Roy Braybrook shares his personal memories of Ron…
I worked literally alongside Ron in the Project Office for many years. While Ralph (Hooper) and John (Fozard) were bogged down with the Harrier and Sea Harrier, we toiled in friendly rivalry to produce The Next Big Thing. Ron taught me a lot about preliminary design and drag estimation. He was a great designer, but (like a lot of people) he had a bit of an obsession about Ed Heinemann's A-4, which I considered overrated, and the F-104, which obviously had the horizontal tail in the wrong place.
He broadened his experience by working on detachment to the HSA Advanced Projects Group for a number of years on their supersonic transport studies. He also persisted with future projects much longer than I, taking part in the Anglo-US STOVL studies that spawned the JSF programme.
Ron had an incredible memory for past aircraft. He was a mine of
information and was always generous in sharing it. He also had a unique
talent for extracting information from photographs of rivals' products.
He could see things in the shadows that I always missed. He was a great
guy, and I am proud to have known and worked alongside him.
Some highlights in a long career…
Harry was born in1929 and his early years were spent in India. After graduating in mechanical engineering with aeronautics he joined the RAE at Farnborough. After National Service he was posted to the National Physical Laboratory, which he wanted, but to the ship division, which he didn’t.
Being refused a transfer to aeronautics he resigned (unheard of!) and moved to Handley Page where he worked on the Victor and led the HP.115 slender delta aerodynamics team and eventually became chief aerodynamicist.
When Handley Page closed because Sir Frederick would not bow to the Government’s wish for the Company to join HSA or BAC, Harry moved to Hawker Siddeley, Kingston.
In 1971 he was appointed head of aerodynamics (Hawk). Harry took
early retirement in 1989 and lectured part-time at Kingston University
until 2000. He remained active in the Handley Page and Hawker
Associations of which he was a founding member, and supported the Royal
Aeronautical Society, writing a definitive paper on the history of the
Hawk. Fittingly his funeral at All Saints, Fleet, was marked by a Hawk
flypast; flypast story, reception photos (close the windows when finished).