43-470: Air Commodore Sir Henry Nigel St Valery Norman, 2nd Baronet , CBE (21 May 1897 – 19 May 1943) was a consulting civil engineer and Royal Air Force officer during the first half of the 20th century. Nigel Norman was the only child of journalist and travel writer Henry Norman , and novelist Ménie Muriel Dowie . Following officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst , he served as
86-648: A subaltern with the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War . He later transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals . In 1926, Norman married Patricia Moyra, eldest daughter of the late Lieutenant Colonel J.H.A. Annesley. During that year, Norman volunteered for reserve service as a pilot with No. 601 (County of London) Squadron in the Auxiliary Air Force , and he later assumed duties as
129-578: A Liberal politician, and his father was aviator and engineer Sir Nigel Norman, 2nd Baronet . The son of Nigel Norman , he attended Twyford School in Winchester , before being evacuated to the United States during the Second World War . There, he allegedly had a fight with the young Ted Kennedy . Returning to England, he was sent to Eton in 1945. At Eton, he kept a Norton motorbike in town and
172-411: A Wilksch Avtur burning engine Norman moved his design agency from Bembridge to Baginton, Coventry Airport , up until his death he had offices with Air Atlantique, with his knowledge in aircraft design was used to further develop pollution control equipment. Thales/Racal electronics The need for a special airborne research aircraft capable of being fitted with a special forward radome was created by
215-430: A design patent for a STOL aircraft of swept wing planform with forward cockpit and pylon mounted propeller of larger than normal diameter with fixed downwardly inclined thrust line. The wing root leading edge could include a locker for luggage, or a compartment for an injured person on a stretcher. Aeronortec Patent Design GB 2280882 Desmond Norman married Anne Fogg Elliot in 1956. They had two sons before their marriage
258-606: A flight commander. In 1928, Norman co-founded Airwork Services with Alan Muntz . In 1929, the company opened Heston Aerodrome that was active in private, commercial and military aviation until closure in 1947. In 1931, he was appointed Officer Commanding of No. 601 Squadron. In 1934, he transferred to the Auxiliary Air Force Reserve of Officers in the rank of squadron leader . He later commanded No. 110 Army Co-operation Wing based at RAF Ringway . In 1935, in partnership with architect Graham Dawbarn , Norman founded
301-586: A proficient parachutist. When he got back, he went on a parachute course. He distinguished himself in Operation Biting , the raid by British parachute troops on the coast of northern France in March 1942, when the radio location post at Bruneval , 12 miles north of Le Havre , was destroyed. It was a combined operation, the carrying force of R.A.F. bombers under Norman's command and led by Wing Commander P. C. Pickard . Norman's final appointment came in 1942, when he
344-568: A unit or formation. It is designed to strengthen the bond between the military unit and the individual and promote the role of the air force amongst the public. Serving officers may be granted an equivalent appointment to the honorary rank. In such cases the individual is made an honorary air commandant and they retain their regular rank. Larger air force organisations or formations may be honoured by having an air commodore-in-chief appointed in their name. These RAF appointments are rare and to date (2020) have been given to just five senior members of
387-539: Is immediately senior to group captain and immediately subordinate to air vice-marshal . It is usually equivalent to a commodore or a brigadier / brigadier general . The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force , Women's Royal Air Force (until 1968) and Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service (until 1980) was "air commandant". The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until
430-469: The British Army on developing airborne troops . Norman controlled the air side of the first British paratroop raid on Italy shortly after it entered the war. He not only arranged all the details, but took a personal interest in all the numerous training exercises before the raid, and accompanied the paratroops on the expedition, returning regretfully, he said, in an aircraft, as he was not at that time
473-560: The British Army , with officers at what is now air commodore holding the rank of brigadier-general . In response to the proposal that the RAF should use its own rank titles, it was suggested that the RAF might use the Royal Navy's officer ranks , with the word "air" inserted before the naval rank title. Although the Admiralty objected to this simple modification of their rank titles, it was agreed that
