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Obituaries
Richard Clarkson
Richard Clarkson who has died aged 92, was responsible for the aerodynamics of the de Havilland Mosquito, the fastest and most efficient bomber of the Second World War; later, he was aerodynamicist of the de Havilland Comet, which on Oct 4 1958 flew the world’s first scheduled jet transatlantic service.
Clarkson played a key role in the earliest development of the twin Merlin-engined Mosquito. Affectionately known as “the wooden wonder”, it could carry the bombload (4,000 lb) of a four engined B-17 Flying Fortress to Berlin, and was even capable of making two round trips in a night.
In 1939 Clarkson and de Havilland’s chief designer. R E Bishop, conceived the idea of a light unarmed bomber which would match or exceed the speed of contemporary fighters. Previously, Clarkson had worked on the DH88 Comet Racer, and had also contributed to the DH Albatross and DH 95 Flamingo airliners.
In order to design in secret the aircraft
which was to become the Mosquito, Clarkson and Bishop required a secluded country house
near de Havilland’s works at Hatfield. They found Salisbury Hall, a moated manor
house, not far from St Albans.
At Salisbury Hall, Clarkson applied his experience in pursuit of what his chief, and
mentor, Charles Walker called “economic efficiency through aerodynamic purity”.
The result was W4050, the Mosquito prototype.
On Nov 3 1940, W4050 heavily disguised, was
transported to Hatfield. Later that month, Geoffrey de Havilland, the test pilot son of
the pioneer aeroplane maker Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, took her up for the first time.
After W4050 had been put through her paces at the Government Experimental Establishment at
Boscombe Down, Clarkson waited outside the door of Fred Rowarth, chief technical officer.
At length Rowarth emerged and said: “I take my hat off to 387 mph.” The speed
was 11 mph faster than Clarkson’s estimate, which officials, accustomed to fanciful
claims, had earlier suspected. The prototype was faster than the Spitfire.
That evening, Clarkson enjoyed a memorable celebration at the George Hotel, Amesbury, during which test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland streamlined himself and performed a streak. W4050 remains preserved at its Salisbury Hall birth place, where it is part of a Mosquito memorial museum.
Richard Milroy Clarkson was born on July 14
1904 and educated at Clayesmore School, and at City and Guilds College. In 1925 he began
an apprenticeship with the de Havilland Aircraft Company in its factory at Stag Lane,
Edgware.
He learned to fly in 1929, and for many years flew a Hornet Moth on company business.
Until the mid 1930s he accompanied experimental pilots as a test observer on many
aircraft.
In 1935 he was put in charge of the company’s aerodynamics department, becoming responsible for a succession of de Havilland aircraft, among them the DH 100 Vampire, the world’s first mass-produced single jet fighter - more than 4,000 were built - which went operational in 1946.
The DH 103 Hornet, the world’s fastest piston engined fighter, which entered squadron service in 1946 also owed its aerodynamic qualities to Clarkson, as did the swept - wing tailless DH108, which in 1948 was the first European jet to break the sound barrier.
The DH106 Comet 1 jet airliner, which made its maiden flight in 1949, doubled the cruising speeds and altitudes of contemporary airliners.
Using experience gained with the Vampire,
Clarkson and his team set out to solve a host of previously unencountered air-worthiness
problems, including sonic compressibility, shockwave drag, jet intakes handling tons of
air a minute, fully powered flying controls without manual reversion, and speedbrakes. The
Comet 4 gave 20 years of safe passenger service.
It was a tribute to Clarkson’s brilliance that, in producing its 727, Boeing made an
almost identical aerodynamic copy of the DH 121 Trident. The Trident pioneered
“systems integration”, the marriage of aerodynamics with electronics. Wing
experience on this short-haul airliner helped Clarkson’s team to design and build the
wing of the European Airbus.
After serving with Hawker Siddeley Aviation
as Executive Director Research (Hatfield) from 1963 to 1969, Clarkson retired.
He was a remarkable picker of men and, although a hard taskmaster, was revered by his
staff. On his 90th birthday, former colleagues arranged a flypast by a pre-war DH 90
Dragonfly over Clarkson’s home in Dorset.
He was a country lover, an enthusiastic preservationist and a keen hunt follower. He also loved music, especially the operas of Wagner and Richard Strauss. His letters, immaculately written, were often penned on waste paper and dispatched in used envelopes resealed with stickers exhorting the receiver: “Preserve the Rain forests” or “Don’t let Europe rule”.
Clarkson’s interest in aerodynamics
persisted. Last year, when a gale lifted a garden bench from alongside a wall, he set out
with graphs and tables of wind components, vortex velocities and stagnation points to
prove even a bench can fly.
To the end of his life, he crusaded for causes dear to him - The Freedom Association and
the campaigns for an Independent Britain and for Real Ale.
He was also indefatigable in helping Margaret Cave, the anti-slavery campaigner, to secure proper recognition for his 19th-century ancestor, Thomas Clarkson, the “friend of slaves”. Last month he attended the dedication in Westminster Abbey of a memorial to Thomas Clarkson and posed with Lord Wilberforce. In 1993 he opened the Anti-Slavery Museum at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Clarkson was a fellow of the Royal
Aeronautical Society, and in 1966 he received its Gold Medal. In 1969 he was awarded the
Royal Society’s Mullard Gold Medal. He was appointed OBE in 1950.
Richard Clarkson married in 1940, Sylvia Paice; they had a daughter.
Daily Telegraph 28/x/96.
Copyright Telegraph Group Ltd. London 1996.