almost austerely, panelled in oak, the boardroom situated centrally on the first floor, is flanked on each side by the offices of the directors and their immediate staff. On the other side of the corridor is a department which is a source of great pride to the Hawker team - the design section under Sir Sydney Camm. He is able to step across from his office and see an army of experts at work on many various projects.
Covering 50,000 square feet on one open floor under a 400 ft span daylight roof, this department has been given an ultra-modern system of ventilation. Fresh air is drawn in, filtered (and warmed in winter) and pumped in after the humidity has been adjusted. Changes of air take place twice a day in winter and five times a day in summer. Next to the design department and an integral part of its operations are ancillary offices. These include the computing section which has its most expensive piece of furniture, a £40,000 electronic computer which works out problems that could not be attempted by mere humans. On the floor above and ideally situated for the close liaison that is necessary, are the pre-production department and the offices of many of the executives of the Company.

Behind is the factory floor that stretches back behind the new building into parts of the old. These factory buildings were once the home of the Sopwith Aviation Company. They were built by the Government in the 1914 war as "Aircraft Factory No.2" and were used by Sopwiths throughout the war. Temporary structures they should have come down at the end of the war but were allowed to remain. And they remained after Leylands took over the factory from Hawkers in 1920 for the manufacture of lorries and buses. In 1948 Leylands moved north and Hawkers returned to the old home later, when the Hunter was in full production and more space was needed. Hawkers unsuccessfully sought permission to put up a permanent building, but planners refused and so work at the Blackpool factory was started. However, production continued at Richmond Road in the so-called "temporary" buildings. About 100 ft depth was chopped off to provide the site for the new office block, but the rear part remains.

There is almost a monastic calm in the design office and thus it is a dramatic moment for the visitor when he is conducted through the double doors to a platform overlooking the factory floor. Contrasting with the cloistered quiet of the office is the din of the Hunter production floor. Some architects have criticised the front elevation of the new building as being out of keeping with the jet age. They wanted something more contemporary, symbolising the age and the product. Their wishes are however met in the new experimental and research building which had been put up behind the factory and overlooking the river. Its frontage is eminently contemporary as is the entrance hall from which a staircase leads to offices and laboratories on the top floor. Before this building was put up, the experimental department had to be content with space allotted to it in the old factory. Now it has 11,000 square feet all its own, in which to conduct experiments which may lead to further changes in the role of the Hunter. Other work connected with the development of a vertical take-off machine is also carried on here.

Not only have improvements been made for working at Hawkers. Big changes have also been made in the canteen facilities. Dining rooms are set out with tables for four and the most up-to-date kitchen equipment has been installed. A considerable sum has been spent on the buildings and canteen, plus many thousands of pounds on research facilities, laboratory equipment and specialist machine tools. The idea, a Hawker concept, has been to canalise the many processes which comprise the organisation into one place, under one roof. Concentration of all this work at Richmond Road has meant the release of small buildings and factories in various parts of the area, some of them as far away as Teddington, to make for greater efficiency on the part of the men who plan and those who carry out the work."


There were a number of photographs illustrating this article, two were captioned as follows: "Working on advanced calculations is Miss Anne Cole of 108, Banstead Road, Sutton." and "Mrs K King of 110, Park Road, Kingston, working the electronic computer."

What a good, accurate and clear article this is; quite a contrast to contemporary reporting! It will bring back many memories to those who worked in the "huge new office block" or the "monastic calm" of the design office. The opinion of "some architects" of the facade is interesting; I can clearly visualise it, but the "eminently contemporary" Experimental building's riverside elevation has faded from my memory. Ed

From the Autumn 2008 Hawker Newsletter No.22.

The Hawker Association /

I have taken the opportunity to correct the ownership of the factory from 1920 until 1948 and a couple of grammatical errors.
Kieron.

[Kieron Kirk]

Making Them Right - An Engineer at Hawkers, 1936 - 1976

This talk covering the life of Charles Plantin was given by his son-in-law, David Hassard, on 14th October to a large audience which included many of Charles’s family as well as colleagues from the R&D department at Kingston. After an introduction by Ralph Hooper, who knew Charles well professionally, David started with the early life of his subject.

Charles was born in 1912 in London to French parents, Paul and Madeleine, who had moved there from the south of France to start a business importing luxury goods. At the weekends, only French was spoken at home and French papers and magazines, including ‘La Science et la Vie’ were enjoyed, ensuring that Charles grew up bilingual with an interest in the arts and engineering. David had brought along a wonderful collection of books, magazines, sketches, drawings and paintings that Charles had owned or created.
There was a ‘Wonder Book of Aircraft’ from 1921 which had an article by Sir Sydney’s brother, FJ Camm, on building model aircraft, ‘The Clipper of the Clouds’ by Jules Verne describing a VTOL aerial ship, and copies of the ‘Meccano Magazine’ featuring prize-winning models built by Charles from the age of thirteen, although he had been a Meccano modeller since he was five! These included a magnificent Atlantic type locomotive, a streamlined biplane fighter, a submarine and a bascule bridge, all original model designs. The drawings and paintings included remarkable renderings of aircraft, locomotives and ships as well as a detailed sketch of a ‘flying wing’ airliner, “the Pterodactyl of 2000 AD”, done in his teenage years.

