Sir George Edwards

Men of this stature rarely seem to occur these days, and in a multi-national led industry where development costs are costed to be shared in partnerships, the climate seems too strict for a man of his ilk to thrive .

The Chief Engineer of Europe’s present flagship civil aircraft project, the A350 is a Brit! (based in Toulouse of course)

However I believe this will never happen in future because;-
1 – the UK can no longer give complete Aircraft design experience to a potential chief engineer candidates unlike most of our euro partners
and
2 – the UK disease of not wishing to nationally own major manufacturing industries (Our euro colleagues are not so shy and do pursue prestigious national objectives)

Sir George Edward’s famous pork pie hat ‘rests’ on display in Delta Golf, Brookland’s Concorde.
I think he will always be remembered there and long after the politicians who ‘provided’ the Fourth dimension
in aircraft design.
mmitch.

A few years ago while walking the Surrey Hills I discovered that Sir George Edwards is buried in the wonderful little church yard of St Martha’s on the Hill at Chilworth near Guildford. The church is accessible via a long but scenic climb through woodland, once there you have fantastic views over Guildford and surrounding area’s.

It says a lot of people and ‘aviation fans’ etc these days that after finding this thread in Dec 2013, that only your question remains on it still, without one response – I thought I would also pay some kind of inadequate tribute therefore to a visionary genius who had to temper his ambition, skill and energy due to the inadequates at Whitehall – and similar cretins in the ‘airline industry’ in the 50’s and 60’s.

Though no foul play was found, the fact is that the lack of a BOAC order for the V1000 caused the prototype to be scrapped due to the incompetence and lack-lustre British airline barons who always made stupid restrictions in its requirements while ordering in inadequate quantities. Then 2 years later they changed their mind about people wanting to travel over the oceans by jet and duly ordered the Boeing 707, giving a gleeful USA the oversea large airliner business it coveted on a plate.

Superlative a design though the later VC10 was, it failed to secure enough orders, even though it was loved by passengers. Men of this stature rarely seem to occur these days, and in a multi-national led industry where development costs are costed to be shared in partnerships, the climate seems too strict for a man of his ilk to thrive and at least save some of the design excellence that was lost by cancelled projects of the kind that he experienced on a regular basis during his lifetime.

Its a bit like that scene when the Ozzie actor playing the Roman general has finally fallen after slaying his enemy – GE may not have slain enough of his sadly, but the exclamation “Honour Him”will always apply to him and others, in an industry short these days on vision, ability and personality.

Here are some of the photos I took of George Edwards, when I shared the last Viscount flight out of Heathrow on 18th April 1996.
That’s Raymond Baxter stood up and George is immediately beside him, alongside famous personalities associated with the Viscount, including the prototype’s test pilot, Jock Bryce.
The photo in front of the Viscount shows Sir Peter Masefield, George Edwards and Lord King, then Chairman of BA. Sadly all three are no longer with us. I have also included a brochure given to us on the day, on which I obtained the signatures of George Edwards and Lord King.
I was very proud of being invited to that historical event and to share the company of such aviation legends.

I wouldnt have thought such an important aviation figure would be that difficult to research.
His autobiography (Bouncing Bombs to Concorde) would be a good starting point. The Royal Aeronautical Society should be agood source aswel.

Rob,

I was very lucky to have met him and furthermore shared a flight in the last Viscount out of Heathrow in ’96. If you want a couple of photos of this occasion, just ask?