Joseph Smith CBE (25 May 1897 – 20 February 1956) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

who took over as Chief Designer for

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II as well as a range of seaplanes and flying boats, and a series of jet-powered fighter aircraft after World War II ...

upon the death of R. J. Mitchell and led the team responsible for the subsequent development of the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

Career

Early life

Joseph Smith was educated at the Yardley Secondary School and Birmingham Municipal Technical School. Beaver, page 30 After leaving school he gained an apprenticeship with the

Austin Motor Company The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Li ...

at Longbridge, Birmingham in 1914. Following the outbreak of World War I he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in 1914 and served on motor launches in the Mediterranean. Upon completion of his service in the RNVR he returned to Austin to complete his apprenticeship. Upon its completion he was given the position of junior draughtsman in the aircraft department in 1919. He worked on the

Austin Whippet The Austin Whippet was a British single-seat light aircraft designed and built by the Austin Motor Company just after the First World War. It was a small single-seat biplane, intended to be an inexpensive aircraft for the amateur private pilot, ...

which was designed to be an inexpensive single-seater aircraft. After the Whippet failed to attract sufficient sales Austin decided in 1920 to abandon aircraft production. Smith who wished to continue his involvement in the aviation field moved in 1921 to

as a senior draughtsman, reporting to Chief Draughtsman Frank Holroyd. Over the following years Smith took on more responsibility leading to in 1926 Frank Holroyd being formally designated as Assistant Chief Engineer, and Smith was designated as Chief Draughtsman. From then on Smith was involved in all of the Supermarine designs during the late 1920s and 1930s. By 1927 Smith had a staff of 38 employees working under him in the drawing office. Working under chief designer R. J. Mitchell, Smith was heavily involved with the early design of the Spitfire. Following the death of Mitchell in June 1937 his deputy Harold J. Payn was appointed chief designer. Following the placement of government orders for the Spitfire Smith was heavily involved in the design of the airframe's structure and preparation of production drawings.

Chief Designer

As war clouds gathered a security check in September 1939 identified that Payn had a German-born wife. Concerns about the risk this posed to a major war programme saw Payn dismissed. Beaver, page 33 Smith was appointed acting manager of the design department and finally appointed chief designer in 1941 following approval from the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Smith was confident that the Spitfire had great development potential and was unwilling to consider developing a replacement aircraft until the maximum capability had been obtained from the Spitfire. As a result he oversaw the development of the Spitfire and its naval version the Seafire through numerous variants, including introduction of the

Rolls-Royce Griffon The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37- litre (2,240 cu in) capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. In keeping with company convention, the Griffon was named after a bird of pre ...

-engined series, all of which ensured that it remained a front-line fighter until superseded by jet fighters. The final development of the Spitfire was the Supermarine Spiteful and its naval version the

Supermarine Seafang The Supermarine Seafang was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon–engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification N.5/45. It was based on the Spiteful, which was a development of Supermarine's famous Spitfire aircraft ...

which retained a Spitfire-like fuselage, married to a new straight-tapered laminar flow wing, which gave Smith the opportunity to fit a wide-track inward-retracting undercarriage.

Post-war

Following his piston-engined aircraft Smith designed the first British naval jet fighter, the

Supermarine Attacker The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The type has the distinction of being the first jet fighter to enter oper ...

, using the Spiteful wing, which saw service with the Royal Navy. Following the Attacker he oversaw the design of the Type 510 a swept-wing jet fighter which was developed into the Supermarine Swift. Following the Swift came the

Supermarine 525 The Supermarine Type 525 was a British prototype naval jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s. Design and development The Type 525 was a late development of the Type 508 of which three examples had been ordered from Supermarine in November 1947 to ...

and

Supermarine Scimitar The Supermarine Scimitar was a single-seat naval strike aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine. Operated exclusively by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, it was the final aircraft to be entirely designed a ...

. While he was mainly involved post-war in the development of fighter aircraft he was also as chief designer responsible for the Seagull, an amphibian flying boat. Smith was appointed as a special director of Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd in 1948 and served as chairman of the Technical Board and Technical Executive Committee of the

Society of British Aircraft Constructors A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. So ...

from 1948 to 1951. He also served as Chairman of the Aircraft Industries Standards Committee, and as a member of the Engineering Divisional Council of the British Standards Institute. He died of cancer at

Chandler's Ford Chandler's Ford (originally The Ford and historically Chandlersford) is a largely residential area and civil parish in the Borough of Eastleigh in Hampshire, England. It has a population of 21,436 in the 2011 UK Census. Chandler's Ford lies on ...

on 20 February 1956.

Honours

He was awarded a CBE in 1946 in recognition of his war efforts. In 1950 he was awarded the silver medal of the

Royal Aeronautical Society 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, ...

. In 1956 the Royal Aeronautical Society posthumously awarded Smith the British Gold Medal for work of an outstanding nature in aeronautics.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Joseph 1897 births 1956 deaths English aerospace engineers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Supermarine Spitfire Aircraft designers Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I