Charles and his two younger brothers grew up in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, where he did well at school and was set to go to ‘Oxbridge’ when the financial ‘crash’ caused a change in plan so he went to the Southend-on-Sea Technical Institute where he won the National Union of Teachers bronze medal for science and mathematics and shone in engineering drawing. He went on to Queen Mary College, London University, where he was awarded a BSc in mechanical engineering in 1934 but stayed to study aeronautical engineering under the famous aerodynamicist, NAV Piercy.
In 1936 he was recruited by Roy Chaplin, Sir Sydney’s right-hand-man and also a QMC graduate, to join the Technical Office at Canbury Park Road, Kingston, which contained just eleven engineers: three aerodynamicists, seven stressmen and a weights engineer. Charles was soon at work stressing the Hector wing spars and ribs, calculating the torsional stresses in the Hurricane rear fuselage framework and working on the Henley and Hotspur. His first structural test job was the Hurricane canopy release, under load, at Langley.

In 1939 Charles married Vera Fellowes who he had met at Westcliffe-on-Sea and they set up home in Kingston on his salary of £7.10.0.
In 1940 the Hawker design team moved to Claremont House in Esher, to avoid possible bombing at Kingston, and Charles was put in charge of the ‘upper’ stress office. (Claremont did in fact receive incendiary bombs on the roof and bombs in the garden.) In 1947 he was promoted to Deputy Chief of Research & Development, Structures, soon responsible for 85 staff and running the test rigs at Kingston and Langley.

The Abbey test frame at Langley could take a complete aircraft with the loads applied hydraulically and distributed through ‘whiffle tree’ linkages. Strain gauges were applied to the airframe and deflections were measured with telescopes. Under such a test the P.1040’s rear fuselage failed at only 40% of its design load but once strengthened it was satisfactory.

The pressurisation test on the P.1040 canopy caused a near disaster. As the pressure was increased the canopy seals did not fail but the canopy did, showering shards as the canopy exploded. Charles later joked that he had nearly killed the entire Hawker design team! A repeat test with water bags over the canopy only resulted in everyone getting wet as the shards burst the bags; subsequently such testing was done submerged. An exception was low temperature testing when the Farnborough cryogenic chamber was utilised.

Resonance testing of the P.1081 was a landmark in structural testing. Charles and his team devised a method, using eccentric loaded gears, for subjecting the complete aircraft to a series of precisely controlled excitations whilst recording the resonances at key places on the airframe. Following on from these tests he wrote a paper for the Royal Aeronautical Society on resonance testing and the theory of flutter calculation which won the 1952 Edward Busk Memorial Prize for the most valuable contribution on applied aerodynamics.

By 1951 the Hunter was under test in the ‘Abbey’ frame with loads applied manually via capstans set in pairs which were turned together by the two hands of each operator. Charles, the ‘Test Master’, was calling out the instructions - such as “three turns 8 and 9” - from his script when he noticed that one wing was going up and the other down; definitely not correct. The answer was that a fitter was turning his pair of capstans in opposite directions. Some say it took three days to reverse the procedure so the test could be restarted!

On the subject of hands, David remarked that Charles, naturally left-handed, had taught himself to write with his right hand. The result was that he could explain what he wanted done by drawing with his left hand whilst simultaneously writing instructions with his right.

Bilingual, and smartly dressed, Charles often represented Hawker and HSA at the Paris Air Show, and was frequently an instantaneous interpreter. He also wrote French language versions of marketing brochures for the Hunter, P.1127, Harrier and Hawk.

In 1955, with the advent of supersonics, Hawker purchased a Ferranti Pegasus electronic computer, the third built, which Charles was put in charge of. One of its first tasks was transonic area rule calculations.

The same year, with Frank Cross, the Chief Experimental Draughtsman, he crossed the Atlantic by BOAC Stratocruiser to visit Avro Canada, Orenda Engines and the US Bendix Corporation to study North American design and production methods and to assess the ill-fated supersonic CF105 Arrow all-weather fighter with its 25,000 lb static thrust Iroquois reheated turbojet, the latter being a contender for Hawker’s equally ill-fated P.1121, both eventually being cancelled. Charles and Frank concluded that Hawker needed to double the size of its design and R&D organisations to keep up in fighter development.

In 1949 Hawker had reoccupied Sopwith’s Richmond Road factory from Leyland and developed it with a new front office block and additional buildings.

In 1957 Charles got a new test laboratory, a new test frame and his R&D team all together in one place, the test frame work being moved from Langley.

Devastatingly, following Defence Minister Duncan Sandys’ dictat that there would be no more manned fighters for the RAF, the HSA Board decided to stop funding P.1121 work.

The new test frame, named Mithraeum after the temple to Mythras recently discovered beneath London, was designed by R&D to be large enough to accommodate an airframe the size of Convair’s B-58 Hustler. It was made in Glasgow and erected at Kingston sunk 10 feet into the ground to comply with local building regulations.

Hunter fatigue research was the first programme carried out in the frame with computer controlled automatically sequenced load application. Testing was carried out on five Mk4 Hunters and two Mk7s, two at a time.
An interesting P.1127 research task was fatigue testing alternative riveted and spot welded wing structures. Later P.1127, Kestrel, Harrier and Hawk structural strength and fatigue tests would be carried out in this frame.

In 1961 Charles was appointed Chief Structures Research and Development Engineer for HSA’s Kingston Borough Division, responsible for aircraft structural strength, fatigue and dynamic R&D work, running the structural test laboratory, the digital computer and the provision of mathematical services to the Design Department. The same year Sir Sydney Camm presented Charles with a clock to mark 25 years service to Hawker and 25 years working together.

To cope with the 1962 supersonic V/STOL P.1154 project the R&D department expanded and new airframe test techniques were devised to take account of kinetic heating. Power demands by the heaters were so high that a dedicated cable was to be run from Kingston power station, and strain gauge readings were now needed at the rate of 1000 per second. Charles also wrote the French language version of the P.1154 brochure.

