Sir Sydney Camm,
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 ...
(5 August 189312 March 1966) 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 ...
aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was the
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...
fighter.
Early years
Sydney Camm was born at 10 Alma Road in Windsor, Berkshire, the eldest child of the twelve children of Frederick Camm, a carpenter/joiner and Mary Smith. The Camm family lived near
Windsor & Eton Central railway station
Windsor & Eton Central station is one of two terminal stations serving the town of Windsor, Berkshire, England. Although a small part is still a railway station, most of the station building has been converted into a tourist-oriented shopping ce ...
. His brother
Frederick James Camm became a technical author, and created the ''
Practical Wireless
''Practical Wireless'' is a British amateur radio magazine, published monthly by Warners Group Publications.
History and profile
The magazine was founded in 1932 (as a supplement to ''Hobbies'' magazine) by Frederick James Camm, F.J. Camm of Georg ...
'' magazine.
In 1901 he began attending the Royal Free School on Bachelors Acre in Windsor (The Royal Free school became the Royal Free Middle School with the secondary school becoming the Princess Margaret Royal Free School on Bourne Avenue). In 1906 he was granted a Foundation Scholarship. In 1908 Camm left school to become an apprentice carpenter.
Camm developed an interest in
aeronautics. Camm and his brothers began building model aircraft which they supplied to Herbert's Eton High Street shop. After finding that they could obtain a higher price they began making direct sales to boys at Eton College, which were delivered in secret to avoid attracting the attention of Herbert and the school authorities.
These activities led him to being one of the founders of the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club in early 1912. His accomplishments as a model aeroplane builder culminated in a man-carrying glider which he and others at the club built in 1912.
Aviation career
Shortly before the start of World War I Camm obtained a position as a shop-floor carpenter at the
Martinsyde
Martinsyde was a British aircraft and motorcycle manufacturer between 1908 and 1922, when it was forced into liquidation by a factory fire.
History
The company was first formed in 1908 as a partnership between H.P. Martin and George Handasyde ...
aircraft company which was located at the Brooklands racing circuit in Weybridge,
Surrey. His ability soon led to his being promoted to the drawing office, where he spent the war period. After the company went into liquidation in 1921, Camm was employed by George Handasyde, who had created his own aircraft manufacturing company, which was responsible for the creation of the
Handasyde Monoplane.
In November 1923 Camm joined the
Hawker Aircraft Company (later
Hawker Siddeley) based at Canbury Park Road in
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...
as a senior
draughtsman. His first design was the
Cygnet
A cygnet is a young swan.
Cygnet may also refer to:
Places
* Cygnet Island, a small islet in south-eastern Australia
*Cygnet, Ohio, a village in the United States
*Cygnet River, South Australia, a locality on Kangaroo Island
* Cygnet, Tasmania, ...
, the success of which led to his being appointed chief designer in 1925.
In 1925, in association with
Fred Sigrist
Reid and Sigrist was an English engineering company based at New Malden in Surrey. It later acquired sites at Desford and Braunstone in Leicestershire. Initially it developed and manufactured aircraft instrumentation and pilot selection aids but ...
, Hawker's managing director, Camm developed a form of metal construction that used jointed tubes as a cheaper and simpler alternative to welded structures.
During his employment at Hawker he was responsible for the creation of 52 different types of aircraft, of which a total of 26,000 were manufactured. Among his early designs were the
Tomtit
The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as several of the outlying islands. In M ...
,
Hornbill,
Nimrod
Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...
,
Hart
Hart often refers to:
* Hart (deer)
Hart may also refer to:
Organizations
* Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer
* Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer
* Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores
* Hart's Reptile Wo ...
and
Fury. At one time in the 1930s 84 per cent of the aircraft in the RAF were designed by Camm.
He then moved on to designing aeroplanes that would become mainstays of the RAF in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
including the Hawker Hurricane,
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...
and
Hawker Tempest
The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the ''Typhoon II'', was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to a ...
.
:"Camm had a one-tracked mind – his aircraft were right, and everybody had to work on them to get them right. If they did not, then there was hell. He was a very difficult man to work for, but you could not have a better aeronautical engineer to work under.