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#1732855681702516-620: The Racal , later Thales electronics company. Desmond Norman designed the necessary modifications to Dakota G-ANAF which included the radome from a Britten-Norman Defender aircraft, the aircraft would be operated by the Atlantic group on special flights from Coventry around Malvern to test the respective equipment, an underfin was later added for improved directional control together with other detail differences. NDN / NAC / Norman Aircraft In 1976 Desmond Norman founded NDN Aircraft Ltd. The company name
559-612: The Roundhouse Trust . Air Commodore Air commodore ( Air Cdre or Air Cmde ) is a air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force . The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. Air commodore
602-621: The Snow Aeronautical Corp. equity and a lot of the Snow Commander's development had taken place before the whole enterprise was sold to North American Rockwell . The aircraft became the Rockwell Thrush Commander . The success of the crop spraying operations funded the realisation of Britten and Norman's dream: to design and build an aeroplane. At the time, there was no other aircraft that filled its remit, and Norman foresaw
645-567: The Society of British Aerospace Companies . In 1954, Desmond started Britten-Norman with co-founder John Britten, a fellow de Havilland graduate. Norman discovered, in John Britten, a partner who was equally keen to make a career out of aircraft design. The two men built their first aircraft at Britten's home, on the Isle of Wight. The BN1F was a 36 hp (27 kW) ultra-light aircraft. The aircraft
688-541: The air officer commanding . However, during the inter-war period, and in the case of the contemporary No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group , the air officer commanding held or holds air commodore rank. In the Air Training Corps , an appointed air commodore holds ultimate authority over the cadet organisation as the Commandant Air Cadets . On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from
731-564: The 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces , when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian air commodores then became brigadier-generals . In official Canadian French usage, the rank title was commodore de l'air . The position of honorary air commodore still exists in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets . In the present-day RAF, air commodores typically hold senior appointments within groups , acting directly in support of
774-463: The RAF might base many of its officer rank titles on Navy officer ranks with differing pre-modifying terms. It was also suggested that air-officer ranks could be based on the term "ardian", which was derived from a combination of the Gaelic words for "chief" ( ard ) and "bird" ( eun ), with the term "fourth ardian" or "flight ardian" being used for the equivalent to brigadier-general and commodore. However,
817-570: The RAF's need for a new basic trainer – it was not successful. The prototype aircraft, including the turbine version (1T) flying with the National Test Pilots School (Flight Research Inc) in Mohave, continued to be supported by Norman up to his death. Norman commissioned RCS Aviation Ltd to reverse engineer and retrofit a CNC machined spar modification into the (Experimental category) Turbine Firecracker. This STC standard modification improved
860-882: The Raven 257 to compete with the BN Islander. AeroNorTec Ltd / Atlantic Group The AeroNorTec company was formed in 1988 (dissolved 2004) and was based in Wales and the Isle of Wight. It became part of the Atlantic Group of companies based at Coventry Airport and specialised in all aspects of light aircraft design and matters relating to G. A. certification including Powerplant changes, major airframe modifications and new aircraft designs. Norman advertised in Flight magazine AeroNorTec's ability to carry out projects right through to compliance with clients' airworthiness certification requirements. Norman held
903-453: The centre and is rectangular with a cut-away section giving it two tails. It is the only RAF command flag of this shape and it is similar in shape to that of a Royal Navy commodore's broad pennant . The vehicle star plate for an air commodore depicts a single white star (air commodore is equivalent to a one-star rank) on an air force blue background. RAF air commodores are classed as air officers and as such have two rows of gold oak leaves on
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#1732855681702946-558: The consultancy firm of Norman and Dawbarn , responsible for designs of buildings and lay-outs of many municipal airports in the UK and overseas, including those at Gatwick , Birmingham , Ringway , Jersey , and Guernsey . In 1939, Norman succeeded as 2nd Baronet. In 1940, Norman commanded the Central Landing Establishment based at RAF Ringway. From the early days of the Second World War , he worked in close collaboration with