However, once again Hawker was hit by a cancellation; this time in 1965 it was Dennis Healey who wielded the axe, on the P.1154. A quarter of the R&D staff had to be dismissed and Charles was so upset at having to tell some of his younger men that they were redundant that his health suffered.

In 1967 Charles moved to the HSA Head Office Design Department, still in the Richmond Road building, as Assistant Company Co-ordinating Engineer (Management & Methods) dealing with metrification, company standards for bought-out parts and value engineering. His fluency in French was still in demand at the Paris Air Show and during visits of French-speaking delegations. His last R&D task was to co-ordinate Harrier and Hawk model spinning trials in the vertical wind tunnel at Lille, France.

Charles retired in April 1976 where he was presented by HSA’s Technical Director, John Stamper, with a Longines watch and an album of photographs of the Hawker aircraft he had worked on. At the retirement party were colleagues from the early days including Charles’s boss for many years ‘Roche’ Rochefort, Sir Robert Lickley, Roy Chaplin, Harold Tuffen and Ian Nightingale.

Charles died aged 92 in 2004.



David’s talk was illustrated by many photographs, several taken by Charles, showing his family, his colleagues and his cars as well as aircraft that took his fancy at air shows from 1936 onwards, all of which added to the enjoyment of the large audience.

The title for David’s talk is taken from a quotation from Camm who said that his aircraft were “always right” and the job of his team was to “make them right.” Ralph Hooper has said that he overheard Sir Sydney say that “Charles Plantin is a first class engineer”, the only time he ever heard him complement a member of his staff.

David Hassard adds the following footnote: “I would like to thank those who contributed anecdotes and those who spoke to me and the family after my talk. We remember the stories but in most cases do not even know your names. If you would like to get in touch with me, I would be very pleased to get your stories properly recorded.

Putting this talk together has brought me into contact with some of the interesting people who worked on structural testing for Charles, and later Derek Thomas, but there seem to be very few surviving reports and photographs. If anybody out there has any such material that I could copy, please do contact me and I can pass it on to Brian Indge who is building a record of this work.”

From the Hawker Newsletter Spring 2010 No. 26.

The Hawker Association /

[Kieron Kirk]

Colin Flint, retired Head of Ground Test, recalls his time with the Mithraeum test frame

With the closure of Langley in the late ’50s there was a requirement either to move the Abbey test frame to Kingston or build a new one so that structural testing could continue. Given that aircraft were getting larger it was thought sensible to build a new one. About the largest aircraft that Kingston could envisage building was something the size of a B-58 Hustler and so that was the chosen size.

People employed in the Research and Development Department were tasked with the design of such a test frame which was to be called Mithraeum after the Roman temple recently discovered during building work in London (all previous test frames were called after religious buildings). Derek Thomas was the lead engineer on the task.

In 1959 the frame was constructed in Scotland and brought down by road in parts over a three week period. Because of its height the frame was erected in a 10 foot deep pit dug towards the northern end of the new Research building at the Hawker Aircraft site in Kingston. This was cheaper than raising the roof of the 500 foot long building by 10 feet.

The basis of the frame consisted of a pair of keel members some 95 feet long and overhead warren girders 105 feet long; these were mounted on four massive columns. Eight loading bridges were mounted on rails attached to the warren girders and associated structure, each having facilities for manual loading by turnbuckles via linkages to the structure under test.

The pit was finished in waterproof cement so that it could be used for underwater pressure tests if required. A 23,000 gallon water tank and pumping facilities were included.

The first major job was the P1127 static strength test done in 1960, the load being applied manually via turnbuckles. Some twenty tests were carried out in various configurations, each taking about six weeks including rigging for the case, testing and data analysis. Each test required four people to apply the load, two to apply fuel tank pressures (including myself), six to read the 800 strain gauges and four to read the deflection gauges.

The maximum load required was divided into eight or ten increments, each of which was applied before the instrument readings were recorded. Each test took one day.

As an aside, the last strength test carried out in the Mithraeum was the Hawk Mk1 test series where the six weeks per case was reduced to half a day using automatic load measurement and mechanical servo-controlled hydraulic valves. Just four people ran the test and graphs of strain gauge and deflection measurements were available one hour after the test was completed.

The next major test was a research programme on twenty Hunter Mk5 airframes for the RAE (Farnborough). The RAE was to test using constant load cycles from start to finish at various levels; Kingston was to use programmed loading (a programme consisted of 311cycles which included one cycle of 7g to -2.5g and 5 other levels of cycles down to 2.5g to 0.5g). Two airframes could be installed in the test frame at the same time. On completion of each simulated 500 flying hours inspections were carried out overnight.

The Kingston tests used four ultra low friction hydraulic tension jacks (two per wing) pulling up via linkages attached to soft rubber pads glued to the wings. The RAE tests used compression jacks pushing up under the wings. Kingston completed five airframes at three different levels. One additional airframe was added to the programme, a T Mk 7 XL574, to clear the trainer for use in the Royal Navy. This test used the same wing linkages with a modified fuselage linkage, and a different programme was used. An aircraft life of 3,400 hours was required with a factor of 5, meaning 17,000 flying hours and 34 inspections. This was accomplished in 49 working days! The test then continued to 63,000 flying hours when the fuselage failed. Three wing failures occurred, the wing being replaced each time.

At the same time as the Hunter tests, a Kestrel fatigue test was carried out in the same test frame. This test used 49 hydraulic tension jacks, again using linkages to distribute the load to rubber pads attached to the wing.
It was not uncommon to go home with three fatigue tests running, unattended, overnight. Finding enough Inspectors the following day to inspect the airframes was the most serious management problem.

