Can anyone here help to piece together the history of Hon. Air Commodore Albert Edward Marsden please? So far Errol Martyn and I have found the following details.
He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1888, and in 1913 he travelled to London to receive the Queen Victoria Medal as a prize for some cabinets he had exhibited at the Crystal Palace, London. He decided to stay on in London and signed up to a carpentry course at the London Polytechnic.
On completing the course he moved into a job with Vickers Ltd. working in aircraft production. Shortly after the First World War began he was seconded to the Air Ministry to work on aircraft production.
He spent a fair bit of WWI as the Chief Inspector of Aircraft Production for all of Scotland.
After WWI he became Chief Inspector for Aircraft Production for all aircraft entering service with the Royal Air Force. In 1936 he was apparently one of the men instrumental in setting up the Shadow Scheme that resulted in shadow factories for aircraft production.
In February 1939 Albert was sent by the Air Ministry to Canada to take on the role of Chief Inspector of Aircraft Production there for all aircraft to be manufactured for the Air Ministry.
By April 1941 he’d moved to Washington DC with the British Air Commission and his jurisdiction as Chief Inspector now covered all aircraft produced in all North America (USA and Canada).
He returned to England in 1946, and retired in 1948. Albert returned to New Zealand in 1950, living at Paraparaumu till he moved up here to Cambridge, and he remained in Cambridge till becoming ill in April 1972 and spent his last months it seems in hospital in Hamilton, where he died around the 20th of June 1972. I have not yet found the exact date of death but he was cremated on the 22nd of June 1972.
Can anyone here fill in details of his work with Vickers Ltd, and with the Air Ministry in London, Scotland, Canada and the USA?
He really sounds like he was one of the very important men of the war. In Washington DC he held the Honorary rank of Air Commodore.
Thanks.
By: Dave Homewood - 25th July 2013 at 10:53
I have also put this online now and as info comes in I will build it up or correct it as the need arises:
http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Albert_Marsden.html
Something I’d love to find is that photo of him in front of the 1000th Harvard rolled off the NAA production line, giving the thumbs up, which was reported in a few newspapers here in NZ in April 1941.
By: Dave Homewood - 25th July 2013 at 10:52
Thanks mmitch, I have dropped them an email.
By: mmitch - 25th July 2013 at 09:37
Maybe the Brooklands Museum have some information on his time with Vickers?
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/index.php?/contact-us/
mmitch.
By: Moggy C - 25th July 2013 at 07:23
I can’t help, but it certainly sounds like he had a crucial role ‘behind the scenes’; one that shouldn’t be underestimated depite attracting little attention.
Moggy
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July 25, 2013 at 7:18 am