The book abounds with anecdotes which may delight; for instance the tale of the skilled metal worker, Albert Rigg, who translated the ever-changing ideas of air intake contours through the constraints of space around the supercharger, mounted as it must at the rear of the engine, so that optimal flow helped to boost the power of the Merlin. Inspired by the Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Hyman Levy, Hooker studied the characteristics of eddies produced by drag of shapes immersed in fluids, which of course include air. I went home to Kent in March 1930 but on Good Friday I had a motor-cycling accident, breaking my leg again, and this time my right arm for good measure.

By this time there was scarcely a single modern British aero-engine for which Hooker had not been responsible. Bairstow was interested, and it was for this reason he recommended me for the Armourers and Braziers Fellowship. With uncanny precision he managed to put off death until the day before the actual publication of the work.The Merlin 61 arrived in time to give the Spitfire a desperately needed advantage in rate of climb and service ceiling over the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Since the speed of even the fastest fighters was only about 200 mph at that time, mathematical and experimental studies of airflow around wings and other aircraft parts had ignored the compressibility effects on the flow. And what was I going to do in the formidable Rolls-Royce company, which represented the very pinnacle of engineering excellence? This in turn was a repost from a senior engineer at Rolls-Royce when he first introduced himself as a mathematician.

On his 41st birthday in September 1948 he had his final meeting with Hs, but was obliged to work out the final three months of his contract, before he could join the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Ric gained the CBE for Services to Engineering in 2013 and was named European CTO of the Year in 2014. The Proteus has gone on to power ships, the land speed record contender, Bluebird, and power stations, as has Olympus. The situation came to a head in February 1971, just before we got the improved engine on test, when Lord Cole declared Rolls-Royce insolvent'. From the early days of the engineering and the characters who drove the program on is a genuinely interesting history.Hooker and his revitalised team then went on to complete the design of the more advanced RB211-524 series. I, who had never seen an aero engine at close range, and who only had a schoolboy’s knowledge of its inside, did not even know the names of the engines Rolls-Royce was producing. This man made a great contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany, his innovative work with superchargers increasing the power of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine by 100%; had a great deal to do with the vectored thrust turbofan engine that powered the Hawker Harrier Jump-jet; Concorde; was brought back from retirement to help sort out the problems of the RB211 engines that had sent Rolls-Royce into bankruptcy in early 1971; and rubbed shoulders with the men whose careers had been molded by their work with Henry Royce. These young nurses, nubile young ladies of about eighteen, looking lovely in their fresh blue uniforms and white cuffs and caps, fastened on to me as their prize exhibit, and never was anyone ‘nursed’ like it. Synopsis: Stanley Hooker joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1949 and tugged a rather reluctant company into the jet age, determined to give real competition to Rolls-Royce.

Less comfortable must have been his injuries from accidents on the sporting field and motorcycle, which kept him immobile for almost a year. Apart from one farmer, who came in to have a hernia fixed, I was the only male patient for the several months I was there.to a potential Mach 2, and despite the plane’s controversial cancellation, the way to Concorde was clear. Hooker didn't want to sacrifice the additional thrust from the engine created by the ejector exhausts, patented by Rolls-Royce in 1938. Hooker's eminence in the field was widely recognised and he was made an Honorary Fellow of the AIAA. A poor condition book can still make a good reading copy but is generally not collectible unless the item is very scarce.

Hooker also worked on finishing the Olympus, developing later versions that would be used on the Avro Vulcan and Concorde and a further development for the stillborn TSR2. For example, at 200 mph the maximum pressure that air can exert is only 5 per cent of the atmospheric pressure, which has a negligible effect on the air density and the flow. I will address one niggle I read from another review stating that Hooker was in some way trying to suggest he was the be all and end all of jet turbines.He immediately started work on sorting out the various problems of Bristol's turboprop design, the Proteus, which was intended to power a number of Bristol aircraft designs, including the Britannia. I look at the individuals and the great pieces of technolgy which have inspired me though a long career. The economy of the country was very depressed, and jobs were hard to come by, and so it seemed quite reasonable to carry on as a student while I could get such funds to support me.