The next test carried out in the Mithraeum was the Harrier GRMk1 Strength test. Mechanical hydraulic servo valves developed by Kingston were used for this test series which utilised multiple tension jacks to ensure rapid case changes. Strain gauges were read using PDP11 computers with suitable data collection software thus shortening the overall timescale. The wing failed marginally below the required load and as a result the wing skin thickness was increased on all service wings.

These tests were followed by the Harrier GRMk1 fatigue test and then the TMk 2 fatigue test. Both used the by now well tested system used on the GRMk1 strength test but the mechanical hydraulic servo valves were motorised so that case changes could be accomplished without human intervention during testing. Both these tests reached 200 % of the require life.

The final full scale tests carried out in the Mithraeum were the Hawk strength test, mentioned earlier, followed by the first Hawk fatigue test which was stopped at 60% of the required number of cycles when the wing failed, there being too much damage to make repair an option. This test was the first to apply simulated manoeuvre loads, for example rolling pull-outs and Cuban eights. Specific sortie patterns were also run.

Many smaller tests were carried out using the Mithraeum but my memory is not good enough to list these here. Upon the Kingston site closure the Mithraeum test frame, which had been used for so much vital work, was scrapped and later structural tests were carried out at BAe Brough

My thanks go to Richard Cannon and Brian Indge who did so much original thinking in constantly improving test techniques, and to the late Derek Thomas who created the environment in which people could advance

From the Summer 2012 Hawker Newsletter No.33.
The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

A Brush with the LDA-01

Richard Cripps remembers David Lockspeiser’s aeroplane…

The following article is short on hard facts such as dates and names. The incident described did not seem at the time to be so significant as to justify documentation. However the recent report of the death of David Lockspeiser jogged my memory, and I thought it worth sharing with the Association.

The life of a technical apprentice at the Kingston Factory was usually fairly well ordered, a succession of moves around the facility to gain experience in the functioning of the various production, technical and management departments. However the apprentices as a body also provided a useful pool of temporary labour from which individuals could be deployed for any unusual tasks that arose. So it was that one Monday morning in (I think) 1970 I was instructed to report to the old Valve Test House.

Those familiar with the Kingston Factory may remember the Valve Test House. It was a small enclosed workshop located in the Fitters' Department in the north west corner of the production building, beneath the balcony that ran in front of the Works Management offices, but at the time I am describing its functions had recently been combined with those of the Materials Test House, and it stood empty.

On arrival I was joined by two other apprentices with whom I was familiar although their names escape me. We found that the enclosure now contained several aluminium alloy sheets, pre-formed with an aerodynamic curve and pre-drilled, a box of other components and a simple assembly jig; and a drawing titled "LDA-01 Development Aircraft." It transpired that our task was to assemble the aerofoil sections for Mr. Lockspeiser's aircraft.

I say "aerofoil sections" because the aircraft was an exercise in extreme simplicity and minimal cost, a complete contrast to the Harriers around which our world normally revolved. Those sections were symmetrical with parallel sides, and formed both the wings and the tail plane - one each side at the back and one attached by its middle at the front, the aircraft being a tail-first, rear engine "canard". All the ribs were identical and the assemblies were held together with pop rivets, the use of which was comfortably within our skill set.

We set to work with enthusiasm, and after a couple of days had completed the first section and were well advanced with the second. However at some point, while I was out performing some other errand, one of the company directors (not specified) was observed peering in on the activity through the internal windows with a frown on his face. Shortly afterwards we were stood down and all the material vanished. Evidently the work was being done on the "old boy's network", and that network did not extend far enough up the command chain.

On reflection I was surprised that such a visible location was used for what appeared to be an unauthorized activity. The Apprentice Training Workshop, where directors rarely ventured, could easily have accommodated it. We were also concerned that our having discussed the project with our apprentice colleagues might have let the cat out of the bag although none of us could recall any instructions concerning confidentiality.

Anyway, we derived a certain amount of satisfaction from our minimal contribution to the project, particularly when a photograph of the completed aircraft on its first takeoff appeared on the front page of the "Daily Telegraph"!

From the Autumn 2014 Hawker Newsletter No.40.

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

The Wit And Wisdom Of Sydney Camm

Contributed by Ralph Hooper. Can any readers add to this compilation? The only thing he ever said to me, when I was a trainee at a drawing board with Charlie Cray was: "What are you doing?", followed by "Hmmmm" when I had explained. I'm sure some of you can do better. Ed.

1. "Those at the back cried forward and those at the front cried back." A comment on indecision, usually by Ministries, and a quotation from Horatius on the bridge over the Tiber.

2. "There's only one way to do a job and that's as quickly as you can!" Urging the troops to hasten.

3. "The race is to the swift." A quotation, I believe; purpose as (2).

4. "They can't see our arses for dust." Reference to our competitors.

5. "I am never wrong except when persuaded against my better judgement!" Boasting; sometimes with an element of humour.

6. "It looks like mother done it!" An unfavourable comment on a component or a whole aeroplane.

7. "It looks like mother done it - all pots and pans." A very unfavourable comment on a component or whole aeroplane.

8. "We could design bombers but they couldn't design fighters!" A reference to any of our competitors.

9. "I'm only interested in designing fighters, there's no finesse in anything else." An opinion.

10. "I don't suffer fools gladly - and heaven save me from the share pushers and costicians of this world!" A reference to the commercial and accountancy functions.

11. "When you have designed aeroplanes as long as I have you can see the airflow." Boasting again.

12. "All my aeroplanes are pilots' aeroplanes, but then all my pilots are designer's pilots." Wish it was that simple.

13. "There's no such thing as a good aircraft engine." Opening gambit to keep 'powerplanters' in their place.

14. "Complication is ruination!" Other things being equal, few would disagree.

