Hayne Constant, CB,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

., MA., FRAeS., FRS, (26 September 1904 – 12 January 1968) was an English mechanical and aeronautical engineer who developed jet engines during World War II.

Education

Constant was born at

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is th ...

, the son of Frederick Charles Constant and his wife Mary Theresa (Tissie) Hayne. His father was a dental surgeon in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20 ...

. Hayne was educated at King's College Choir School Cambridge,

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

, The Technical Institute Folkestone, Sir Roger Manwood's School,

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light sid ...

Career

Constant stayed at Cambridge for a post graduate year in 1927/28 and then joined the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mer ...

at Farnborough. He became a member of the

Institute of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 membe ...

. After six years he joined

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. In 1936

Henry Tizard Sir Henry Thomas Tizard (23 August 1885 – 9 October 1959) was an English chemist, inventor and Rector of Imperial College, who developed the modern "octane rating" used to classify petrol, helped develop radar in World War II, and led the f ...

persuaded Constant to return to the RAE from Imperial College to help with the development of A. A. Griffith's

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...

engine designs. A series of engines to Griffith's design were built under Constant's direction at the RAE. He was the Head of the Research Department at Power Jets (R&D) from 1944 to 1946. Hayne was director of the

National Gas Turbine Establishment The National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE Pyestock) in Farnborough, part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), was the prime site in the UK for design and development of gas turbine and jet engines. It was created by merging the design t ...

from 1948 to 1960, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...

in 1963 for his outstanding contribution to gas turbine development. In 1964 he became Chief Scientist (R.A.F.) at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. Constant died unmarried at the age of 63.

References

External links

News item on the death of Constant in ''Flight''

an excerpt from a Hayne Constant lecture in a 1957 issue of ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be ...

'' - Part 1
"Gas Turbine Development"
an excerpt from a Hayne Constant lecture in a 1957 issue of ''Flight'' - Part 2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Constant, Hayne 1904 births 1968 deaths Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Society Jet engine pioneers People educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School Power Jets