Sydney Camm

SIR SYDNEY CAMM d1966. English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was the Hawker Hurricane fighter. With this he moved from the technology of the biplane to contemporary monoplane fighter aircraft. The result was that these fighters flew faster and with the improved engine technology of the time, higher and therefore more deadly than ever. The Hawker engineer Frank Murdoch was responsible for getting the Hurricane into production in sufficient numbers before the outbreak of the war, after an eye-opening visit to the MAN diesel plant in Augsburg in 1936. A full size Hawker Hurricane replica has been placed near the River Thames Windsor in honour of Sir Sydney Camm's special aircraft. He later worked on a number of special aircraft including ; the Hawker Typhoon / Hawker Tempest / Sea Fury and post WW2 jets important during the Cold War, the Hawker Siddeley P1127 and Kestrel FGA1. In 1953, he was knighted for these and other achievements and his contribution to British Aviation. The P1127 first flew on 21st October 1960. Working with him on this aircraft and the Hunter was Prof  John Fozard who later became head of the Hawker design office in 1961 and would write the official biography of Sydney Camm in 1991. Sydney Camm retired as chief designer at Hawker in 1965. Before he died, he was amazingly planning the design of an aircraft to travel at Mach 4, having begun his life in aircraft design with the building of a man-carrying glider in 1912 (just nine years after man's first powered flight). He died on 12th March 1966 aged 72 whilst playing golf at the Richmond Golf Course.