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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0926.PDF
26 FLIGHT, 5 July 1957 Four new directors of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), Ltd., whose appointment to the Board is referred to below. From left to right, Mr. H. H Gardner (chief engineer, military aircraft); Mr. A. W. E. Houghton; Mr. B. Stephenson (chief engineer, civil aircraft); and Mr. S. P. Woodley THE INDUSTRY Vickers AppointmentsF OUR appointments to the Board of Vickers-Armstrongs (Air-craft), Ltd., have recently been announced. Messrs. H. H. Gardner (chief engineer, military aircraft); A. W. E. Houghton;B. Stephenson (chief engineer, civil aircraft); and S. P. Woodley become directors, and the company has also announced a numberof other appointments, two of them affecting Mr. Houghton and Mr. Woodley. Mr. Houghton (formerly assistant general manager, experi-mental and production) is made general manager, Weybridge and Hurn; Mr. Woodley (formerly superintendent, SupermarineWorks) becomes general manager, Supermarine Works. Mr. Allen H. C. Greenwood (formerly assistant general manager, ser-vice) becomes deputy general manager, Weybridge and Hurn; and Mr. R. Edmonds (formerly manager, works administration)is made assistant to the general manager, Weybridge and Hum. Mr. A. W. E. ("Charlie") Houghton started work with Vickerswhen he was 15 as a junior fitter at the Weybridge works. No apprentice scheme as known today existed then, but in 1927 hequalified as an aircraft master fitter and remained in the fitting shop until 1932. He was then transferred to the experimentaldepartment, being appointed a supervisor in 1933 and in 1938 entering the main production shops, where he became foremanin charge of wing assembly. In 1940 he was appointed senior foreman in charge of the experimental department responsiblefor the building of prototype aircraft under the department management of Mr. (now Sir) George Edwards. Two years laterhe was appointed assistant manager of the experimental depart- ment, becoming manager in 1946. In 1953 Mr. Houghton wasappointed assistant general manager responsible for all experi- mental projects both at Weybridge and Supermarine, and in 1955he became a special director of the company and was given full responsibility for the production programmes of all Vickers aircraft. Mr. Woodley started his apprenticeship with Supermarine in1927, later working for various aircraft companies but returning to Supermarine in 1937. At the beginning of the war he movedto the shadow factory at West Bromwich, becoming planning manager and assistant general manager. Mr. Woodley was madesuperintendent of the Supermarine Works in 1950 and a special director of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) in 1951. The appointments of Mr. Gardner as chief engineer, militaryaircraft, and of Mr. Stephenson as chief engineer, civil aircraft were referred to in Flight for January 25. Bedford Contributors OF about 700 companies whose work went into the design andconstruction of the wind-tunnel and other facilities at R.A.E., Bedford (see pages 4-5 and 18-20), the following are among thosemaking major contributions: — The 8ft Tunnel. Higgs and Hill (buildings), Costain-John Brown(working-section and supersonic diffuscr), Alexander Findlay (steel frames), Whessoe (design and construction of tunnel shell), EnglishElectric (compressor, drive equipment and generating plant), G.E.C. (control system for flexible walls).The 3ft Tunnel. Geo. Wimpey (buildings), Whessoe (structural design, fabrication and erection of tunnel shell), English Electric(installation of German compressor plant and drives). The 13ft x 9ft Tunnel. F. G. Minter (buildings and tunnel shell),G.E.C. (driving motors), Head Wrightson (steel fan section), English Electric (plant for driving model motors and control equipment). Vertical Spinning Tunnel and High-speed Laboratory. Whessoe(structural design, fabrication and erection of tunnel shell), English Electric (fan drive), Gco. Wimpey (buildings), B.T.H. (compressor),Airscrew Co. and Jicwood (fan). Other major contributors in many aspects included Daniel Adamson.Baldwin and Francis, Birlec, Brookhirst Switchgear, Cambridge Instrument Co., Davenport Engineering, Denco Engineering Services,Howard Farrow, Film Cooling Towers, Gwynnes Pumps, Matthew Hall, James Howden, Keelavite Rotary Pumps, J. L. Kier, John Laing,London Electricity Board, Major Equipment, Markham and Co., Metro- politan Vickers, Opperman Gears, Pulsometer Engineering, Pye, A.Reyrolle, and Silica Gel. E. K. Cole Financial Year PRELIMINARY figures issued by the directors of E. K. Cole,Ltd., in advance of the company's annual general meeting—to be held at the Queen's Hotel, Westcliff-on-Sea, on July 23—show a net profit of £359,074 (1956, £328,733) after allowing for taxation £460,500 (1956, £445,000). Studio Irwin Changes "POLLOWING changes in the Board of Studio Irwin Technical,-*• Ltd., the company is now under the chairmanship of Mr. E. W. Hunt, while Mr. R. F. Stock has been appointed managing direc-tor. Messrs. J. H. Pennock and F. E. Holmes join the Board, all these appointments being effective from May 21, when the com-pany moved into additional premises at Warwick Court, London, W.C.I, to accommodate their electronics division. R.F.D. Directors' Report IN his statement on the R.F.D. Co., Ltd., published in thedirectors' report to the annual meeting of shareholders on June 21, the chairman, Mr. Henry F. Spencer, said that no fewerthan 38 airlines and charter firms were now using the company's survival equipment. During 1956 R.F.D. inflatable rafts hadsaved 73 lives. The group's net profit for 1956 amounted to £131,214 (com-pared with £147,637 for the previous year which included the sum of £26,886 on account of the fire insurance claim), less£75,662 taxation thereon. These ceramic radomes have been produced by the elec- tronics division of Microcell, Ltd. (Imperial Buildings, 56 Kingsway, London, W.C.2), as a contribution to research on guided-missile nose-caps which must be transparent to radio waves and capable of withstanding high surface- temperatures and erosion.
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