Neuware - 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. Since this took place in the mid 60’s through 1970’s, quite apart from the technical side of things this was a fascinating insight into these countries from a geopolitical view during those times.

Cloth "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. He made it clear that the achievements in engine development made could in no way be attributable to any single person. Ric gained the CBE for Services to Engineering in 2013 and was named European CTO of the Year in 2014.Under Levy’s guidance, I produced two papers — one published by the Philosophical Magazine and the other by the Royal Society — slightly extending von Kármán’s theory. This enabled Sydney Camm to design the Harrier which demonstrated its outstanding capabilities in the Falklands war. Such an interesting man, he really did so much and his book is well written, of course it may be hard for some people to follow and he may get bad reviews by people who have done nothing in their lives. A must read for all budding engineers, which is both light and easy to follow despite the complex engineering involved.

One of the heroes of Stanley Hooker’s first career: Ernest Hives as he looked when Hooker first met him. There was Büsemann in Germany, who went to the USA after World War II, Ackeret in Zurich, who evolved the first simple theory of the effect on the lift and drag of a wing, and there was G. One major outcome of his work introduced a generalised method of predicting and comparing aircraft engine performance under flight conditions. However, after my evening meal, I cheered up a bit when it occurred to me that the only possible explanation must be that the powers that be were still debating my ultimate fate, and had not yet reached any conclusion about the job I was to do.Being British it's fascinating how much the entire jet turbine programs and development all rotated around a few very, very clever men in Derby and Bristol.

All while bringing to life both the many challenges and funny moments he lived during the wartime and the post-war. And what was I going to do in the formidable Rolls-Royce company, which represented the very pinnacle of engineering excellence? Hooker’s affection for the environment of Oxford is obvious, as is his sorrow for the promising lives lost during Second World War. In the late 1950s, the Air Ministry forced through a series of mergers in the aerospace field that left only two airframe companies and two engine companies.

I suppose this was my first tentative step in the direction of engineering, but, because of Levy’s influence in directing me towards hydrodynamics (the flow of fluids), I found that the most interesting part of the Aeronautics course was the aerodynamic flow of air around the wings of aircraft, thus producing the lift and the drag.

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. Born in 1907, Hooker was a mathematician engineer who after studying maths, hydrodynamics and aerodynamics went to work for Ernest Hives in 1938 at Rolls-Royce. He finally retired in 1978 and in 1984 just before his death, he published his autobiography “ Not much of an engineer” the title of which was a quip by the intimidating Hives at his lack of engineering qualifications during his interview at Rolls-Royce! It can be a bit slow at times, but as autobiographies go it is one of the better ones and I have read an awful lot worse!I was instantly impressed by the aura of good humour yet relentless energy that seemed to surround him. Professor Bairstow had an all-consuming obsession, and that was to solve the equations of motion of a viscous fluid.