Designer
Interested in gliding, Latimer-Needham was an early pioneer of the sport in Britain. He was interested in the anatomy of birds and spent some time analysing the muscle-power, mass, wing-loading and structure of them. He once arranged for the bodies of dead birds to be sent to him from the zoo for examination. The result of these studies was the Albatross glider, one of which was built by RFD in Guildford, Surrey, in 1930. Founding the Dunstable Sailplane Company (DSC), he was appointed the first Chairman of the Technical Committee of the British Gliding Association and advised on the design of both powered and non-powered aircraft.
He left the RAF in 1935 and formed his second company, Luton Aircraft, at Barton-in-the-Clay, Bedfordshire, where he designed the Buzzard, Minor & Major. In 1936 the company moved to Gerrards Cross, while the DSC sold kits of parts for the Kestrel glider, which Latimer-Needham had also designed.
At the same time he became Senior Technical Officer to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down. On the outbreak of war, he became acting Chief Technical Officer to the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE). Following a period as Assistant Designer to the A. V. Roe Company (Avro) he became Chief Engineer to Flight Refuelling Ltd with Alan Cobham, flying on several early flight trials, including a 1947 non-stop flight from London to Bermuda. He was also consulted by the RFD company on the design of airborne life rafts.
Read more about this topic: C.H. Latimer-Needham
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