Favourite Aircraft Designer

I’m ALWAYS in forn parts, me. I’m in even more foren parts at the moment though. Eh?

Anyone for Tommy Sopwith?

Yes, Fair comment Mr dhfan. Howabout Mr Handley Page for cussedness? Or Fairey?

Camm was renowned for it too. I read once that he would do his inspections of the draughtsman every Friday, or whatever, and would fire them frequently. Someone followed him around the factory reinstating them as he wouldn’t remember sacking them after a few hours.

Melvyn

Roy Fedden was nice and tetchy, The Bristol board decided to fire him Mid war, good move that delayed the Centaurus and 2000hp two stage Hercs that could have turned the Lanc into an even better bomber.

Virtually anything rude you want to say about H-P would probably be understated.
Fairey, I really know nothing about. Must be between the previous extremes somewhere.

Are you in foreign parts yet, James?

Yes, Fair comment Mr dhfan. Howabout Mr Handley Page for cussedness? Or Fairey?

JDK, your usual accuracy seems to have left you. de Havilland may well not be at the top of the pile of greatest designers, but prima donna, never.
Of all the original (UK) pioneers, he was a real gentleman.

Rex Beisel, for obvious reasons…my grandfather worked for him.

Sydney Camm, always did like his big, burly planes…

Ed Heinemann, for making the most successful Naval dive bomber of the war, the SBD and later the A-4 Skyhawk, a great little plane…

And dare I forget Kelly Johnson…always at the TOP of the aircraft design game…

Mark

Ed Heinemann very solid, so must be central defender

De Havilland was a bit of a prima donna I think. Striker?

Tempest Nut, it sounds a great team – you could put them up against Monty Python’s football Philosophers team any day. Camm in goal I think, as he’s a safe pair of hands 😀

Johnson and Tank on the wings for sure 😀 😀 😀

Tony Fokker’s own version of events was always a little partial. 😉 Damn good salesman, pilot and PR merchant. The cheek was getting the Dutch Air Force started in 1918 wth some -ah- ‘secondhand’ aircraft brought into Holland on a train from -er- Germany. Not sure the right money was handed over, or what else might have hapened, but Tony never missed an oportunity!

Tempest Nut, it sounds a great team – you could put them up against Monty Python’s football Philosophers team any day. Camm in goal I think, as he’s a safe pair of hands 😀

Can’t chose one but my list is like this, Camm, de Havilland, Ed Heinemann, Barnes Wallis, Kurt Tank, Kelly Johnson, Mitchell, and Alex Kartvell

Anthony Fokker gets points as ‘Most cheeky aircraft designer’ IMHO

It’s been a while since I read his autobiography, but if I recall correctly the main things we can accuse Tony F. of is being a pretty good test pilot and a good salesman. There’s not all that much that he designed by himself after his original Fokker Spin. Did you know that Junkers sued him quite early on for stealing his wing design? The battle between the two lasted for years and was ultimately settled out of court.

Hi Voy,
Nerves unshredded. Life’s too short etc. Nah, Air Superiority. Potential – not actual. By the time 2nd TAF and Fighter Command were tackling the Luftwaffe, the Typhoon was replaced. N. Africa? (Special pleading… ;))

Anthony Fokker gets points as ‘Most cheeky aircraft designer’ IMHO

OK

Ed Heinemann

Done.

I guess Ed Heinemann ought to get a mention here.

IMO Alexander Lippisch and Wilhelm Messerschmitt are my favourite aircraft designers… truly wonderful aircraft from both.

JDK, have I gotten on your nerves again? Didn’t 😉 mean to…
And, just in order to improve my English again:

the Typhoon … wasn’t a disaster as an air superiority fighter – it just wasn’t the best

Can you tell me when and where was the Typhoon used as “air superiority fighter”?
I know it was used for air defence against JaBo hit-and-run raids, I also know it was used widely as a fighter-bomber. But “air superiority”?

I don’t think you can call a guy a Truly Great Designer if such thing happened to him on a major project, desperately needed by his country in a great war.

Why not? I wasn’t claiming Camm was perfect, or a genius, both claims put forward regularly by people who should know better for Mitchell. Camm delivered the Hurricane, Tempest, Fury, (monoplane) and Sea Fury all of which did what they said on the tin, and were there when required. The Tempest was a better air-to-air fighter than the late model Spitfires (IMHO) and even if you disagree about better, they were certainly in the same league. It’s not unreasonable to say that the Tempest was the Typhoon debugged; so yes, late, but without a load of luck that the Spitfire V / IX came through, everything else was a bit of a mess in the British aero industry then – Camm wasn’t alone. So; he had one ‘failure’ which he rectified. Not bad. And though I agree that the Typhoon was late and had a lot of problems, it wasn’t a disaster as an air superiority fighter – it just wasn’t the best; but it could hold its own. The ‘disaster’ tag was because of too many problems early on, and being overshadowed and replaced with better a/c – Spitfire and Tempest.

We’ll never know, but I don’t believe that Mitchell would’ve delivered the equivalent designs that Camm did in W.W.II; his track record up to his death was simply not as good on high performance a/c as Camm’s was, up to the date of Mitchell’s death.

I’m not a blind fan of Camm, nor do I want to do down Mitchell – both were great designers, both delivered some of the best aircraft in the world, both did that, on occasion, when the chips were down. However, many people believe that Mitchell walked on water, and Camm was the lesser designer. Apart from the fact that Mitchell designed many damn good seaplanes, so he floated 😉 that’s simply not supported by the facts. Mitchel designed less aircraft (types and production) and had more failures than Camm. So Camm was simply ‘better’.

That said, I find them both admerable. Wackett* would be my favourite designer, for nationalistic reasons; but we don’t have to pick one they are all there!

Cheers

*(I’d forgotton that Wackett designed a front line world-class inteceptor in 4 months; one that took jigs and layout from another countries production and beat the same exercise by that company by 30mph. The Boomerang. quite the machine in the circs.)

The Civil Aviation Authority think they do.

Thanks!