- Roy Chadwick
Roy Chadwick, CBE, FRAeS (
April 30 1893 –August 23 1947 ) was an aircraft designer forAvro . Born at Marsh Hall Farm, Farnworth inWidnes , son of the mechanical engineer Charles Chadwick, he was the Chief Designer for theAvro Company and was responsible for practically all of their aeroplane designs. He is famous in particular for designing theAvro Lancaster bomber, its follow-upAvro Lincoln and preliminary designs of theAvro Vulcan V bomber. He also converted the Lincoln into the much-used Shackleton.Early life
He went to St Clements Church School in
Urmston , then studied at night school from 1907 to 1914 at the Manchester Municipal College of Technology whilst working as adraughtsman atBritish Westinghouse in Trafford Park,Manchester .Avro years
From September 1911, he began work at Avro at Brownsfield Mill when he was 18. When starting to design entire planes, he was based at
Hamble , nearSouthampton . In 1928, he moved back to the Avro factory in Woodford, Greater Manchester, used today byBAE Systems . In 1939, production of Avro aircraft was moved to a new factory at Greengate, nearChadderton , today owned by BAE Systems.After the war, he designed Britain's first pressurised airliner, the
Avro Tudor , based around the Lancaster-derivativeAvro Lincoln , though few were built. His final involvement with Avro was overseeing the initial designs of the Vulcan from 1946. He died onAugust 23 1947 during a crash on take-off of the prototype Avro Tudor 2 "G-AGSU" from Woodford airfield, in the vicinity of Shirfold Farm. The accident was due to an error in an overnight servicing in which theaileron cables were inadvertently crossed.He was honoured in 1943 with the CBE, after the Dam Busters raid. His daughters, Margaret Dove and Rosemary Lapham, are his closest living relatives. He is commemorated by a blue plaque on the surviving office building of the Avro factory at Greengate. [Manchester Genealogist Vol 43 No.3 2007 Pages 278-9]
References
External links
* [http://homepages.manx.net/mdove Biography and Avro history.]
* [http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/engineers2.html Biography from a list of Manchester celebrities]
* [http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/VanTilborg/2799.htm A picture of the Tudor 2 "G-AGSU " in which Chadwick was killed]
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