Sir George Dowty - Chronology

George Herbert Dowty (1901-1975) was an aeronautical engineer, industrialist and founder of the Dowty Group of Companies.

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Portratit of Sir George H Dowty by James Gunn A.R.A.

Early Life

Born at Pershore,  27th April 1901, Worcestershire, the son of William Dowty, a chemist in Pershore, and his wife, Laura Masters. He was the elder of twin boys by half an hour and the seventh son in the family.

The Dowty Family c.1904

1911

When he was ten year old his father died. His brother-in-law Sidney Fitzroy Fell took an interest in the boy and gave him a model steam engine that started him on an interest in engineering.

George was educated in a small private school in Pershore until 1913 and then at the Worcester Royal Grammar School, which they were obliged to leave at the age of fourteen because their older brothers had been conscripted into the army and they had to help in running the various family businesses.

1913

At the age of twelve Dowty lost his right eye during some experiments with photographic materials, when a bottle of magnesium powder exploded.

Apprenticeship & Early Career

George Dowty spent a year in the family business, but his early interest in engineering led him to join Heenan and Froude in Worcester as an apprentice.

1918

In July 1918 George Dowty obtained a new job as a draughtsman with the British Aerial Transport Co‎ in London. The company’s chief designer was Robert Noorduyn and the technical head was Frederick Koolhoven and this experience accelerated his career rapidly and perhaps impatiently.

He was elected a student member of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1918 and became one of the first Associate Members of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers.

He worked for T. Cooke and Sons, scientific instrument makers of York where he worked on Naval range-finders

He was employed by Rownson, Drew and Clydesdale of Kings Cross where he worked on the design of elevators and conveyors

He joined British Portland Cement Co in London

He joined the Dunlop Rubber Co where he worked on the design of compression rubbers used in aircraft undercarriages.

1921

He joined the design office of the A. V. Roe and Co. By the age of twenty-one he had designed landing gear for the first Cierva Autogyro and for the Avro Aldershot.

1924

He joined the Gloster Aircraft Co. By this time he had read a number of papers on undercarriage design to the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers, and was already working at home on several ideas that he was later to patent.

He took out a patent on arresting gear mechanism.

1926

George Dowty became a full member of the Royal Aeronautical Society

George Dowty at the GAC Design Office in 1926

He took out another patent on arresting gear mechanism.

1927

Took out a further patents for a wheel incorporating oil shock absorbers, steel springs, and brakes operating on the wheel rims.

1931

He decided to set up his own company and formed the Aircraft Components Co,  while still employed at Gloster Aircraft Co. This was a shell company with no staff, no capital and operated from a registered office address in Lloyds Avenue, London.

He received his first order on March 10th the Civilian Aircraft Co of Hull but unfortunately this company went bankrupt before they paid for the struts.

Resigned as Draughtsman from the Gloster Aircraft Co at the end of June and formed Aircraft Components Ltd, Cheltenham.

The first Dowty aircraft component was for aircraft shock absorber struts.

George Dowty’s first real success was with his invention for an internally sprung wheel. The firms first order came from the Kawasaki Company of Japan, for six internally sprung undercarriage wheels and then built them in premises at 10 Lansdown Terrace Lane in Cheltenham.

In the execution of this order the company Aircraft Components was established

10 Lansdown Terrace Lane in Cheltenham

He recruited his first two employees in November.

Workshop at 10 Lansdown Terrace Lane in Cheltenham

1933

There were 11 employees working for Aircraft Components

1934

A major breakthrough occurred when he offered to Henry Folland (Gloster Aircraft Company, Aviation Engineer) a pair of newly designed Oleostruts, for the Gloster Gauntlet aircraft.

This gave him his first large production order which began two long associations with famous aircraft constructors, to supply undercarriages for the Gloster Gladiator and tail wheels for the Bristol Bulldog.

In this year, the total employees numbered 45

Growth of the Company

1935

Orders on the books only totalled £5,000. In the same year Dowty leased a factory and bought Arle Court, Cheltenham

1936

The firm went public with Dowty holding only a small percentage of the equity.

Board of Directors First Meeting

1937

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society

1939

By this time the order book had reached £10,000 and Dowty had established factories throughout Britain, Canada and the USA.

The firm invented the first ever internally sprung aircraft wheel and went on to make the landing gear for Sir Frank Whittle’s jet-propelled Gloster aeroplane.

During the Second World War Dowty’s inventive and creative engineer’s mind was fully unleashed, nearly all British aircraft that were built embodied Dowty products, which included hydraulic systems, undercarriage units, tail wheels, electrical instruments and warning devices .

Photo of Sir George Dowty – standing next to Avro Lancaster Dowty Undercarriage

The list of aircraft names include Hawker Hurricane, Beaufighter, Typhoon, Whirlwind, Manchester, Lancaster, Halifax, Stirling, Blenheim, Hampden, Henley, Sunderland, Skua, Anson, Dominie, Master, Lysander, Rapide, and the allies’ first jet aircraft the Gloster Whittle E28/39, which first flew on the 15th of May 1941, also, the first jet fighter to see action, the Gloster Meteor.

