Sir Richard Fairey Named Lecture

The life and work of British aircraft designer and manufacturer, Sir Richard Fairey, is marked annually at Heathrow with lectures given in his memory. Lectures take the future of aviation as their theme, often presenting advanced theories or developments, some still technically “on the drawing board”.

The relationship between Fairey and Heathrow began in 1929, when Charles Richard Fairey (1887-1956), needed a suitable field from which test and fly his products. His aeroplane production factory being only a few miles away at Hayes, Middlesex, the freehold site at rural Heath Row seemed the perfect solution. Fairey’s Great West Aerodrome was located on a 150 acre grass field and quickly became a popular flying centre. From 1935-39, the Fairey Aerodrome was the venue for the Royal Aeronautical Society’s summer garden parties.

But it was not to last. To Fairey’s fury, the land was requisitioned by the Air Ministry in 1944 under the guise of the war effort. The aerodrome and surrounding countryside made way for a new civil airfield, today’s London Heathrow Airport – one of the world’s busiest international airports and the national gateway for the country. Any remains of the old Great West Aerodrome lie buried somewhere beneath the old Runway 23, the cross wind runway.

Sir Richard Fairey was President of the Royal Aeronautical Society from 1930–34.

Previous Sir Richard Fairey Lectures

Poster of the 1983 lecture, given by Brian H Rowe – Senior Vice President and Group Executive for General Electric.

The first Richard Fairey Memorial Lecture was given on 5th March 1959 by Mr G W Hall, Chairman and Managing Director of the Fairey Aviation Company and covered the life and work of Sir Richard Fairey. The lecture and photographs were reproduced in the June 1959 issue of the RAeS Journal. The vote of thanks was proposed by Sir Frederick Handley Page, founder of the Handley Page Aircraft Company and friend and colleague of Dick Fairey.

In subsequent years, the branch has welcomed many other distinguished guest speakers to give the Richard Fairey Named Lecture, among them, Sir Austin Pearce – Chairman of British Aerospace, Brian H Rowe – Senior Vice President and Group Executive for General Electric, Sir Frank Whittle and Sir Freddie Laker.

List of speakers at the Sir Richard Fairey Lecture:

		Year	Speaker / Affiliation / Topic
▪	1st	1959 –	G W Hall, Chairman & Managing Director – Fairey Aviation Company
▪	2nd	1960 –	L Boddington, Director – R.N Aircraft Research
▪	3rd	1961 –	Uffa Fox on Sailing
▪	4th	1962 –	Dr G Hislop, Fairey Division – Westland Aircraft Ltd.
▪	5th	1963 –	Mr Hollis Williams, Fairey Division – Westland Aircraft Ltd.
▪	6th	1964 –	Hugh Conway – Short & Harland, The Belfast
▪	7th	1965 –	A Symon – Bristol Aeroplane Company topic on Concorde
▪	8th	1966 –	Mr Beverley Shenstone, Technical Director – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC)
▪	9th	1967 –	Maynard Pennel – The Boeing Company topic on Boeing 2027 Supersonic Transport (SST) Project
▪	10th	1968 –	Joe Sutter, Director of Engineering – The Boeing Company topic on Boeing 747
▪	11th	1969 –	W M Magruder, Chief Engineer Development L1011 – Lockheed Corporation
▪	12th	1970 –	Dr Ivor Lusty, West Coast Technical Consultant USA – British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) topic on Boeing 747 Project
▪	13th	1971 –	Mr Bertaille – Aerospatiale topic on A300 Project
▪	14th	1972 –	Sir Peter Masefield – British Airport Authority (BAA)
▪	15th	1973 –	Lloyd E Frisbee, Vice President Engineering – Lockheed Corporation
▪	16th	1974 –	Charles Calliendi – De Havilland Aircraft Company Ltd.
▪	17th	1975 –	S Foster, Planning Manager – British Airport Authority (BAA)
▪	18th	1976 –	Dr Ken Wilkinson, Engineering Director – British Airways
▪	19th	1977 –	Freddie Laker – Laker Airways
▪	20th	1978 –	A Greenwood, Deputy Chairman – British Aerospace PLC
▪	21st	1979 –	Captain J A Cameron, Managing Director – BA Helicopter Ltd.
▪	22nd	1980 –	Secor D Brown – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Washington
▪	23rd	1981 –	Tom Brooke-Smith – Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (GAPAN) & ex Short Brothers
▪	24th	1982 –	Peter Morton, Senior Project Engineer – Boeing Commercial Airplane topic on CRT Displays on the B757 and B767
▪	25th	1983 –	Brian H Rowe, Senior Vice President – General Eletric
▪	26th	1984 –	Sir Austin Pearce, Chairman – British Aerospace
▪	27th	1985 –	Roger Munk – Airship Industries
▪	28th	1986 –	Sir Frank Whittle topic on Jet Engines
▪		1987 –	cancelled
▪	29th	1988 –	Bob Davies, Chief Project Engineer B747-400 – Boeing Commercial Airplane
▪	30th	1989 –	Richard D Murphy, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
▪	31st	1990 –	Michael Baker, Astronaut – National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
▪	32nd	1991 –	Charles Masefield, Airline Division – British Aerospace PLC
▪	33rd	1992 –	Andy Richardson, FLS Lovaux Ltd. topic on Optica
▪	34th	1993 –	Mike Williams – Rolls Royce
▪	35th	1994 –	Alan Mulally, Vice President & General Manager B777 – The Boeing Company
▪	36th	1995 –	M Udo Dräger – Super Airbus Transport International (SATIC) topic on Airbus A300-600ST Beluga
▪	37th	1996 –	Rolf Rue, President – Airbus China
▪	38th	1997 –	Christopher Boardman, Business Director “Al Yamamah” Project – British Aerospace PLC
▪	39th	1998 –	Dr Steve Lingard, the Huygens Programmes – Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd.
▪	40th	1999 –	Chris Geoghegan – British Aerospace PLC topic on Airbus into the Melting Pot
▪	41st	2000 –	Robert Lange, Marketing Director of Large Aircraft Division – Airbus Industrie topic on The A3XX
▪	42nd	2001 –	Dr Edwin Mowforth, Senior Design Advisor – CargoLifter topic on Airship Technology – the CargoLifter Project
▪	43rd	2002 –	Andrew Collins – FHL topic on “We Have Control” – the Evolution of Prowered Flight Controls
▪	44th	2003 –	Mike Kennett – Westland Helicopters topic on The Apache Programme
▪	45th	2004 –	Paul Collins & Professor Ann Dowling topic on Silent Aircraft Initiative
▪	46th	2005 –	Topic on Airbus A380 Update
▪	47th	2006 –	Dr Stuart Eves – Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) topic on Sophisticated Small Satellites from Surrey
▪	48th	2007 –	Adrian Price – National Air Traffic Services topic on Developing Tools for Safer Skies
▪	49th	2009 –	Dr Adam Baker – Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) topic on UK Launch: Taking Small Satellites to Orbit on the Crest of Space Tourism Wave
▪	50th	2011 –	Alan Bond, Director – Reaction Engines Ltd. topic on Can the UK be in the Vanguard of the New Space Age?
▪	51st	2012 –	Capt Hugh Dibley [MCILT,  FRIN,  FRAeS] topic on Training to Avoid Loss of Control Accidents
▪	52nd	2015 –	Mark Thomas [CEng, FRAeS], Chief Engineer for Technology and Future Programmes – Rolls-Royce Civil Large Engines Business topic on Rolls Royce – Future Developments in Engine Technology
▪	53rd	2016 –	Tom Grundy, Operations Director – Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd. topic on The Hybrid Air Vehicles – Airlander 10 Project
▪	54th	2017 –	Olivier Frerotte, Airport Operations Technical Expert Pierre Carpentier, Airport Operations Product Manager – Thales Avionics topic on Advances in Airport Technology
▪	55th	2019 –	Sophie Harker, Senior Engineer – Flight Control Systems – BAE Systems topic on SABRE – a New Class of Propulsion

In 2015 Sir Richard Fairey Named Lecture, Mark Thomas [FRAeS CEng], Chief Engineer Technology and Future Programmes – Rolls-Royce Civil Large Engines Business, spoke about the Future Developments in Engine Technology. L-R: David Beaumont (Hon. Secretary), Mark Thomas (Guest Speaker), Air Cdre Bill Tyack (President RAeS), Graeme Catnach (Chairman LHR Branch), Richard Kennedy (Treasurer), Keith Armstrong, Ana-Maria Pedraz, Albert Barnes and Robin Rix.