Frances Beatrice Bradfield (9 October 1895– 26 February 1967) was an aeronautical engineer at 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 me ...

(RAE). She worked at

RAE Farnborough 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 ...

, where she headed the Wind Tunnels Section. Here she mentored many of the younger male engineers who joined the RAE.

Early life and education

Frances Bradfield was born in 1895, in Leicester, and in 1914 "came up" to

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

, graduating with a second class BA degree in Mathematics in 1917.

Royal Aeronautical Establishment

Sometime after graduating from Cambridge, probably around 1919, Bradfield joined the

(RAE) at

Farnborough, Hampshire Farnborough is a town in northeast Hampshire, England, part of the borough of Rushmoor and the Farnborough/Aldershot Built-up Area. Farnborough was founded in Saxon times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name is formed fro ...

, where she spent her entire career research aeronautics and specialising in

Wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

research. Bradfield's earliest published research at the RAE - credited gender-ambiguously to "F.B. Bradfield" - was published in December 1919 on "Wind channel test of Bristol Pullman body." During her first decade and beyond, Bradfield published her wind tunnel research prolifically, publishing two research papers most years. In the early 1930s (before 1934), Bradfield worked with George Douglas then Head of Wind Tunnels at

as his mathematician. Her job was to liaise between Hermann Glauert, then Head of Aerodynamics Department, and Douglas. Glauert was killed in an accident in 1934, and so Douglas was appointed Head of Aerodynamics Department and Bradfield became the Head of Wind Tunnels (more informally known as the small wind tunnel section of the model research department), a role she held for the remainder of the 1930s and throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1935, Bradfield appeared in the Imperial Calendar and Civil Service list for this year. Not being an engineer, Bradfield insisted on having Charles Callen as her supporting engineer, in order to ensure that what they did in the wind tunnels was sound engineering-wise. In March 1939, Bradfield in collaboration with D.L. Ellis presented a paper before 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 ...

on "The Use of Model Data in Aeroplane Design," published in ''the Women Engineer''. In November 1939, Bradfield was listed as a Senior Scientific Officer at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at

. In December 1941, Bradfield was one of the two female Associate Fellows of the

doing "important work" at

. By 1946, when Johanna Weber joined the Low Speed Wind Tunnels division at

, Bradfield was head of the Low Speed Wind Tunnels Division of the Aerodynamics Department. Bradfield's female colleagues at

included Weber and

Beatrice Shilling Beatrice Shilling (8 March 1909 – 18 November 1990) was a British aeronautical engineer, motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer and Sports_car_racing#Post-war_revival, sports car racer. In 1949, Shilling was made an Officer of the Order of ...

Awards and recognition

At some point between 1919 and 1935, Bradfield became a member of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

(WES) but was not a particularly active member and was only mentioned occasionally in their journal, ''The Women Engineer''. Bradfield became a Fellow of the

(FRAeS) in 1944 and won their Bronze Medal in 1949. In 1947, Bradfield was awarded an

OBE 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 ...

in recognition of her role as Principal Scientific Officer at

Later life

Bradfield died in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

in 1967. A former colleague, John Green, described Bradfield, known as 'Miss B.', as "an exacting but kindly boss who had a powerful influence on the generation of young graduates who were posted into Aerodynamics Department at the beginning of the war – an influence that they carried with them through their later careers into senior positions." Bradfield's biography was published by the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

on 9 May 2019, as part of their support for the

's centenary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradfield, Frances 1895 births 1967 deaths British women engineers British aerospace engineers 20th-century British engineers 20th-century women engineers Women's Engineering Society