Stuart Duncan Davies CBE FREng FRAeS (5 December 1906 – 22 January 1995) was a British aerospace engineer who was in charge of the design of the Avro Vulcan. He was also responsible for converting the unsuccessful two-engined Avro Manchester into the four-engined Avro Lancaster.
Early life He was the son of William Davies and Alice Duncan. He attended Westminster City grammar school in central London from 1918 to 1923.
Career
Vauxhall His career began at Vauxhall Motors where he worked for two years from the age of 16.
Vickers
He worked at Vickers as a junior technical assistant from 1925 and gained an external BSc degree in Engineering at Northampton Polytechnic (now City University London) awarded by the University of London. At Vickers he worked in the wind tunnel at Brooklands, and on the Virginia biplane bomber, converting it from a wooden to metal structure.
Hawker In 1931 he moved to Hawker Aircraft at Kingston upon Thames. He worked in the stress office, in a team of seven. There he worked on the Hart and Fury biplanes; the RAF's main fighter planes in the 1930s. In 1933 he began work on what would become the Hawker Hurricane, then known as the Fury Monoplane.
In April 1936 he was named as chief designer of a spin-off company called Aeronautical Corporation of Great Britain Ltd,Times Monday April 27 1936, page 25 which was liquidated around October 1937.Times Monday October 11 1937, page 2
Avro Hawker Siddeley was formed in 1935, and in the group it included A.V.Roe & Company of Manchester. In January 1938 he moved to Avro, becoming assistant to the chief designer. Aged 33, he was promoted to be the company's experimental manager in April 1940. In 1940 he became responsible for converting the Manchester into the Lancaster. 7,377 Lancasters would be built in the UK and Canada, having first flown at Woodford on 8 January 1941.
From 1944 he was in charge of the Avro York transport plane, and later worked on the Avro Lincoln.
He took off at 11.58am on Saturday 23 August 1947 in Avro Tudor G-AGSU,Accident and as the aircraft lifted, the aircraft banked and the starboard wing tip touched the ground, and crashed.Gloucester Citizen Tuesday 26 August 1947, page 1 He lived at Bridle Road in Woodford. The other survivor of the crash was Edward Talbot, the flight engineer, of Wayside Drive in Poynton. The funeral was at Woodford church on Wednesday 27 August 1947, attended by Davies, Sir Alliott Verdon Roe, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, and Sir Frank Spriggs.Wilmslow Advertiser Friday 29 August 1947, page 4 Roy Chadwick died of a fractured skull and pelvis, with instantaneous death, and the other two drowned; but doctors visiting the scene believed that these other two would have survived otherwise.
In 1947 he became the technical director at Avro, with responsibility for producing the Avro Vulcan (Avro 698), which first flew on 30 August 1952. He was Chief Designer from 1945 to 1955, and was succeeded by Roy Ewans.
He also designed the Avro Athena advanced single-engined trainer. The Avro 707B first flew from Dunsfold in August 1951.Times Friday August 3 1951, page 2 Five Avro 707 aircraft were produced before the Vulcan. They were used for experimental work on the delta wing.
In mid-September 1953, the fourth Anglo-American aeronautical conference took place, over three days, where twelve technical papers were to be read and discussed. He was to read a technical paper on delta aircraft, but this was withdrawn for security reasons. George S. Schairer, the main designer of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, gave a talk on engines, as did William Clegern of Convair.Times Wednesday September 16 1953, page 5 In October 1953, he attended a meeting of British aircraft designers in Canada.Times Thursday October 8 1953, page 7October 1953 meeting
The Avro Atlantic was an early-1950s proposed 94-seat airliner version of the Vulcan, with delta wings and Olympus engines, which was never built.
Later career Left Avro at the end of June 1955, largely as he preferred the south of England.Times Saturday June 25 1955, page 4 He joined Dowty in November 1955,Times Tuesday November 15 1955, page 15 later becoming technical director of for Dowty Rotol,"Stuart Davies Rejoins Avro" Flight 1958 p292 in June 1966.Times Thursday June 23 1966, page 18 becoming managing director of Dowty Fuel Systems in Cheltenham, and returned to Hawker Siddeley Aviation from August 1958 to 1964, as technical director.Times Wednesday August 27 1958, page 5
In May 1958, he was awarded the British Gold Medal of the RAeS, for the Vulcan. The British Silver Medal was awarded to the axial-flow jet engine designer William Henry Lindsey (Pat Lindsey, 19 November 1911 - 8 May 2000)Times obituary Tuesday June 20 2000, page 23 and William Frederick Saxton (1908 - 1980) of Armstrong Siddeley Motors.Times Friday May 16 1958
In September 1959, the government wanted Hawker Siddeley and Bristol Aeroplane Company to 'work together' on Concorde.Times Tuesday September 8 1959, page 10 Bristol Siddeley had been formed in April 1958, with Armstrong Siddeley of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and built the Concorde engines.Times Tuesday April 29 1958, page 8 When Folland was taken over in November 1959 by Hawker Siddeley Aviation, he became the technical director of Folland.
In April 1961, as technical director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, he instigated cooperation with the University of Southampton, and its Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, into research into noise and vibration, under Prof Elfyn John Richards (28 December 1914 - 7 September 1995).Times Wednesday April 26 1961, page 9Elfyn Richards
He left aviation for general engineering."HS Technical Director Resigns" Flight 1964 He was President from 1971–2 of the Royal Aeronautical Society. In 1958 he received the RAeS Gold Medal. He became an FEng in 1977. He was an honorary Fellow of the RAeS.
Personal life In 1935 he married Ethel Radcliffe. She died before him. They had one daughter in 1939, born in north-east Cheshire.Vulcan to the Sky He was awarded the CBE in the 1968 Birthday Honours.
He died on 22 January 1995 aged 88.
See also Sir Roy Dobson, managing director of Avro in the 1950s. James C. Floyd John Fozard, designer of the Harrier George S. Schairer, designer of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Reginald Stafford, designer of the Handley Page Victor
References
Times obituary, 11 February 1995, page 19
External links Avro Heritage History of the Vulcan