Robert Edward Grigg (23 June 1924 – February 2002) was a British aerospace engineer, and was the chief designer of the highly-successful

British Aerospace 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Avro International Aerospace manufa ...

(Hawker Siddeley).

Early life

He was born in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

on the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

coast. He was the son of Robert Grigg and Emily Rudderham. His mother was Emily Blanchflower Rudderham from 52 Lowestoft Road, in Gorleston-on-Sea, born 1889 in Norwich. Her mother was Emily (1867-1933) from Great Melton, and her father was Arthur Blanchflower Rudderham (9 March 1863 - 1938), who married in 1889. His parents lived at 184 Elms Vale Road in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

. Captain Robert Smith Grigg was born in 1894. He attended Dover County School for Boys, where he was a prefect. He took part in the 100yds and the high jump, and played in the school cricket team as an all-rounder. He acquired his School Certificate in 1940. He attended the De Havilland Technical School from 1943. On 29 December 1942 at 1.03am, his father's ship S.S. Lynton Grange, in Convoy ON 154, was torpedoed, and sunk by German submarine U-628, part of Wolfpack Ungestüm. The ship had been damaged by German submarine U-406. It sunk in 90 seconds. All 41 sailors and 10 gunners survived. The crew was landed by HMS Milne (G14) at

Ponta Delgada Ponta Delgada (; ) is the largest municipality (''concelho'') and executive capital of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in Portugal. It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous in the archipelago. As of 2021, it has 67,2 ...

in the Azores. U-628 was destroyed on 3 July 1943 by depth charges dropped by an RAF

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

, north-west of Ortegal, in Spain. Barco Urmston Grange en Puerto Cuatreros

His father captained the ship S.S. ' Empire Pibroch', working for the Houlder Line, later called 'Urmston Grange'.

Career

British Aerospace 146

394 of the BAe 146 were produced, making it the most successful British airliner. Production started in 1983 and ended in 2002. It began as the De Havilland DH123, then the DH126 which was a scaled-up version of the DH125 which had been built at Hatfield. As

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...

it became the HS131. Woodford (former

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

site) was designing the HS860 and it was proposed to merge this design team with that of the HS136 in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. A similar concurrent design was the proposed four-engined Armstrong Whitworth AW.681. By 1969 the design had rear engines. On 29 August 1973 the HS146 project at Hatfield (former

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to ...

) was approved by Hawker Siddeley, with plans for a first flight by December 1975. On 21 October 1974 the project was deferred. As

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

, the project was restarted on 10 July 1978, with the first flight of ''G-SSSH'' taking place on 3 September 1981 piloted by Mike Goodfellow with Peter Sedgwick, another British Aerospace test pilot. The aircraft type is now supplied by BAE Systems Regional Aircraft. The aircraft is known by airlines for its excellent

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

characteristics. On 27 November 2001, BAE closed its Regional Jets programme. The last delivered was from Woodford on 25 November 2003 when ''OH-SAP'', a BAe RJ-85, was delivered for Blue1; this was also shortly before the last commercial flight of

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

. The

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (BAC-111, BAC 1-11) is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airl ...

, a slightly earlier small airliner, sold 244. Other projects He also worked on the

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four ...

, the Hawker Siddely Trident and the

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

wing.

Personal life

He married Patricia Williams in 1947. He married on Saturday 21 June 1947 at Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf, at the Baptist Church. The best man was John McCulloch, of de Havilland, later visiting Jersey. His wife was the daughter of Thomas Williams of 19 Ffaldau Terrace, Ferndale. They had two sons, with Adrian Robert Grigg born on 6 January 1950 at Applecroft Nursing Home, in Welwyn,''Dover Express'' January 1950 and another in 1957. He died in Luton in 2002, having lived previously in

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

BAe 146 and BAe 125 aircraft Middlesex 29-05-2002 MOD 45140428

References

* ''Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Dynamics: 1960-77''

External links

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft BAe 146

Design of the BAe 146
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grigg, Bob 1924 births 2002 deaths Aircraft designers British aerospace engineers Hawker Siddeley People educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys People from Dover, Kent People from Great Yarmouth People from Harpenden