English aeronautical engineer (1926?2022)
Ralph Spenser Hooper
,
OBE
,
FREng
,
FRAeS
(30 January 1926 ? 12 December 2022) was an English aeronautical engineer, recognised mostly for his work on the
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
, specifically in relation to the marriage between the Pegasus engine and the layout of the aircraft, allowing it to safely hover with margins of stability.
Early life
[
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]
Hooper was born in
Hornchurch
, then in Essex. He was the son of Marjorie Spenser and Herbert Hooper. He is a distant relative of the poet
Edmund Spenser
. He went to
Hymers College
in Hull. Due to the
Hull Blitz
he was evacuated to
Pocklington Grammar School
for one and a half terms. His sister was
Sheila Spenser Hooper
. He became an apprentice at
Blackburn Aircraft
Company when aged 15 in January 1942, then went to University College Hull (became the
University of Hull
in 1954), gaining a Diploma in Aeronautics. He was one of the first students to join the Cranfield College of Aeronautics in 1946 and graduated with a Diploma in Aircraft Design in 1948. He joined
Hawker Aircraft
in 1948.
Career
[
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]
Hooper was sometimes referred to, with Sir
Stanley Hooker
and Sir
Sydney Camm
, as being one of the three people who created the Harrier aircraft. Unlike them, he was not knighted. He was awarded the
Royal Aeronautical Society
's Gold Medal in 1986 for his work on the Harrier and
Hawk
.
[1]
He received the
OBE
in June 1978.
[2]
Hooper was succeeded as Chief Designer of the Harrier in 1965 by (later Professor)
John Fozard
, who continued in this post until 1978. Fozard became Chief Designer of the supersonic VTOL
P1154
[3]
from October 1963.
Hooper later became Deputy Technical Director of
British Aerospace
at
Kingston upon Thames
(the base of
Hawker
) in
Surrey
.
In 2019 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Cranfield University.
[4]
Harrier
[
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]
Working from 1957 with the designer of the
Bristol Siddeley
Pegasus
engine,
Gordon Lewis
, they came to an arrangement of engine and aircraft design, resulting in the initial designs of the
Hawker Siddeley P.1127
. The Pegasus design was initially designated as the BE.53, when the final four-nozzle layout was not arrived at. The
Bristol Siddeley Orpheus
had been the starting point for the engine, with the Orpheus 3 first used, then an Orpheus 6. The Harrier project, unlike most modern British military aircraft, had not been developed in response to a Government requirement but was Hawker's own unsupported project, and from 1959 was the only aircraft that Hawker was working on. It was also produced at a time when many concurrent aircraft projects, from Government requirements, would be drastically cancelled. The Pegasus engine development was financially supported by a department of
NATO
.
The first design had an engine that only vectored the thrust from the engine's fan (cool air) - this was only 50% of the engine's total thrust. Vectoring from the high-temperature engine exhaust was not originally contemplated, or thought possible. However he realised that the hot exhaust gases could be bifurcated, as demonstrated on the earlier
Hawker Sea Hawk
,
[5]
to provide enough thrust for vertical take off, the fundamental layout of the Harrier.
By March 1958 he had finally arrived at (what would become) the design of the Harrier, with its distinctive
anhedral
wing design and undercarriage with wing-tip
outriggers
. The undercarriage design was much disliked by Sir
Sydney Camm
. Detailed design of the wing began in August 1958. In March 1959, the Government issued the General Operational Requirement (GOR) 345 for a vertical take off aircraft, in response its knowledge of the design work of the P.1127. This was followed in May 1959 by the Government specification ER 204D.
In early 1960, work at NASA's
Ames Research Center
had demonstrated that transition from vertical to conventional flight would be possible. On 22 June 1960, the project finally received a contract and finance from the
Ministry of Aviation
. XP831 (now at the
Royal Air Force Museum London
) first flew (tethered) on 21 October 1960 with a Pegasus 2 engine at Hawker's
Dunsfold Aerodrome
flown by
Bill Bedford
. Untethered flight first took place on 19 November 1960. The first conventional flight took place on 13 March 1961 from
RAE Bedford
, and it was there on 12 September 1961 that the first full transition from vertical to conventional flight took place, surprisingly with little incident. The first crash took place (XP836) on 14 December 1961 with the pilot successfully ejecting. Anhedral
tailplanes
were introduced in 1962.
In 1964, the prototypes were improved with a more swept wing and a more powerful Pegasus 5 engine, and in November 1964 it was designated as the Hawker Siddeley Kestrel, and was trialled by pilots from the
RAF
, the German Luftwaffe and the US Air Force at
RAF West Raynham
until November 1965. It was funded by these other two air forces as well. Hawker had become Hawker Siddeley in 1963.
[6]
The Kestrel was only meant to be a development aircraft for the later P.1154, but was what became the Harrier. The RAF was not pleased about this change of events. The Kestrel was developed under Air Staff Requirement 384. The resulting aircraft had a Pegasus 6 engine, with a new design of air intakes, and redesigned wings to improve longitudinal stability. In December 1966, 60 aircraft were ordered by the Government, and by 1967 had been christened as the
Harrier
.
P.1154
[
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]
In 1962 he won the NATO
NBMR-3
(NATO Basic Military Requirement) International Design Competition for his work on the proposed supersonic version of the Harrier, the
Hawker Siddeley P.1154
. This was cancelled by the new Labour government in February 1965, when the aircraft was in the process of advanced assembly. It was originally to be called the
Harrier
, and would have had
Plenum Chamber Burning
in the front nozzle to improve thrust in the BS.100 engine. Although originally for use by Royal Navy and RAF squadrons, in 1963 it was decided the Royal Navy would use the
McDonnell Aircraft
Phantom
.
Hawker Siddeley Hawk
[
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]
Hooper also led the design team for the
Hawker Siddeley Hawk
.
[1]
Personal life and death
[
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]
Hooper became a Fellow of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
in 1999.
Hooper later lived in
Ham, London
. He died on 12 December 2022, at the age of 96.
[7]
[8]
See also
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References
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External links
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Video clips
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Business positions
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Preceded by
|
Chief Engineer of Hawker Siddeley Aircraft
1968-1977
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Succeeded by
Company defunct
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predecessors
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first generation
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second generation
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related lists
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