Charles Richard Fairey

{{Short description|English aircraft manufacturer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Use British English|date=May 2012}} {{Infobox engineer |image = Crfairey1936.jpg |image_width = |caption = C.R. Fairey, 1936 |name = Charles Richard Fairey |birth_date = 5 May 1887 |birth_place = [[Hendon]], [[Middlesex]], England |death_date = {{death date and age text|30 September 1956|5 May 1887}} |death_place = London, England |education = |occupation = Aircraft manufacturer |spouse = |parents = |children = [[John Fairey]] |discipline = |institutions = [[Fairey Aviation Company]] |practice_name = |significant_projects = |significant_design = |significant_advance = |significant_awards = }}

'''Sir Charles Richard Fairey''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|FRAeS}} (5 May 1887 – 30 September 1956), also known as '''Richard Fairey''', was an English aircraft manufacturer.

==Early life== [[File:Ardingly College, Sussex.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ardingly College]]]] Charles Fairey was born on 5 May 1887 in [[Hendon]], [[Middlesex]] and educated at the [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood]] and [[Ardingly College]], and later as an apprentice at the [[Finsbury Technical College]] where he studied [[City & Guilds]] courses in electrical engineering and chemistry. Fairey's father had died when he was aged 11, and although from a middle-class background, this dramatic change in the family's circumstances led to Fairey taking a job, aged 15, with the Jandus Electric Company of London, which manufactured arc lamps. His progress was such that he was able to take charge of the installation of electric lights at [[Heysham]] docks whilst still in his teens. His next job was as an analytical chemist, working on boiler-feed and fuel problems at [[Municipal Borough of Finchley]] power station. Fairey became a skilled designer and builder of model aeroplanes and active member of the Kite and Model Aeroplane Association. On 4 June 1910 (aged 23) Fairey entered a model flying competition at [[Crystal Palace, London|Crystal Palace]], London. His model monoplane design won 1st prize in the Longest Flight and Stability Competition with a distance of 153yds 1 ft 10in. His success in aeroplane modelling helped establish his reputation as a craftsman and innovator.

==Career== In 1911, Fairey, aged 24, became General manager with the [[Blair Atholl Syndicate]] Ltd., a company formed to develop the tailless aircraft designed by [[J. W. Dunne]], at [[Eastchurch]], [[Isle of Sheppey]].

In 1913, Fairey joined [[Short Brothers]] as chief engineer and in 1915, he formed his own company, [[Fairey Aviation]]. At the outbreak of the First World War, he attempted to join first the [[Royal Naval Air Service]] and then the [[Royal Flying Corps]], but was refused by both on medical grounds and by reason of his skill as an aeronautical engineer. A year later, at the age of 28, he formed his own aircraft company. It started with an office in [[Piccadilly]], and factory space was found initially in [[The Gramophone]] company's facilities at [[Hayes, Hillingdon|Hayes]].

His standing in the United Kingdom aircraft industry led him to be the chairman of the [[Society of British Aircraft Constructors]] in 1922–1924 and president of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]] in 1930–31 and 1932–33.<ref>Taylor, pp. 12–13</ref>

His company developed a new factory at Hayes just across the [[Great Western Railway]]. In 1930, a {{convert|150|acre|km2|adj=on}} flying field was developed on land purchased from the church under the control of the [[vicar]] of [[Harmondsworth]], [[Middlesex]]. Known as the [[Great West Aerodrome]], it was later compulsorily purchased by [[the Crown]] during [[World War II]], and today forms the south-eastern part of [[Heathrow Airport]], London. Soon afterwards, a seaplane base was established at [[Hamble-le-Rice|Hamble]].<ref>Sherwood, Philip (1999)</ref> He also gave his private yacht to the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. Armed and refitted, she served on anti-submarine duties as [[HMS Evadne|HMS ''Evadne'']].

During the forty years he led his business, Fairey was involved with the development of many of his companies' most important products, including aircraft, rotorcraft, marine craft, mechanical engineering and rocketry. He remained in charge of his company until his death in a London nursing home early on 30 September 1956, after suffering from a heart condition for several years.<ref name="Flight1956">{{cite web |title=Sir Richard Fairey |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%201421.html |website=Flight|access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230213806/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%201421.html |archive-date=30 December 2013 |page=573 |date=5 October 1956 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

He served as Commodore of the [[Royal London Yacht Club]] from 1936 to 1950.

==Honours== * [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]] in 1920. * President of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]], twice, 1930–31 and 1932–33.<ref name="Flight, Earhart" /> * The Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society awarded, on 21 April 1936, the Sir Charles Wakefield Gold Medal to Mr. C. R. Fairey, for his work on the development of aircraft flaps. * [[Knighthood]] CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD, St. James's Palace, S.W.I, 11 June 1942. The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of His Majesty's Birthday, to signify his intention of conferring the Honour of Knighthood upon Charles Richard Fairey, Esq., M.B.E.,' F.R.Ae.S., Chairman, Fairey Aviation Company. Director-General, British Air Commission, Washington. * [[Medal of Freedom (1945)|Medal of Freedom]] with silver palm from the United States government. The Medal was presented to Sir Richard Fairey in 1948. The award was made at Kindley Field airbase, Bermuda, in recognition of Sir Richard's co-operation with the U.S. War Department, which contributed to the planning of U.S. aircraft research and development, while he was Director-General of the British Air Commission in Washington D.C. during the war. Col. Thomas D. Ferguson, the commanding officer of Kindley Field, made the presentation for the U.S. War Department.

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Flight, Earhart" >{{Cite journal |title=Farewell Dinner to Miss Earhart |journal=[[Flight (magazine)|Flight]] |date=10 June 1932 |page=518 }}</ref>

}}

==Bibliography== * Sherwood, Philip. 1999. ''Heathrow: 2000 years of History'' {{ISBN|0-7509-2132-3}} * Sherwood, Tim. 1999. ''Coming in to Land: A Short History of Hounslow, Hanworth and Heston Aerodromes 1911–1946''. [http://www.hounslowlibraries.org Heritage Publications (Hounslow Library)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506231239/https://www.hounslowlibraries.org/ |date=6 May 2021 }} {{ISBN|1-899144-30-7}} * {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=H.A.|title=Fairey Aircraft since 1915|year=1974|publisher=Putnam & Co. Ltd|isbn=0-370-00065-X}} * {{cite journal |title=A Pioneer Remembered |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200708.html |journal=Flight |date=13 March 1959 |page=374 |last=Hall, G W }} * [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]: Fairey, Charles Richard by J.L. Pritchard.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairey, Charles Richard}} [[Category:1887 births]] [[Category:1956 deaths]] [[Category:English aerospace engineers]] [[Category:Fairey Aviation Company]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood]] [[Category:People educated at Ardingly College]] [[Category:People from Hendon]] [[Category:Recipients of the Medal of Freedom]] [[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]