15. "Yesterday I told you to do that; today I'm telling you to do this; and tomorrow I'll tell you to do something else!!" Assertion of the Chief Designer's absolute right to change his mind.

16. "I hope you're working with a proper sense of guilt and shame!" Widely used internally or externally at times when the industry was under criticism by the Government and/or the Press.

17. "Just another bloody Drawing Office aeroplane." Great encouragement for the staff faced with a new prototype about to fly! (If it turned out all right then such remarks would soon be forgotten.)

18. "Every mod. begets a mod." General comment on the tendency for hastily introduced modifications to introduce problems of their own.

19. "You've got to have an 'eye for a line'." An aeroplane should look good.

20. "We've got to 'strike a line'!" Sometimes similar to (19) but also meaning "we've got to find a way ahead' - usually in unclear circumstances.

21. "The evil Air Marshalls...!" Any members of the Air Board who were failing to favour his products.

22. "He's only a journeyman draughtsman!" Don't expect too much from him.

23. "He's only an old sweat!" Don't expect anything from him.

24. "The Navy always treats us as though we were gentlemen!" Occasional approval of the Dark Blues.

25. "Life is real and life is earnest!" A general admonition to greater effort.

26. "Every day's an 'oliday 'ere!" They are still not working hard enough!

27. "We've tried efficiency - and that doesn't work!" A lack of respect for his fellow directors' latest enthusiasm.

From the Hawker Newsletter Autumn 2005 No.10

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

An Amazing Move

David Hassard’s piece on the Kingston Aviation centenary brought back memories to Bryan Austin…

In 1960 I was based in the old factory at Canbury Park Road, Kingston. On completion of my training at 21 I was made up to capstan setter with a section of seven Ward 3 A capstan lathes and six operators, all on the bonus scheme. Two of the operators were women who had been employed since the war. The purpose of the spare capstan was to reduce the amount of 'waiting time' when operators had finished their current batch of work and were waiting whilst their next job was being set up. This of course only worked well if you could stagger the batch work so that no two operators finished at the same time; a situation rarely achieved. Life was quite busy then; starting at 8am and finishing at 6pm with overtime on Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 7.30pm, and also on Saturday mornings.

One day in, I believe, 1961 we were told that Canbury Park Road was closing and that we would be moving the whole plant into the factory at Richmond Road. What a mammoth task: the whole machine shop with some very large machines, the treatment plant, the fitting shop on the first floor, the auto shop, the tool room behind the Regal cinema, the design office, and all the stores.

Over the next few weeks an influx of very big Irishmen was noticeable. The maintenance ‘heavy gang’ of about six men, under Eddie Riley, was growing fast and for good reason. Firstly a whole corner of the factory was removed to allow low loaders to drive straight in off the road. The enlarged heavy gang began to break up the concrete floorings, jack up the large machines onto rollers, which were no more than 2" diameter steel bars, and with crowbars man-handle them to the low loaders where Hyabs lifted them onto the transport. The remaining machines were all still running during this process. My section of capstans came out quite early in the move so I didn't see much more at Kingston after that. It still remains a mystery to me how they removed the huge vertical borer!

Incredibly, I went home at 6pm on Friday from Canbury Park Road and when I arrived at Richmond Road at 8am on Monday my whole section was installed. All I had to do was run some test pieces to ensure that alignment was OK. All my machines were up and running by lunchtime with six happy operators earning bonus. An amazing achievement by our maintenance staff.

Richmond Road was a much cleaner and better environment than Canbury Park Road. However, the Hunter was still in full production and the noise from the riveting of the wings and fuselages took some getting used to; it made the hitherto noisy Kingston machine shop sound like a quiet retreat.

From the Autumn 2011 Hawker Newsletter No.35.

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

A FEW WORDS FROM A SALESMAN

"For my floor show this afternoon I have put together a little four part pastiche which will take us down memory lane ... starting way back in 1957 when I retired from the Royal Air Force and set out to seek my fortune in the vulgar world of commerce."

So started John Crampton's talk on the 12th November 2003 when, in his customary witty and elegant style, he outlined his career with Hawkers which started in 1959, thanks to the family's babysitter who happened to be Bob Marsh's mother, John was working for SG Brown trying to ginger up sales of their master reference gyro (MRG) for a new instrument system for service aircraft. Bob invited John to bring one to Kingston but Camm dismissed the idea: "Don't want rubbish like that in our aeroplanes. How much does it weigh?" "Twenty eight pounds, sir" and so on. However, Bob showed John a P. 1127 three view and he was duly astonished at the idea. This resulted in Bob proposing that John join Hawkers who needed someone to prepare brochures and show visitors round. After interviews with Camm and Roy Chaplin, John was offered a position in the Project Office at a salary of £1300 per annum, starting on December 1st.

Seated next to Frank Mason, who was busy writing the Putnarn Hawker history, John familiarised himself with his new baby and was soon asked by John Fozard to explain the P. 1127 to two visiting senior RAF officers. While showing them drawings, Sir Sydney entered saying "Stop wasting time useless thing; it'll never work."! A year later Bob Marsh told John that John Lidbury wished to see him in Camm's office. Fearing that he had made a blunder, John was delighted to be offered a new executive status position as Technical Sales Manager with an increased salary, a company car, lunch in the Mess and an office in the 'golden mile'.

