Major Frank Bernard Halford

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRAeS The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...

(7 March 1894 – 16 April 1955) was an English

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

designer. He is best known for the series of de Havilland Gipsy engines, widely used by light aircraft in the 1920s and 30s.

Career

Educated at

Felsted Felsted (sometimes spelt Felstead) is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bannister Green, Bartholomew Green, Causeway End, Coblers Green, Cock Green, Frenches Gre ...

, In 1913 he left the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

before graduating in order to learn to fly at the Bristol Flying School at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

, later becoming a flight instructor for Bristol. In 1914 he joined the Aeronautical Inspection Department of the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

''Dictionary of National Biography'' Oxford: O.U.P. On the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

where he fought at the

front Front may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Front'' (1943 film), a 1943 Soviet drama film * ''The Front'', 1976 film Music * The Front (band), an American rock band signed to Columbia Records and active in the 1980s and e ...

. Recalled to engineering duties he improved and enlarged the water-cooled six-cylinder

Austro-Daimler Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909. Early history In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The com ...

, producing the 230 hp (170 kW)

Beardmore Halford Pullinger Beardmore-Halford-Pullinger (BHP) were a series of aircraft engines used in production between 1916 and 1918. The engines were used on many notable First World War aircraft, such as the Airco DH.4, DH.9, Airco DH.10 Amiens, de Havilland DH.15 an ...

(BHP). This engine was further developed by

Siddeley-Deasy The Siddeley-Deasy Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile, aero engine and aircraft company based in Coventry in the early 20th century. It was central to the formation, by merger and buy-out, of the later Armstrong Siddeley Motor ...

as the Puma. In 1922 he raced a 4-valve

Triumph Ricardo The Triumph Ricardo was a British single-cylinder motorcycle manufactured by the Triumph Engineering Co Ltd between 1921 and 1928. Named after engine designer Harry Ricardo, Sir Harry Ricardo it featured an innovative four valve head design and ...

in the

Senior TT The Senior Tourist Trophy is a motorcycle road race that takes place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event traditionally held over the last week in May and the first week in June. The Senior TT is the Blue Riband event of the festi ...

, finishing 13th. That same year he was commissioned to produce a luxury motorcycle for

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

. Based on

aero-engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

principles, it featured an in-line unit construction four cylinder engine, with shaft drive to the rear wheel. Four examples were made, one exists in a private collection in the Isle of Man. Working for

Airdisco The Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) or Airdisco, was a British firm established in March 1920 to take advantage of the large number of World War I-surplus military aircraft on the market.Gunston 2005, p.7. The company changed name in 1925 to ADC ...

, he redesigned the Puma engine as the Nimbus and also developed a V-8 engine based on the company's large stores of surplus Renault engine parts. There in 1924 he designed the first of the long-running

Cirrus Cirrus may refer to: Science *Cirrus (biology), any of various thin, thread-like structures on the body of an animal *Cirrus (botany), a tendril *Infrared cirrus, in astronomy, filamentary structures seen in infrared light *Cirrus cloud, a type ...

series at the request of

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...

. In 1923 he set up his own consultancy in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, alongside the engine designer

Harry Ricardo Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo (26 January 1885 – 18 May 1974) was an English engineer who was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine. Among his many other works, ...

. From 1926 he designed the

de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre (300 ...

air-cooled inline engines, repeating the success of the Cirrus. During this period Frank Halford also designed and had built the AM

Halford Special The Halford Special was a Grand Prix racing car of the 1920s built by engine designer Major Frank Halford on the chassis of an early Side Valve Aston Martin tourer. It was one of the most advanced British-built racing cars of the mid-1920s and had ...

racing car which he raced at

in the 1926 RAC

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...

, as well as in many other races from 1925 to 1926. During the 1930s Halford and

became interested in the

sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. ...

as a method of increasing the allowable operating RPM and

compression ratio The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values. A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...

of piston engines, thereby increasing the power from an otherwise smaller engine. From 1928 Halford worked with D. Napier & Son, eventually producing the

Sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

, which became one of the most powerful piston aero engines built, producing 3,500 hp (2.6 MW) from only 2200 cubic inches (36 L) in late-war versions. During the war he became interested in

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

s, and designed a simplified version of

Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for ...

's centrifugal-flow designs with the air intake on the front and "straight-through" combustion chambers. Known initially as the Halford H.1, the project was undertaken for

who produced it as the

de Havilland Goblin The de Havilland Goblin, originally designated as the Halford H-1, is an early turbojet engine designed by Frank Halford and built by de Havilland. The Goblin was the second British jet engine to fly, after Whittle's Power Jets W.1, and the f ...

. Halford's company was eventually purchased outright by de Havilland in 1944. Halford continued working on jets,

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

and

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

engines.

Piston engines

ADC Cirrus The ADC Cirrus is a series of British aero engines manufactured using surplus Renault parts by the Aircraft Disposal Company (ADC) in the 1920s. The engines were air-cooled, four-cylinder inline types. They were widely used for private and li ...

de Havilland Gipsy Major The de Havilland Gipsy Major or Gipsy IIIA is a four-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline engine used in a variety of light aircraft produced in the 1930s, including the famous Tiger Moth biplane. Many Gipsy Major engines still power vintag ...

Napier Rapier The Napier Rapier was a British 16-cylinder H pattern air-cooled aero engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier & Son shortly before World War II. Design and development The Rapier was the first of Napier's H cylinder engines. The ...

Napier Dagger The Napier Dagger was a 24-cylinder H-pattern ''(or H-Block)'' air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier before World War II. It was a development of the earlier Napier Rapier. Design and development The H-Block has a ...

Napier Sabre The Napier Sabre is a British H-24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aero engine, designed by Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolved to become one of the most powerful inline ...

Siddeley Puma The Siddeley Puma was a British aero engine developed towards the end of World War I and produced by Siddeley-Deasy. The first engines left the production lines of Siddeley-Deasy in Coventry in August 1917, production continued until December 1 ...

Jet engines

* de Havilland H.1 Goblin * de Havilland H.2 Ghost * de Havilland H.3 - turbopropeller

Gipsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

replacement, 500 shp * de Havilland H.4 Gyron * de Havilland H.5 - developed Ghost - not built * de Havilland H.6 Gyron Junior * de Havilland H.7 - gas generator, later developed as Napier Oryx

References

*J. L. Pritchard, 'Halford, Frank Bernard (1894–1955)', rev. Robin Higham, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 Sept 2006
*Douglas R. Taylor: ''Boxkite to jet: the remarkable career of Frank B Halford''. Derby: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, 1999 (Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. Historical series; no. 28) * Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .

External links

* ttp://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200919.html ''Jet Propulsion for Civil Aircraft''- a 1946 ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' article on a paper presented by Major F. B. Halford, F.R.Ae.S, M.S.A.E.
"Major F. B. Halford"
''Flight'' 1955 obituary

a 1959 ''Flight'' article on Halford {{DEFAULTSORT:Halford, Frank 1894 births 1955 deaths Military personnel from Nottingham Royal Flying Corps personnel Alumni of the University of Nottingham Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English aerospace engineers English aviators Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Jet engine pioneers People educated at Felsted School

Career

Piston engines

Jet engines

See also

References

External links