..With regard to his own staff, he did not
suffer fools gladly, and at times many of us appeared to be fools. One rarely got into trouble for doing something either in the ideas line, or in the manufacturing line, but woe betide those who did nothing, or who put forward an indeterminate solution."
Among the engineers who worked with Camm at Hawker were Sir
Frederick Page (later to design the
English Electric Lightning
The English Electric Lightning is a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It was capable of a top speed of above Mach 2. The Lightning was designed, developed, and manufa ...
), Leslie Appleton (later to design the advanced
Fairey Delta 2
The Fairey Delta 2 or FD2 (internal designation Type V within Fairey) is a British supersonic research aircraft that was produced by the Fairey Aviation Company in response to a specification from the Ministry of Supply for a specialised aircra ...
and Britain's first air-to-air missile, the
Fairey Fireflash
Fireflash was the United Kingdom's first air-to-air guided missile to see service with the Royal Air Force. Constructed by Fairey Aviation, the missile utilised radar beam riding guidance. Fireflash had relatively limited performance and requ ...
),
Stuart Davies (joined
Avro in 1936 and later to be chief designer of the
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe an ...
),
Roy Chaplin (became chief designer at Hawker in 1957) and Sir
Robert Lickley (
chief project engineer during the war, and later to be chief engineer at
Fairey).
Hurricane
![hurricane](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Hurricane.r4118.ground.arp.jpg)
With the Hurricane, Sydney Camm moved from the technology of the
biplane to contemporary
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
fighter aircraft. The result was that fighters flew faster, and with the improved engine technology of the time, higher, and could be made more deadly than ever.
The Hawker engineer
Frank Murdoch
Frank Murdoch (1 February 1904 – 1996) was a British sailor. He competed in the 6 Metre event at the 1952 Summer Olympics
The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as t ...
was responsible for getting the Hurricane into production in sufficient numbers before the outbreak of the war, after an eye-opening visit to the
MAN
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...
diesel plant in
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
in 1936.
A full - size Hawker Hurricane replica has been placed near the River Thames, Windsor, to honour Sir Sydney Camm's aircraft.
Typhoon
![Hawker Typhoon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Hawker_Typhoon.jpg)
When the Typhoon's design first emerged and entered squadron service, pilots became aware that there was
elevator
An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...
flutter and buffeting at high speeds, due to the positioning of the heavy
Napier Sabre engine intake very close to the
wing root
The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, o ...
.
The engineering of the aircraft to travel at higher speeds and handle
compressibility effects was one of the challenges of the day, but with his small design team of one hundred members at Hawker, Camm managed to solve these problems and make the Typhoon an effective combat weapon even at these speeds. As operational requirements changed, the Typhoon was used more as a fighter-bomber, in which role its low level performance, weapon-carrying capabilities and ability to absorb damage made it very effective. It was much used in the
Battle of the Falaise Pocket, in which
ground-attack aircraft proved very destructive. German losses were so severe that most of France was retaken less than two weeks after the conclusion of this operation.
Tempest
![Hawker Tempest Mk V prototype ExCC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Hawker_Tempest_Mk_V_prototype_ExCC.jpg)
The lessons learned from the Hawker Typhoon were incorporated into its successor, the
Hawker Tempest
The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the ''Typhoon II'', was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to a ...
. As soon as the Typhoon entered service, the
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
requested a new design. Camm recommended that they keep the existing design of the Typhoon for the most part, with modifications to the
aerofoil
An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...
. He also considered the new and powerful
Napier Sabre and
Bristol Centaurus engines as the powerplant. Camm decided that both engines would be used: the Tempest Mk 5 was fitted with the Napier Sabre, while the Tempest Mk 2 had the Bristol Centaurus. The design modifications to be made to the aircraft to switch from one engine type to another were minimal, so that little assistance was needed in ferrying these aircraft all the way to India and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, in the final days of the conflict.
Sea Fury
This was a higher performance development of the Tempest with a reduced wing area, a Centaurus engine, and a considerably improved view for the pilot. Named the Fury, only the carrier-based
Hawker Sea Fury
The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft ...
went into service, serving with the Royal Navy from 1947 to 1955.
Postwar
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Camm created many jet-powered designs which would become important aircraft in the
Cold War era.
