Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" Pierson

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 ...

(9 February 1891 – 10 January 1948) 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 ide ...

aircraft designer and chief designer at

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

later

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

Aircraft Ltd. He was responsible for the

Vickers Vimy The Vickers Vimy was a British heavy bomber aircraft developed and manufactured by Vickers Limited. Developed during the latter stages of the First World War to equip the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Vimy was designed by Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" ...

, a heavy bomber designed during World War 1 and the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic non-stop. He was the chief designer of the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

bomber of World War 2.

Early life

Pierson was born on 9 February 1891 at Little Fransham, Norfolk, the son of the rector the Reverend Kirshaw T. Pierson and his wife Helen Mary. He was educated at the

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_l ...

in Essex.

Career

Vickers

Although his father wanted him to work in a bank, young Rex started an apprenticeship in 1908 with Vickers at Erith. As soon as the company started an aircraft section in 1911 he joined that part of the company and learned to fly. He gained Royal Aero Club Aviator's certificate number 660 on 14 October 1913 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, ...

. By 1917 he was the chief aircraft designer at Vickers based in its Knightsbridge offices in London. In 1917 he designed the twin-engined

biplane

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...

which entered service with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in 1919. A Vimy flown by John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first non-stop crossing of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in June 1919. Among his many other designs were the

Vickers Vespa The Vickers Vespa was a British army cooperation biplane designed and built by Vickers Limited in the 1920s. While not adopted by Britain's Royal Air Force, small numbers were bought by the Irish Free State and Bolivia, the latter of which used ...

which held the world altitude record in 1932 and the

Vickers Wellesley The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of We ...

which held the world long distance record in 1938. Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1939-1941 CH2266

Vickers Wellington

He was also chief designer of the

twin-engined bomber, of which nearly 11,500 were built between 1936 and 1945. The Wellington, ''K4049'', first flew on 15 June 1936 from Brooklands with

Joseph Summers Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, (10 March 1904 – 16 March 1954) was chief test pilot at Vickers-Armstrongs and Supermarine. During his career, Summers flew many first flights on prototype aircraft, (a record of 54 by a test pilot), from the Su ...

Post war

Postwar designs included the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Valetta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was ...

and

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

. Pierson was promoted to chief engineer in 1946. His successor as chief designer was the engineer and industrial leader Sir George Edwards.

Personal life

After a long illness Pierson died at his home in Cranleigh, Surrey on 10 January 1948 aged 56. His name and achievements are commemorated by an annual ''R K Pierson Lecture'' held by the Royal Aeronautical Society (Weybridge Branch) at

Brooklands Museum Brooklands Museum is a motoring and aviation museum occupying part of the former Brooklands motor-racing track in Weybridge, Surrey, England. Formally opened in 1991, the museum is operated by the independent Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd, a pri ...

, usually in November. The museum also displays a unique collection of aircraft produced by the Vickers design team led by Pierson and Edwards from 1917-60.

References

* * Lynch, Brendan. ''Yesterday We Were in America - Alcock and Brown - First to fly the Atlantic non-stop''. Yeovil, England: Haynes Publishing, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pierson, Rex Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English aerospace engineers English aviators People educated at Felsted School People from Breckland District Vickers people 1891 births 1948 deaths