Geoffrey Light Wilde (21 May 1917 – 18 August 2007) was a British

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

employed by

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...

Early life

Geoffrey Light Wilde was born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. He was first educated in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where his father Alfred was working. His father died when he was 12. He would later move to Leamington and attend

Warwick School Warwick School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Warwick, England in the public school tradition. Known until about 1900 as King's School, Warwick, it is believed to have been founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 914 AD ...

. He was then apprenticed to the

Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The compan ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

. Later he gained an HNC in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

from

Coventry Technical College City College Coventry was a further education college based in the city of Coventry, England. It was formed in 2002 through the merger of two previous colleges in the city, although through them it has roots going back to the 19th century. ...

Career

Rolls-Royce

In 1938 he joined

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

where he did much of the design work for their compressors. While working on test beds for the

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

engines, he proposed a variable-speed

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

, to increase the performance at altitude, that was subsequently incorporated in the Merlin XX. He helped

Stanley Hooker Sir Stanley George Hooker, CBE, FRS, DPhil, BSc, FRAeS, MIMechE, FAAAS, (30 September 1907 – 24 May 1984) was a mathematician and jet engine engineer. He was employed first at Rolls-Royce where he worked on the earliest designs such as ...

to design and develop the Merlin two-stage supercharger used in the Merlin 60-series. Early jet engines were being developed at

Lutterworth Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwickshire and Northamptonshire. It is located north of Rugby, ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, which were having problems with surging. He tested the centrifugal compressor at Derby, and found a solution to the difficulties of surging. In 1943, he was put in charge of the supercharger and compressor department at Derby. In 1947, he was put in charge of the design and development of the AJ65 Avon axial-flow jet engine. It had had difficulties with compressor blades breaking. He produced solutions for the design for the multi-stage compressor of the Avon, one of R-R's most successful jet engines. He later oversaw the development of the compressor for the Conway, the world's first

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...

(by-pass) engine. In 1956, he set up the Advanced Projects Design Office. Work from this department produced the

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

(cancelled) and Spey engines. In 1960, he formed a new department to investigate new projects. He chose a new three-shaft design, which was launched as the RB-211. He proposed its

wide chord Wide chord fan refers to the fan blades on a modern turbofan jet engine having a ducted fan with a specific blade geometry - In layman's terms, they would be described as having wider blades than other jet engines. The technology was pioneered ...

fan blade ...

to obtain maximum aerodynamic efficiency. He was not responsible for all of the project, and when Hyfil carbon-fibre (developed at the RAE) was chosen for the fan blade, he said that this material would not be strong enough in the case of a

bird strike A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)—is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle, usually an aircraft. The term ...

. This was found to be experimentally true, at great cost to the project and to Rolls-Royce. He made great improvements to the design of the high-pressure (HP) turbine blade, and this design is still in R-R's engines today, and other manufacturers. He had set up the High Temperature Demonstrator Unit (HTDU) in 1972 to investigate cooling of turbine blades and thermal

fatigue Fatigue describes a state of tiredness that does not resolve with rest or sleep. In general usage, fatigue is synonymous with extreme tiredness or exhaustion that normally follows prolonged physical or mental activity. When it does not resolve ...

. All airliners today carry this technology.

Personal life

He retired from Rolls-Royce in 1978. He was appointed OBE in 1969. From the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

he received the

Mullard Award The Mullard Award is awarded annually by the Royal Society to a person who has "an outstanding academic record in any field of natural science, engineering or technology and whose contribution is currently making or has the potential to make a co ...

in 1979 for his work on the

RB211 The Rolls-Royce RB211 is a British family of high-bypass turbofan engines made by Rolls-Royce. The engines are capable of generating of thrust. The RB211 engine was the first production three-spool engine, and turned Rolls-Royce from a signif ...

. He died in August 2007 aged 90. For most of his life he lived at Turnditch in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. During the war years he lodged with

Ernest Townsend Ernest Townsend (1 January 1880 – 22 January 1944) was a British portraitist from Derby. Townsend studied at Derby College of Art, Heatherleys in Chelsea and the Royal Academy. Among his works were a 1915 portrait of the Right Hon. Wins ...

and his family in

Coxbench Holbrook is a village in Derbyshire at the southern end of the Pennines around five miles north of Derby, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,538. History Holbrook lies about two miles to the north-east of Duffi ...

, Derbyshire. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary DTech degree by

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

.THES 1996
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Geoffrey 1917 births 2007 deaths British aerospace engineers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Warwick School People from Amber Valley People from Leamington Spa Rolls-Royce people