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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 3354.PDF
650 FLIGHT Remembering Rex Pierson Sir Roy Fedderts R.Ae.S. Lecture Pays Tribute to a Great Designer ALARGE and distinguished audience assembled in the staff mess at Vickers-Armstrongs Weybridge Works fc on Wednesday, November 12th, for the reading of the first R. K. Pierson Memorial Lecture. The Weybridge Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society was responsible for the organization of this "main" lecture, which in future years will be a branch fixture. Mr. George Edwards (Vickers Aviation chief designer) introduced Mr. George Dowty, president of the Society, who congratulated the Weybridge Branch on their foresight in organizing the first "named" lecture for a great aeronautical engineer. Mr. Dowty then introduced Sir Roy Fedden, the author of the lecture, who had been a close friend and business associate of Rex Pierson. Sir Roy prefaced his lecture—entitled Rex Pierson—an Apprecia tion, and the Lessons of his Work—with a resume of Pierson's early career, and a note on the distinctions he gained later. Reginald Kirshaw Pierson was born in February, 1891, at Fran- sham, Norfolk, where his father was rector. He was educated at Felstead School, and on leaving was destined to enter the Bank of England, but at the last moment was allowed to follow his natural bent and take up engineering. At the age of 17 he entered the Erith Works of Vickers, Ltd., as an engineering pupil-apprentice, and while passing through' the various departments took his B.Sc. engineering degree—the hard way, at evening classes. When he was out of his time he took a job with the Vickers com pany in their newly formed aircraft division, as a technician under A. R. Lowe. Rex Pierson learned to fly at Brooklands in 1913, and held Aero Club Certificate No. 660. He was elected a Fellow of the R.Ae.S. in 1926, and received the Society's Taylor Gold Medal in 1928 for a valuable paper on performance prediction. He served on the Council for several years and was a vice-president in 1945. He was a member of the Society's Advisory Committee to the Minister of Aircraft Production. For his services to the country he was made an M.B.E. in 1919, O.B.E. in 1941, and C.B.E. in 1943. Sir Roy Fedden said that it was unusual for a man to reach such eminence while remaining in the service of one company through out his whole working career. R. K. Pierson served the Vickers company for just over 40 years with outstanding success and unstinting loyalty. He played a profound part in the building up of the Vickers aircraft organization; in fact, for many years he was, technically, Vickers Aviation. Referring back to the initial stages of his career, in 1914 he became chief technician of the Aircraft Division of Vickers, and amongst other jobs was on the design and development of the Vickers Gun-bus. In 1917, at the early age of 26, he became chief designer of the Vickers Aircraft Division, chiefly at the instigation of Capt. Peter Ackland, and was put in complete charge of the design office at Basil Street, Knightsbridge, building up a considerable war-time staff there. Immediately after the war, early in 1919, the London drawing offices were shut down and, selecting a small nucleus of the most promising staff at Knightsbridge, Rex Pierson moved them to the Vickers Aircraft Works at Brooklands Track, and from then onwards Weybridge was his headquarters. He remained chief The late Reginald Kirshaw Pierson, chief engineer of the Vickers- Armstrongs Aviation Group. designer until 1945, and his staff grew from two dozen to over 500 at the end of the last war, when he handed over to the present chief designer, Mr. George Edwards, and became chief engineer of the whole Vickers-Armstrongs Aviation Group. The lecturer then referred to the fist of 36 basic Vickers aircraft designs with over 140 variants which Rex Pierson inspired, and he selected a few for illustration and brief description. The first design for which Pierson was entirely responsible was the Vimy bomber widi two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines. It was designed in 1917 immediately after he became chief designer, and was pro duced from scratch to first flight in under six months. It was ordered in quantity and proved to be a first-class machine. It earned undying fame by making the first non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic in the hands of Alcock and Brown. In the same year a Vimy made the first flight from England to Australia, and in 1920 another Vimy achieved a similar success to South Africa. Sir Roy then went on to refer to the first Vickers Viking, an amphibian with Napier pusher engine, a successful machine which won the Air Ministry £10,000 competition in 1920. A licence to manufacture this aircraft in Canada marked the birth of the Canadian Vickers company. There followed, said Sir Roy, the Victoria, Virginia and Valentia series, which were a very successful family used in a num ber of roles. Examples were still in commission with the R.A.F. up to the commencement of the last war. > In the twenties, the Vickers Company took a licence for the French Wibault, a high-wing all-metal monoplane, and this machine was Vickers' first serious entry into all-metal construction. In 1924 Harris Booth joined R.K.P. to assist in producing the first Vickers all-metal aircraft, the Viastra. Sir Roy referred to several special features of this machine, including the spats on the wheels, the all-moving tail unit, and the spars of wandering-web type— which, incidentally, consisted of two duralumin channels united by a light-alloy plate. A twin-float version of the Vellore was next illustrated by the lecturer, as an indication of the versatility of the aircraft designer of those days, and as a typical example of Vickers research into all-metal construction in the late nineteen-twenties. This new technique undoubtedly contributed in no small measure to the long life of the Victoria and Virginia family. About 1926 R.K.P. designed the Vespa, continued Sir Roy. It was a high-aspect-ratio staggered metal biplane with Bristol Jupiter engine, and a number was sold to Ireland and Bolivia. One of the last production models was taken in 1931 and used for an altitude record (43,976ft) which was established in 1932 by Cyril Uwins. R.K.P. was not very enthusiastic over four-engined bombers, said Sir Roy, but in fairness to him it should be mentioned that in the late nineteen-twenties he produced the Vickers 163 heavy bomber with four Rolls-Royce engines and two tandem nacelles. Another promising type of a very different kind was the Venom "Cow-gun" fighter with Bristol Aquila engine. This had, for the first time, a two-pitch de Havilland Hamilton airscrew, retractable Left, the Vimy taking off on the first North Atlantic crossing in November, 1919. Right, the first Viking amphibian (Napier Lion), of 1920. "Flight" photograph
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