Lawrence Percival Coombes (9 April 1899 – 3 June 1988) was a British-Australian aeronautical engineer who served as the first Chief Superintendent of the Australian Aeronautical Research Laboratories from 1938 until 1964. He had previously worked at the
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
from 1924, and during World War I had served as a pilot in the
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, India, and educated in London. From 1915 he studied engineering at the City and Guilds College in London, but in July 1917 he took leave of absence from his studies in order to enlist in the Royal Naval Air Service.
Military career
Coombes was assigned to on 22 July 1917 as a probationary flight officer, and attended the training schools at Air Stations Chingford and
Cranwell
Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county tow ...
, before being awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate at Air Station Fairlop on 20 September.
He was promoted to flight sub-lieutenant on 28 September, and posted to HMS ''Daedalus'' in November. Coombes was eventually sent to France, and was initially assigned to No. 12 Naval Squadron based at Air Station
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. but was reassigned to No. 10 Naval Squadron two weeks later. Flying the Sopwith Camel, Coombes gained his first aerial victory on 24 March, destroying an Albatros D.V over Menin-
Roulers
Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbe ...
. By the time of his second victory on 9 April (another D.V destroyed north of La Bassée), the Royal Naval Air Service had been merged with the Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force, and No. 10 Naval Squadron had been renamed No. 210 Squadron RAF. Coombes drove down three more enemy aircraft in May, and on 12 June he was appointed acting-captain while serving as a flight commander. In June and July he was credited with shooting down ten more aircraft, bringing his total number of victories to fifteen.
Coombes was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on 3 August, then returned to England to spend the rest of the war serving as an instructor at No. 204 Training Depot Station at RAF Eastchurch.
Coombes left the RAF on 17 April 1919, and spent the rest of the summer barnstorming around the north of England in surplus B.E.2's with Charles Kingsford Smith before returning to City and Guilds College, to finally receive his Engineering degree in mid-1920.
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
as a Scientific Officer in the Aerodynamics Department. A year later, in 1925, he moved to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe, where he also acted as a technical advisor to the RAF's High Speed Flight, competing for the 1927 Schneider Trophy.
Coombes remained a member of the Reserve of Air Force Officers (RAFO), being promoted to flying officer on 29 May 1923, but eventually relinquished his commission on 29 May 1926.
In 1930 he returned to the Royal Aircraft Establishment where he was in charge of the Seaplane Tank. In 1938 Coombes emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, after being appointed the first Chief Superintendent of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL). In 1949 ARL was transferred to the Research and Development Branch of the Department of Supply, becoming one of the Defence Science Laboratories. In 1960, while serving as an advisor for the United Nations, Coombes helped India establish its first Aeronautical Research Laboratory.
Coombes retired in 1964, and in June was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services to aviation".
Coombes died in Melbourne on 3 June 1988.
Personal life
On 6 April 1926 he married Annie Marie ("Nancy") Lee, and they had two daughters; Shirley Ruth (b. 1928) and Josephine (b. 1932).
City and Guilds Institute
The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute ha ...
Kingsford-Smith
The Division of Kingsford Smith is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales.
History
The division is named after Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, a pioneer aviator, and the first pilot to fly across the Pacific Ocean. The ...
Honoris Causa
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences
The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is a learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. It was founded in 1975 as one of Australia's then four learned academies (now five) ...