His first big presentation was to the Royal Navy in January 1961. In mid 1962 it was round the world calling on India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In 1966 "suddenly everything went quiet"

Sir Sydney died. In his 1974 Chadwick Memorial Lecture Ralph Hooper wrote: "Sir Sydney's part in the P.1127 development was less a contribution to the design (as the Press would have us believe) than that in the difficult business situation that Hawkers were placed as the Hunter programme ran down, his stature (earned over many years) was sufficiently high within the hierarchy of Hawker Siddeley that support for so unpromising a fledgling was obtained, and defended, during almost three years before a penny of Government money was forthcoming, and that his unparalleled reputation within the Ministry helped to make this funding possible."

After retiring as CTP at the end of the 60s, Bill Bedford arrived at Kingston vowing to sell a thousand Harriers in the next ten years. John became his Deputy Sales Manager (Kingston) and Bill started to build his sales team with Johnnie Johnson, John Parker, Colin Downes and Peter Martin from the RAF, Danny Norman and Robby Roberts from the RN and Charlie Phillips from Flight Development. Project Engineer Roy Braybrook came along to answer the difficult questions from time to time. The Sales Executives were allocated regions of interest; John's were Scandinavia and Europe.

At the end of 1971, before the HS.1182 had been ordered for the RAF, John received a letter from Bjorn Schonberg, a director of Machinery Oy, the company representing HSA in Finland, suggesting that the HS.1182 would suit the Finnish Air Force (FAF) and that a sales drive should start now. John replied that he would soon be there but found little enthusiasm for the exercise, especially in the MoD's Export & Industrial Relations Dept, who advised that there was little chance of a sale. Nevertheless John flew to Helsinki in January 1972 for the first of many visits during which he gave presentations to the C in C, FAF and offered frequent updates. In 1975 a Finnish delegation visited Hawkers to investigate the Company and assess the Hawk at Dunsfold. At the Le Bourget Air Show in 1977 the Finnish Government informed John that the Hawk had been chosen; but this was subject to a non negotiable 100% trade offset worth £100 million, against fifty aircraft. John Glasscock was phoned immediately and the rest is history. In the end a 130% offset was achieved by the efforts of Eric Humberstone and his team supported by John Glasscock and Colin Chandler.

In the early 1970s John had received a call from Peter Mitchell at Hatfield who said he'd met a man in Spain who said he could sell the Harrier to the Spanish Navy. This was Ricardo Fuster. John reported to John Glasscock who refused to buy him an airline ticket to Madrid but did pay his hotel bill when John got there by thumbing a lift on a 125 out of Hatfield. A model and brochure were presented to Admiral Suanzes who was delighted but was concerned that the wooden deck of his helicopter carrier Dedalo would suffer damage from the Pegasus exhaust. Clearly a demonstration was called for. John Crampton and John Farley were taken to inspect the ship and the Spanish Navy arranged to position Dedalo in the Gulf of Cadiz between Faro and Gibraltar, but the Spanish Government refused permission for the Harrier to overfly Spain, putting the ship out of range. With some embarrassment John requested that Dedalo be positioned off Barcelona so that the Harrier could fly from Dunsfold, over France, direct to the ship. This was agreed but when John returned to Dedalo at the time of the demonstration he was summoned by the Captain to receive a dressing down, in perfect English in front of a board of senior officers, for disturbing the arrangements. After a suitably contrite response a tray of whiskeys was brought in and good relations were restored. Later that day Farley's Harrier, carrying 330 gal ferry tanks, appeared fast and low out of the heavy overcast and flew a display concluding with a vertical landing. Two days of trials proved that the ship's deck was undamaged by V/STOL operations and Admiral Suanzes was convinced that the Harrier was perfect for the Spanish Navy; all he had to do was sell the idea to General Franco. He succeeded and an order was placed, via the US Navy to circumvent the UK ban on arms sales to Franco and to forestall any attempt at a future cancellation.

In 1968 John Glasscock informed John that he was to deliver a lecture to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers on the history of Sopwiths and Hawkers. For research John contacted Sir Thomas and was immediately invited for lunch at Compton Manor, King's Somborne, the Sopwiths' home. They were very hospitable and plied John with a favourite drink: rum and grenadine in the approximate proportions of two drops of grenadine to half a pint of rum. The lunch went very well with Sir Thomas reminiscing throughout; but no notes were taken. In fact John fell asleep on the train home and woke up in Bournemouth. There were four or five more visits for proper research to complete the paper. John became a friend of the Sopwiths, later helped other authors and vetted potential visitors to Compton Manor.

As John said in closing, without Sir Thornas there would have been nothing; and we wouldn't belong to a Hawker Association.

During question time John was asked about his clandestine flights deep into the Soviet Union during the 'Cold War.' The USA had been flying spy aircraft over Russia which Kruschev well knew and he threatened President Truman that he would consider the next flight an act of war. Truman understood what the consequences would be so ordered General Curtis LeMay, boss of Strategic Air Command, to cease. LeMay still needed further radar recce photos showing the shape and location of Soviet ICBM sites so they could be destroyed in case of war. To get round the problem the US Joint Chiefs of Staff asked the British JCoS if the RAF would fly the required missions, if necessary using USAF aircraft. Prime Minister Clement Attlee was reluctant but was persuaded by the intelligence argument. Sq/Ldr Crampton was summoned to High Wycombe to see the RAF C in C, Air Marshall Sir Hugh Lloyd, and was ordered to set up an RAF Special Duties Flight at Sculthorpe with eight officers, operating USAF RB 45C four jet reconnaissance bombers wearing RAF roundels. The RB 45C conversion training was in the USA After a probing flight east of Berlin by John, which produced no reaction from defences, three aircraft flew simultaneous missions at night in April 1952 taking radar photographs. John's was the longest at over ten hours, over Moscow, south to the Kiev region and back home. A second mission was scrubbed at the end of 1952 but in 1953 the Flight was recalled to Sculthorpe and in April 1954 three more simultaneous sorties were flown. This time John was puzzled to see little flashes

From the Hawker Association Newsletter Spring 2004 No.5

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

Machined Wing Skin Pioneering


Bryan Austin remembers the introduction of a new production technique at Richmond Road…

As a young machine tool setter in the machine shop in the early 1960s I was told one day that a new NC (numerically controlled) machine known as the Cramic was being delivered specifically to machine the new solid wings skins for the P.1127. I was to assist in the bedding in, alignment and machining of the vacuum chucks and thereafter the machining of the first sets of solid wing skins.