989-725: The development of the Skylander SB-105 using GECI engineering resources in Romania. GECI CEO Serge Bitboul in the meantime paved the way towards commercialisation of the SK-105 which finally saw the company Sky Aircraft SAS based at Chambley-Former aerodrome (LFJY) in Lorraine (Metz region) in 2008. Sky Aircraft SAS was put into administration in October 2012 and liquidated in April 2013. In 1995 Norman produced
1032-632: The early Cushioncraft with support from Elders and Fyffes Ltd. to look at methods of transporting banana crop from plantations in Southern Cameroons. Cushioncraft Ltd was formed out of the hovercraft division of Britten-Norman. In 1966 the British Hovercraft Corporation Ltd took a 20% shareholding. Britten-Norman Ltd had a shareholding in Hovertravel Ltd (now the world's oldest hovercraft transport company), of which Norman
1075-565: The fatigue life of the aircraft to 12,000 hours. Skylander project In early 2000 Norman was associated with the design of the Skylander project developed by GECI International of France. The Skylander SB-105 concept was based on an enlarged Britten-Norman Islander configuration. Norman commissioned RCS Aviation Ltd to conduct an initial design assessment of aerodynamic loads, control and stability. This assessment resulted in an increase in fin area and other structural recommendations. Norman oversaw
1118-403: The first Micronair rotary atomiser suitable for mounting on an aircraft but, rather than get involved with aircraft, he encouraged Britten-Norman Limited and Jim McMahon to set up Micronair Limited. At one time, Britten-Norman operated 80 agricultural aircraft and the need to consider replacement equipment led to an association with Leyland Snow of Texas. The company acquired a one-third share in
1161-591: The market potential of an island-hopping passenger plane. In 1963, Norman and Britten sold their share of Crop Culture to other members of the Board, to concentrate their efforts on production of the Britten-Norman Islander . A prototype, G-ATCT, was completed within nine months and made its maiden flight in June 1965. Production was centred at Bembridge, Isle of Wight , United Kingdom. In 1960 Britten-Norman developed
1204-412: The peak of their service dress hats. The reigning monarch may appoint honorary air commodores for RAF flying squadrons and stations. For example, King Charles III is RAF Valley 's honorary air commodore and Winston Churchill was 615 Squadron 's honorary air commodore. As the title suggests, this is an honorary position bestowed by the reigning monarch and it does not grant the recipient command of
1247-507: The position of Chief Designer of Tenencia Aerospace Norman had been associated with the company in its earlier incarnation when in 2005, the Design Department of Atlantic Airmotive Ltd (formerly Atlantic Aeroengineering Ltd) was subject to a management buyout and a new company was formed: Tenencia Ltd. In 1998 Norman as chief designer of Atlantic Aeroengineering worked on a project with Wilksch Airmotive Ltd to retrofit Cessna -150/152 to
1290-526: The rank title based on the Navy rank was preferred and air commodore was adopted in August 1919. The rank insignia is a light-blue band on a broad black band worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. On the mess uniform , air commodores wear a broad gold ring on both lower sleeves. The command flag of an air commodore has one narrow red band running through
1333-691: The receiver in taking over production of the NAC1 Freelance four-seat utility aircraft. Croplease plc was formed in April 1989 and acquired the Fieldmaster rights and Croplease Ltd business. Rights in Croplease plc designs were sold to EPA Aircraft Company in 1992. who attempted a joint venture with the Yugoslav Utva Aviation Industry organisation. Firecracker A new company was formed, Hunting Engineering Firecracker Aircraft Ltd to win
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1376-480: The royal family, of whom three were reigning or future monarchs of the United Kingdom. Air commodore-in-chief is not a rank and such an appointment does not convey the rank of air commodore upon the recipient. Desmond Norman Nigel Desmond Norman , CBE , FRAeS (13 August 1929 – 13 November 2002) was an aircraft designer and aviation pioneer. Norman co-founded Britten-Norman in 1954,
1419-603: Was a commercial failure, but with a third partner, Jim McMahon, they formed a crop-spraying company, Crop Culture (Aerial) Ltd. It was to be Norman's first big success. The reason was a revolutionary rotary atomiser, whose potential in aerial work Norman had recognised and set about developing. Desmond Norman recalled that Britten-Norman came about as an aircraft manufacturer because of his and John Britten's experiences as agricultural operators. The partnership began by converting Tiger Moths for export to New Zealand and later moved on to develop spraying equipment. Edward Bals designed
