Look to the skies and thank heavens for WWII genius Sydney Camm (From Kingston Guardian)
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Look to the skies and thank heavens for WWII genius Sydney Camm
8:00am Sunday 5th August 2012 in News
Sydney Camm and Tom Sopwith in 1953, the year both were knighted
Kingston residents may well look to the skies and think about Sydney Camm this weekend in honour of the aeronautical engineer’s birth.
Camm, who created the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft that played a huge part in the Battle of Britain, was born on August 5, 1893, and lived to the age of 73.
Camm initially trained as a carpenter, before his passion for making model aeroplanes led him to seek out a career at the Martinsyde Aircraft Works at Brooklands.
But he made his name as a chief designer at Kingston’s HG Hawker Engineering Works, in Canbury Park Road, where he developed the Hurricane fighter plane. Camm used to say: “I am one of those lucky individuals who has been able to convert my boyhood hobby into a profession.”
David Hassard works in the archive section of Brookland Museum and helped organise this year’s Kingston aviation centenary celebrations.
He said: “Virtually all of the aircraft built in the 1930s and 40s, and up to the 1960s were all designed and built under Sydney Camm’s leadership.
“Without the Hawker we would have lost the Battle of Britain.”
For more about Sydney Camm visit kingstonaviation.org.