Having been used to setting conventional lathes and milling machines for many years this NC technology was completely new to me. However, I was not too concerned as I was sure some training would be in the pipeline somewhere; not so!

Eventually the Cramic arrived and, along with two large vacuum pumps, was placed in the specifically prepared foundations. The various alignment checks were carried out by Cramic personnel and I was shown by them the manual controls of the machine and cut some test pieces to verify the alignment.

The vacuum chucks arrived and were bolted to the machine table. I then machined in the faces of the chucks a grid of slots 3/16 ins wide by .060 ins deep. At the intersection of each slot a hole was drilled to accept a grub screw. The vacuum pumps were then connected to the chucks and the machine was ready to go.

When the raw material arrived it was DTD 5020 in solution-treated condition, in slab form some 15 ft long, 5 ft wide, 3ins thick and roughly triangular in shape. My first thoughts were “However much does this cost and if I scrap it how will I survive?”

The first operation was to get the slab onto the machine table. Overhead tackle had been set up and I manoeuvred the slab into position, packed it underneath with off-cut aluminium sheet where necessary, and pinch clamped it to the table in a stress free state. It was now ready to be faced flat. With one flat face the slab could be turned over and sucked down onto the vacuum chucks ready for routing the egg-box pattern spars and ribs.

All grub screws under the slab were removed and a sealant was manually placed around the perimeter of the slab to retain the vacuum. Datum holes were drilled in the waste material at each end of the slab and from these holes each tape and cutter combination began its prescribed cutter path.

Finished skin thicknesses varied between 0.2" at the inboard wing root end to .080" at the outboard tip. I machined the first five sets of solid skins. Most of the tapes ran for more than one hour and some had to be run several times at different depth settings. A night shift and additional setter were introduced after the first few sets of skins to cope with production schedules.


The purpose of going to solid wing skins was to reduce the number of through-skin fixings associated with fabricated skins as these were resulting in unacceptable integral tank fuel leakage, especially after heavy landings. From slabs weighing up to 2,000 lbs the finished skins, in some cases, weighed as little as 140lbs - that's a lot of swarf.

On completion of the machining process the skins were placed on purpose-built trolleys with formers so they could be clamped down to the wing profile and heat treated up to full specification - two birds with one stone.

I think this is a good example of production techniques solving a design problem, albeit in an expensive way. I have great respect for the work of the process engineers involved, John Duncan and Mickey Vaughan, since I don't believe any tapes had to be altered for cutter speed or feed problems, the whole process being so well worked out.

From the Autumn 2011 Hawker Newsletter No.31.

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

'HAWKER'; A GREAT PLACE TO WORK.


That was the title of John Glasscock's informal talk to over sixty Members on March 12th. Sitting at a table, because he had "problems with the undercarriage", he entertained his attentive audience with reminiscences about his time at Kingston.

From the RAF JLG joined Hawker Aircraft Ltd in 1953 as a Secretarial Assistant working for Eric Rubython. Neville Spriggs was then General Manager with John Lidbury - Company Secretary, Sir Sydney Camm - Chief Designer, EH Jefferson - Works Director. HAL's bulk profits went to the Hawker Siddeley Group (run by Tom Sopwith, Frank Spriggs, Roy Dobson and Arnold Hall) but some funds were 'retained' for R&D. JLG's training programme took him round the Departments. In Design he worked with Roy Chaplin, Stanley Hollyhock, Frank Cross, Stan Whale, Harold Tuffen and brushed up against Sir Sydney who on one occasion threw him out of the DO! Contracts was under Frank Sherras who ran two books; one for HAL eyes, the other for the Ministry.

In Experimental JLG was looked after by Donald Stranks, a bit of an eccentric who used to carry an Aldis Lamp to signal people he wanted to see. Dunsfold Experimental was headed by Bill Turner, a rather absent minded academic individual who dropped JLG out on the airfield saying he would pick him up, only to forget for two hours. Sales and Publicity was a one-man-band; George Anderson, and Production was taken care of by Frank Locke, Harry Viney and Wally Rayner who was sitting in the front row enjoying every minute of the talk.

The premises were Canbury Park Road, Richmond Road, Teddington and Langley (then a raw material store) and Dunsfold with Works Managers Bill Clark, then Reg Hayward followed by John Yoxall. EH Jefferson organised Hawkers' Blackpool factory which produced 30 Hunters a month. The Hunter was very profitable and many aircraft were refurbished and sold again. The new office block was criticised in the press as looking like a mausoleum and Lidbury was castigated by HSG for wasting money. However, those who worked in it had a quite different opinion.

The P.1121 came to nothing, after Company funding. The P.1127 led to the wonderful Harrier but this was not as successful commercially as had been hoped. JLG said Ralph Hooper, in the audience, responsible for the design and development of the type, had been given too little credit...and John Fozard a bit too much!

The P.1182 Hawk had been under Ralph's leadership as Chief Engineer, with Gordon Hodson, also in the audience, doing more than most for the project, even developing the requirement with the RAF. The Chief Designer had been Gordon Hudson who, sadly, was not well enough to come to the meeting.