Harrier
![Hawker P](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Hawker_P.1127_prototype_Brooklands.jpg)
Notable among Camm's post-war work is his contribution to the design of the
Hawker Siddeley P.1127 / Kestrel FGA.1, the progenitor of the
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British military aircraft. It was the first of the Harrier series of aircraft and was developed in the 1960s as the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeoff an ...
. The Harrier is a well-known
vertical takeoff and landing
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-win ...
(
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...
) aircraft designed at Hawker Siddeley, which would later merge into
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marcon ...
, now known as
BAE Systems. The Harrier was one of the radical aircraft which took shape in postwar Britain, which required the bringing together of many important technologies, such as
vectored thrust
Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...
engines like the
Bristol Siddeley (later Rolls-Royce) Pegasus and technologies like the
Reaction Control System
A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels are used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude cont ...
. Camm played a major role in determining these and other vital Harrier systems. In 1953, Camm was knighted for these and other achievements and his contribution to British Aviation. The P.1127 first flew on 21 October 1960. Working with Camm on this aircraft and the Hunter was Professor
John Fozard, who became head of the Hawker design office in 1961 and would write a biography of Camm in 1991.
Hunter
![hawker hunter t7 blue diamond arp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Hawker_hunter_t7_blue_diamond_arp.jpg)
Camm worked on many aircraft built by Hawker before the Harrier, including what is probably his most significant aircraft after the Second World War, the
Hawker Hunter.
Final years
Sydney Camm was knighted 2 June 1953, on the occasion of the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II.
Camm was President of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) from 1954 to 1955. Since 1971 the RAeS has held the biennial Sir Sydney Camm Lecture in June, given by the current
commander-in-chief of
RAF Air Command
Air Command is the only Command currently active in the Royal Air Force. It was formed by the merger of Royal Air Force Strike and Personnel and Training commands on 1 April 2007, and has its headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
...
.
![HurricaneWindsor-wyrdlight-787901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/HurricaneWindsor-wyrdlight-787901.jpg)
Camm retired as chief designer at Hawker in 1965 and was succeeded by
John Fozard. He, however, remained on the board of its successor, Hawker Siddeley until his death.
Before he died, Camm was planning the design of an aircraft to travel at
Mach 4, having begun his life in aircraft design with the building of a man-carrying glider in 1912, just nine years after the
first powered flight.
In 1966, Camm was awarded the Guggenheim Gold Medal, which had to be presented posthumously.
Death
Camm died in his 73rd year on 12 March 1966 whilst playing golf at the
Richmond Golf Club. He was buried in Long Ditton Cemetery,
Long Ditton, in the County of
Surrey.
Personal life
Camm lived at
Thames Ditton
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross ...
in Surrey. He married Hilda Starnes in 1915 and they had a daughter in 1922.
Tributes
![Kingston library, Sir Sydney Camm bust](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Kingston_library%2C_Sir_Sydney_Camm_bust.jpg)
'Camm Gardens' road in
Kingston-upon-Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...
was named after Sydney Camm, with a memorial in situ to his memory of a World War 2 propeller engine hub.
In 2012 a full size replica of a Hawker Hurricane was erected near Alexandra Gardens, in Camm's home town of Windsor, near to his childhood home.
In 1984, Camm was inducted into the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame
The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Si ...
at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...
.
A bronze bust by Ambrose Barber was placed in Kingston Library (2014).
See also
*
Hawker Siddeley
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Bader, Douglas. ''Fight for the Sky: The Story of the Spitfire and Hurricane''. London: Cassell Military Books, 2004. .
* Bowyer, Chaz. ''Hurricane at War''. London: Ian Allan Ltd., 1974. .
* Fozard, John W., Ed. ''Sydney Camm & the Hurricane.'' London: Airlife, 1991. .
* Jane, Fred T. "The Hawker Hurricane". ''Jane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. London: Studio, 1946. .
* Mason, Francis K. ''Hawker Aircraft since 1920.'' London: Putnam, 1991. .
* McKinstry, Leo. ''Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain ''. London: John Murray, 2010. .
External links
Sir Sydney Camm Commemorative SocietyGraces Guides
Video clips
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camm, Sydney
1893 births
1966 deaths
Aircraft designers
People from Windsor, Berkshire
Battle of Britain
English aerospace engineers
Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal winners
Knights Bachelor
Burials in Surrey