1462-565: Was a director since its inception in 1965. In 1968 he was voted off the Board whilst John Britten remained on the Board. Hoverwork Ltd, a subsidiary of Hovertravel, occupies the former Cushioncraft facilities at Woodnutts yard, Bembridge. In 1971, Britten-Norman went into liquidation and was purchased by the Fairey Aviation group in 1972, Norman stayed on as managing director until 1976. Clark-Norman Aircraft Ltd. (Triloader Aircraft Corp. NV Woudstraat 21, B-3600 Genk, Belgium) This company
1505-581: Was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron , regularly raced his own designs and designed and built Wavewalker , a two-masted gaff rigged 70 ft (21 m) schooner , for his family. In early 1953, John Britten and Desmond Norman designed and had built a 21 ft (6.4 m). Junior Offshore Group sailing boat. Prior to turning the Britten-Norman partnership into an incorporated company, Norman spent almost two years as an export assistant with
1548-467: Was also chairman of the Design and Construction Panel. Norman's eldest of three sons was Mark Annesley, born on 8 February 1927, who succeeded him as third baronet. Mark Norman worked for Bristol Siddeley Engines as company secretary. Nigel Norman's second son was Desmond Norman , co-founder of the aircraft manufacturer Britten Norman . Torquil Norman , third of Sir Nigel's sons, founded Bluebird Toys and
1591-731: Was appointed Air Officer Commanding No. 38 Wing . On 19 May 1943, Norman died in the post-crash fire when Lockheed Hudson IIIA FH168 that was to carry him to North Africa force-landed after takeoff from RAF St Eval . Norman was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society , a member of the Aviation Committee of the London Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Council of the Air Registration Board, of which body he
1634-540: Was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, and served as chairman and managing director of AeroNorTec (1988–2002). With his longtime friend and business partner John Britten , he also designed, built, and sailed racing yachts, as well as a series of air cushion vehicles and crop spraying equipment. He died of a heart attack at age 73 in 2002. Norman's grandfather was Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet ,
1677-516: Was changed to The Norman Aeroplane Company with effect from 22 July 1985 when the company moved to Wales, simultaneously with a transfer of its manufacturing base to Cardiff Airport , Wales, largely funded by the Welsh Development Agency . Financial problems resulted in NAC calling in a receiver, Price Waterhouse , on 26 July 1988. Designed by Desmond Norman;the prototype Fieldmaster (G-NRDC),
1720-465: Was first flown at Sandown (Isle of Wight) 17 December 1981; first production Fieldmaster (G-NACL) flew 29 March 1987; production. Croplease / EPA Aircraft Subsequently, rights to the Fieldmaster agricultural and firefighting aircraft were sold to Andrew Mackinnon of Croplease Ltd in October 1988. Early in 1989 assembly of the Fieldmaster was resumed by Brooklands Aircraft Co Ltd. Also in early 1989, several potential purchasers had expressed interest to
1763-555: Was formed in 1995 to develop the Triloader turbo-prop powered 19,000-pound (8,600 kg) (all-up weight) cargo aircraft. Design offices were based on the Isle of Wight with production undertaken by Triloader Aircraft of Belgium. Norman's co-designer on this aircraft was Alec N. Clark, formerly of Hawker Siddeley. Following the failure to secure long term funding for the Triloader, Clark transformed Triloader Aircraft corp into Wolfsberg Aircraft Corporation NV through which Clark developed
Nigel Norman - Misplaced Pages Continue
1806-500: Was given to riding it in school clothes. He was outstanding at sport, particularly on the rugby field and in the Eton Eight, which he stroked at Henley in 1946. He went straight from Eton into a two-year engineering apprenticeship at the de Havilland Technical School. Here, he met John Britten, whose enthusiasm for aircraft design matched his owned. The two young men also shared a passion for sailing and one of their first joint commissions
1849-635: Was to take an old 80 ft (24 m) ketch across the Atlantic to the Bahamas . As a National Serviceman, he won the Sword of Honour during training, before spending two years in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot. He later joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force No. 601 Squadron RAF . Desmond Norman's older brother Mark Annesley Norman (see Norman Baronets ) worked for Bristol Siddeley Engines and later for Britten-Norman as sales manager. Norman
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