At the end of the hostilities in 1945, Dowty had built 87,786 landing gears and 984,388 hydraulic units.

1940

Aircraft Components changed its name to Dowty Equipment Ltd

1942

First Ashchurch factory acquired

After the Second World War, Dowty applied his new approaches to hydraulics to wider fields – motorcycle forks, hydraulic pit props and a prime support system, industrial pumps, and hydraulic control systems.

1945

Dowty Seals was founded

1946

Manufacturing of Pit Props and Moulded Seals commenced at Ashchurch acquired

1948

Married Marguerite Anne Gowans, daughter of M. J. H. Lockie, of Newmarket, Ontario, Canada; they had a son and a daughter.

Sir George Dowty & Lady Dowty

New Mendip Engineering, Atworth, Wiltshire was acquired

1951

Coventry Precision was acquired

1952

Dowty was active in the Royal Aeronautical Society, being elected its president for 1952–3.

Two years later he was awarded its Gold Medal for outstanding designs and development of aircraft equipment.

Sir George Herbert Dowty, FAIAA, FRAeS, 1901-1975, RAeS President 1952-1953, left, presents Dr Theodore von Krmn, 1881-1963, with the RAeS Gold Medal at the 40th Wilbur Wright Lecture on 29 May 1952.

As the various Dowty Group companies continued to thrive, it was clear that a business was needed to run a business, to this end Dowty Group Limited was incorporated on 18th March 1954 and its headquarters based at Arle Court, Cheltenham.

1954

A group holding company was formed with the Canadian operation generating 50 per cent of the total turnover.

1957

New company called Dowty Nucleonics was created

1960

Rotol Airscrews was acquired, giving Dowty a propeller manufacturing capability. That firm became known as Dowty Rotol.

1960s onwards proved a period of innovation. Dowty developed fuel control systems for the iconic Harrier jump jet and power controls for the legendary Concorde supersonic airliner.

1961

Dowty bought Boulton Paul Aircraft (which became known as Dowty Boulton Paul Ltd), which produced powered control units for aircraft

Dowty Group also began a long period of collaboration with the French Group Messier on aircraft landing gear and hydraulics.

1967

The Royal Aeronautical Society elected him an Honorary Fellow.

1968

Meco of Worcester was acquired

Honours

Sir George Dowty, Hon DSc, CEng, Hon FRAeS, MIMechE, FlAeS, Hon FCAI was given the Freedom of the Borough of Cheltenham and Tewkesbury and was a Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.

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This photograph shows Sir George, with the civic dignatories in the Mayor’s Palour, Cheltenham

1956

George Dowty was knighted for his services to the industry.

Photograph of Sir George Dowty at Buckingham Palace

Sir George Dowty at Buckingham Palace

The Society of British Aerospace Companies elected him President for 1960-61.

Both Bath University and Cranfield College of Technology conferred on him Honorary Doctorates of Science.

Sir George Dowty died at his home in the Isle of Man on 7th December 1975

Sir George was buried at Pershore Cemetery, Pershore, Worcestershire

Pershore Cemetery, Pershore, Worcestershire

Pershore Cemetery, Pershore, Worcestershire

The Time of Change

In the late 1980s diversification saw Dowty move into telecommunications, computer equipment and the manufacturing of mining systems solutions and entered the FTSE 100

1992

Dowty Group was acquired by TI Group and in 1993 its new owner sold off seven Dowty Group companies specialising in electronic equipment. One of which became Ultra Electronics.

1994

TI Group transferred the Dowty landing gear business into a joint venture formed with SNECMA, known as Messier-Dowty and in 1998 that business became wholly owned by Safran.

The French business acknowledged the value in the Dowty name, its landing gear arm at Staverton known as Messier Bugatti Dowty. It piggybacked the name with its own branding. Until now.

That firm is now known as Safran Landing Systems.

Today there are few aircraft in the western world both military and civil which do not boast some of its components.

It’s not quite the end of an era for the famous name, however, thanks to another firm.

Despite a devastating fire which destroyed its Staverton base, the name synonymous with engineering greatness lives on at GE Aviation’s Dowty Propellers.

Dowty Propellers’ inauguration ceremony for its new facility at Gloucester Business Park

George Dowty at the GAC Design Office in 1926
Kevin Cox
Sir George Dowty at Buckingham Palace
Portratit of Sir George H Dowty by James Gunn A.R.A.
Original photo in the Dowty archive at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub
This photograph shows Sir George, with the civic dignatories in the Mayor's Palour, Cheltenham
Original photo in the Dowty archive at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub
Dowty Propellers’ inauguration ceremony for its new facility at Gloucester Business Park
Dowty Propellers
The Dowty Family c.1904
By kind permission of the Dowty Family

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