The fixed price (a 'first' in the UK aircraft industry) contract, negotiated by Reg Gearing, dated 21.3.72, for the "design, development, manufacture and support of 175 1182AJ" aircraft was worth £6,567,500. It broke even but the profit came from another 'first', the Reliability and Maintainability bonus. JLG recalled the many overseas sales, including the Finnish 100% offset deal (yet another 'first') and the great achievement of the T-45 sale to the US Navy against strong US and European competition.

JLG left Kingston in 1977, having been General Manager since 1965, with Colin Chandler his successor. "After that the place had run down: mergers, nationalisation, privatisation etc and all that's left now is Hawker Leisure!"

JLG finished by saying why 'Hawkers' had been "a good place to work" - it was a successful company with outstanding products, outstanding people and a great heritage. Its strength was in the middle management; it was small enough to adopt a paternalistic approach. Perhaps it was a bit parochial and there were inter-departmental rivalries - but these added to the enjoyable cut and thrust. 'Hawkers' worked as a team and always presented a united front.

"We saw the best of things. Yes, a good place to work - warts and all!" was John's closing remark.

From the Summer 2003 Hawker Newsletter No.3.

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

Ode To The HS.1182

It was fortunate, in this anniversary year for the Hawk, that a remarkable piece of long-lost aviation literature has been discovered. With some difficulty your Editor peeled apart the yellowed pages and deciphered the strange runes thereon.
It seems that this ancient document was penned by one Kenneth Batstone, apparently the bard of the Project Office and no mean wit. So read on, casting your minds back to the golden age of the 1970s...

A Yuletide ode to Projects, entitled "The 1182".

1. A progress meeting had been called that day,
At which I had a part to play.
I present my notes for your attention,
So read on chaps, you've all a mention!

2. Gordon Hodson said to me,
And to the man from the Ministry:
My KB000K0002 needs no correction,
We're all heading in the right direction!

3. Stanley Stapleton then joined in
And was heard to say above the din:
"For a plane that's nice to fly
The tailplane's still too bloody high!"

4. Robin Balmer looked aghast
And muttered in his coffee, "Blast!"
I was about to comment so,
So now I'll say: "The wing's too low."

5. John Allen, Chairman of the meeting,
Dropped the biscuit he was eating;
Scribbling minutes for that day
Wrote: "Tailplane region; somewhat grey."

6. Speaking loudly round the door
Assistant Head of Research, Bore:
"I always said my wing was best,
I'm glad to hear you've all confessed!"

7. At this Ron Williams shouted: "No!
The aircraft was not always so.
My project aircraft wing was high.
That would have been the best to fly!"

8. Then Dave Edwards had his say
About the price we'd have to pay.
But if we take him at his word
To build the plane would be absurd.

9. Into the room came Michael Dyke,
Known to some as an awkward tyke.
The silence was his chance to grab,
So he proposed yaw autostab.

10. Barry Pegram rushed in through the door,
Dropping maps of Dorking on the floor.
"Manchester have just this minute phoned,
They've smashed the model up", he moaned.

11. "Oh no!" cried Gordon full of tears,
"That will cost the programme years.
I did not reckon on this failure mode
Just when we are on the right road.

12. Then up spoke chubby Colin Raisey,
Wide awake; fresh as a daisy.
"If the plane's got too much weight to fly,
" Who cares if the model's gone awry?"

13. Then Ralph Hooper came into the room;
We all thought it meant the kiss of doom;
But all he said was, "Now look here,
To me the upper fin looks queer!"

14. Chris Hansford started to agree,
He had not spoken yet, you see.
"Belt up!" said Rochfort with a sigh,
It's my turn, to discuss SI."

15. And so the meeting carries on,
'Till a second tea-break's come and gone.
When John Allen's pen runs out,
Then will the meeting end, no doubt.

16. As 1970 draws to a close, can we with confidence suppose,
That in a few years' time, perhaps, in spite of tailplane, wings and flaps,
The "Project" plane will leave the ground and climb and dive and fly around,
Then sell to countries far and wide, so all of us can say with pride:
"I worked on that"?

Well Ken, not only a bard but an accurate prophet as well. Thank you!

From the Hawker Newsletter Summer 2006 No.6

The Hawker Association

[Kieron Kirk]

A selection of photographs taken at the Hawker YMCA this morning,10th September 2017.

Kieron,

[Kieron Kirk]

More from the Hawker YMCA 10th September 2017.

Kieron.

[Kieron Kirk]

Click the link below for more photographs and comments.

A big thank you to all who attended and the "Ppruners" who viewed this thread.

Kieron.


The Hawker Association

[megan]

Camm was none too happy about being lead up the garden path by the aerodynamic experts at NPL who advised aerofoil t/c below 20% showed no improvement in drag, which resulted in the Hurricanes thicker than he would have desired wing.

[chevvron]

Not Kingston but closely connected.
In late 2011 I was asked to do an A/G Radio Operator exam at Dunsfold. I asked for a room where we wouldn't be disturbed as the exam consists of a 1 hour written followed by a spoken practical.
We were allocated what seemed to be the old boardroom at Dunsfold, left as it was when BAe moved out. There were some marvellous photographs round the walls showing both the Kingston site as well as Dunsfold, but eclipsing this was a HUGE display cabinet with models of all the aircraft produced at Kingston, Dunsfold and Langley. There must have been at east a hundred models all in about 1/72 scale.
Wonder if they're still there?

[Kieron Kirk]

On Wednesday 27th September 2017, 20 members of the Hawker Association spent an enjoyable day out at RNAS Yeovilton.

We encountered two Sea Harriers, the majority of which were built at the Richmond Road factory and two Sea Furies built at Langley.

Kieron.