Roy Braybrook remembers a much loved Hawker personality…
Evelyn Covington, who was chief librarian for Hawker Aircraft and its successors at Kingston for more decades than she would wish to admit, passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 11th.I first met “Ev” at the Canbury Park Road offices in 1954. However,
the fact that she celebrated her 90th birthday last November supports
my understanding that, when she joined ‘Harry’s’ straight from school
at the age of 16, it was during the war, when key elements were
evacuated to a stately home in Esher, Claremont. She worked initially
as a tracer, before moving to the library.
Regarding her decades at Richmond Road, Ev will be remembered with affection by survivors from both the Design Department and Head Office. She had a special relationship with the Project Office.
In those pre-internet times we relied heavily on Ev and her wonderful team to keep us informed of what was happening in the wider world of aviation, and especially of what the competition was doing. She was always a welcome guest at our office parties.
Ev was one of the sweetest women that I had the pleasure to meet. Like most of us, she may have been a tiny cog in Harry’s machine, but fulfilling her role in the way that she did made life not only easier but also far more pleasant for us cogs who relied so much on her support.