Arthur Valentine Cleaver

OBE 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 ...

(14 February 1917 – 16 September 1977) was a distinguished British rocket engineer. He co-authored a paper which discussed the possibilities and problems of nuclear rocket engines in 1948. After the Second World War he developed de Havilland's Sprite and Spectre rocket engines. He moved to

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

in 1957 and in 1960 he became general manager and chief engineer of the Rolls-Royce's rocket departments, where he was responsible for the engines which powered the

Blue Streak Blue Streak or Bluestreak may refer to: Entertainment * ''Blue Streak'' (album), a 1995 album by American blues guitarist Luther Allison * Blue Streak (comics), a secret identity used by three separate Marvel Comics supervillains * Bluestreak (c ...

missile and

Black Arrow Black Arrow, officially capitalised BLACK ARROW, was a British satellite carrier rocket. Developed during the 1960s, it was used for four launches between 1969 and 1971, all launched from the Woomera Prohibited Area in Australia. Its final flig ...

launch vehicle. While the

ELDO Eldo is a given name is a variation of Eldho and may refer to the following people People *Eldo Abraham, Indian politician * Eldo T. Ridgway (1880–1955), American physician and politician Fictional characters *''Eldo Davip'',a fictional soldie ...

vehicle was ultimately unsuccessful and abandoned, the Blue Streak vehicle and its engines worked perfectly on every launch, and Cleaver was awarded the OBE for his part in developing them.

Early life

He was born at Conway in Wales to Percy and Mildred Cleaver. From the age of 11 he became fascinated by space. For three years from 1931 he attended

Acton Technical College Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In June 1 ...

. He joined the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. Stru ...

(BIS) in 1937, aged 20. Rolls-Royce RZ2 rocket engine

Career

de Havilland

In 1935, aged 18, he joined the Propeller Division 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 ...

, where he later became Chief Project Engineer of the de Havilland Propeller Company. He moved back to de Havilland where

Frank Halford Major Frank Bernard Halford CBE FRAeS (7 March 1894 – 16 April 1955) was an English aircraft engine designer. He is best known for the series of de Havilland Gipsy engines, widely used by light aircraft in the 1920s and 30s. Career Educat ...

was Technical Director of their engine company. He was commissioned by Frank Halford to conduct a study into rocket engines, and their (unknown) capabilities. He began his studies in April 1946 forming a rocket team at de Havilland Engine Company. In the 1950s he oversaw the development of the Sprite and

Spectre Spectre, specter or the spectre may refer to: Religion and spirituality * Vision (spirituality) * Apparitional experience * Ghost Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Spectre'' (1977 film), a made-for-television film produced and writ ...

rocket engines, developed for rocket assisted take off and mixed power plant installations for military aircraft. During this period he became friends with

Maurice Brennan Maurice Joseph Brennan BSC, MIMechE, FRAes (April 1913 – 18 January 1986) was a British aerospace engineer. His career encompassed the design and development of flying boats before the Second World War to rocket powered fighters after. He had ...

, the Chief Designer at

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a co ...

, who designed the

SR.53 The Saunders-Roe SR.53 was a British prototype interceptor aircraft of mixed jet and rocket propulsion developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) by Saunders-Roe in the early 1950s. As envisaged, the SR.53 would have been used as an interceptor a ...

mixed power interceptor; this was the first rocket-powered British aircraft.

Rolls-Royce

In 1956 he handed in his notice at de Havilland and became Chief Rocket Propulsion Engineer of Rolls-Royce's new rocket engine division. Under his guidance the RZ.2 rocket engine was developed, an advanced engine for its time. For the work on this engine he was awarded the OBE. He worked with

Rocketdyne Rocketdyne was an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, California, Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, in southern California. The Rocke ...

Personal life

In 1955 he argued that photographs taken from space of the Earth would transform people's psychological outlook. In 1957 at the International Congress of Astronautics he said that, in aviation, predictions ran behind actual events. Val was best friends with the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and their correspondence was voluminous. It is available in the ''Arthur C. Clarke Collection of Sri Lanka'' housed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. He died aged 60. His funeral was held on 6 October 1977 in Enfield.

References

Citations

External links

British Interplanetary Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleaver, Val 1917 births 1977 deaths British aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society People from Conwy Rocket scientists Rolls-Royce people Space advocates Space programme of the United Kingdom