Vickers Armstrong – British Aircraft Corporation – British Aerospace.
Brooklands Weybridge, Surrey .
I joined Vickers Armstrong of Weybridge, Surrey at the age of 17 in 1958, I was taken on has a trainee draughtsman, thanks manly to the influence of my father who worked for the company for many years. I learnt the hard way, having started in the Full Scale Drawing office, and then known as the Loft, not knowing much about anything, I commenced upon eight years of part time schooling at Brooklands Technical College
Looking pack on the aircraft I worked on, that’s the one’s that actually flew; and I worked on a lot of projects that did not fly, it reads like a walk through of the heyday of British aircraft achievement, however, it also announce the death tell of the industry.
Vickers Valiant
The Vickers Armstrong Valiant was British first four engine jet bomber, and once part of the RAF’s V Bomber nuclear force of the 1950s and 1960s. Originally developed for high level strategic bombing, its role change to low level attacks, for which it was not best suited.
When I first started at Weybridge, Vickers Armstrong was still engaged in Viscounts,
Vangards and the Valiant. I had spent many an hour of my childhood setting upon the top of Brooklands racing track watching this aircraft take-off. I guess the VC10 would be the first aircraft I can remember being actively involved with, spending many months helping to layout the engine nacelles full scale on metal plates. Also about the same time the TSR2 was in developments, and whilst I was not in the projects department, I do remember working on the reconnaissance pack. The BAC 1-11 would lead me to the Aerodynamics department, after disastrous flight testing the aircraft was in need of a new wing leading edge. I spent some very useful months analyzing performance date, not that it was that exciting; however, it did get me away from the constraints of the drawing office and introduce me to computers.
The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2 was a cancelled Cold War strike and reconnaissance aircraft developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The TSR-2 was designed to penetrate a well-defended forward battle area at low altitudes and very high speeds, and then attack high-value targets in the rear with nuclear or conventional weapons. Another aspect of its combat role was to provide high-altitude, high-speed photo reconnaissance, requirements that necessitated incorporating "state-of-the-art" aviation technology that would make it the highest-performing aircraft in these roles. Although only one prototype was completed, test flights indicated that the aircraft would be able to meet its stringent design specifications. These specifications were however reduced as the results of flight testing became available. The TSR-2 was the most visible victim of the 1957 Defence "White Paper" that, along with inter-service squabbling over Britain's future defence needs, led to the controversial decision to scrap the programme in 1965. With the election of a new government, the TSR-2 was ostensibly cancelled due to rising costs, in favour of purchasing the General Dynamics F-111, an "off-the-shelf" decision that itself was later rescinded as costs and development times skyrocketed.
VC10 of the RAF
In the early 1950's Vickers were already working on designs for a 4 engine jet airliner, originally known as the V1000, Unfortunately, the government pulled the plug on the project, as the prototype neared completion. The initial concept of the VC10 was to provide a jet-powered airliner that could comfortably make use of the shorter runways commonly in use at the time. The performance of the VC10 was such that it achieved the fastest crossing of the Atlantic - London to New York
V1000
The Vickers Armstrong V-1000 was a prototype jet-powered cargo aircraft designed to a UK
BAC 1-11 of American Airlines.
The BAC 1-11 was a short range jet twin engine airline of the 1960s and 1970s. It was first conceived by Hunting Aircraft Company, but developed and produced by British Aircraft Corporation. It was designed to replace the Vickers Viscount and proved to be very successful, with sale in the United States
Armed with computer experience I returned to the drawing office to help set up Computer Aid to Design, the aim being to set up a computer driven system to establish aircraft envelope shapes, we called this process Surfacing. Furthermore, the system would supply by drawing and numerical form, all the dated need for structural and aerodynamic design leading to production. With Concorde structure failures experienced under testing at Farnborough, the Fin, Dorsal and Rudder components need extensive strengthen via additional structure supports. Purely by luck these were the areas we had chosen to both help develop and test out our CAD system, and from then on we were able to supply all information needed for production of the Rear Fuselage and Tail Fin areas of Concorde via computer generated drawings, data sheets and NC tapes.
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years. With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
It’s sad to reflect that a considerable amount of my time in the industry was wasted on project that never flow, due to politics, rising cost and the American Aircraft industry influenced the death knell of many projects, until the sum of all these influences lead finally to the demise of our industry. The last aircraft project I was involved in was the MRCA later named the Tornado by the RAF, not the we were that involved with the project, more like overspill work from BAC Warton Lancaster, formally English Electric. I did spend one summer working in they Full Scale Drawing Office back on the drawing board at BAC Warton, I needed the extra money the job was offering to get married. The same reason would shortly force me to leave the industry and find richer pastures in the Motor Car Industry.
The RAF Tornado
Developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy, the Tornado first flew on 14 August 1974. It saw action with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force in the Gulf War. International co-operation continued after its entry into service within the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, a tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, UK . Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built for the three partner nations and Saudi Arabia.
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