Geoffrey Light Wilde (21 May 1917 – 18 August 2007) was a British

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

employed by

Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce Limited was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his Crane ( ...

Early life

Geoffrey Light Wilde was born in Plumstead, London. He was first educated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where his father Alfred was working. His father died when he was 12. He would later move to Leamington and attend

Warwick School Warwick School is a British Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent school (UK), independent boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school) for boys, in the market town of Warwick, in Warwickshire, England. Known as ...

. He was then apprenticed to the

Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), before 1910 known as the Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by Harry John Lawson, H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing bas ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. Later he gained an HNC in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from Coventry Technical College.

Career

Rolls-Royce

In 1938 he joined

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

where he did much of the design work for their compressors. While working on test beds for the

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

engines, he proposed a variable-speed

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

, to increase the performance at altitude, that was subsequently incorporated in the Merlin XX. He helped

Stanley Hooker Sir Stanley George Hooker, CBE, FRS, DPhil, BSc, FRAeS, MIMechE, FAAAS (30 September 1907 – 24 May 1984), was an English mathematician and jet engine engineer. He was employed first at Rolls-Royce where he worked on the earliest design ...

to design and develop the Merlin two-stage supercharger used in the Merlin 60-series. Early jet engines were being developed at

Lutterworth Lutterworth is an historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Harborough District, Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, close to the borders with Warwicks ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, which were having problems with surging. He tested the

centrifugal compressor Centrifugal compressors, sometimes called impeller compressors or radial compressors, are a sub-class of dynamic axisymmetric work-absorbing turbomachinery. They achieve pressure rise by adding energy to the continuous flow of fluid through th ...

at Derby, and found a solution to the difficulties of surging. In 1943, he was put in charge of the supercharger and compressor department at Derby. In 1947, he was put in charge of the design and development of the AJ65 Avon axial-flow jet engine. It had had difficulties with compressor blades breaking. He produced solutions for the design of the multi-stage compressor of the Avon, one of R-R's most successful jet engines. He later oversaw the development of the compressor for the

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

, the world's first

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

(by-pass) engine. In 1956, he set up the Advanced Projects Design Office. Work from this department produced the

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

(cancelled) and Spey engines. In 1960, he formed a new department to investigate new projects. He chose a new three-shaft design, which was launched as the RB211. He proposed its wide chord fan blade to obtain maximum aerodynamic efficiency. He was not responsible for all of the project, and when Hyfil carbon fibre (developed at the RAE) was chosen for the fan blade, he said that "this material would not be strong enough in the case of a

bird strike A bird strike (sometimes called birdstrike, bird ingestion (for an engine), bird hit, or bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)) is a collision between an airborne animal (usually a bird or bat) and a moving vehicle (usually an aircraft). The term ...

". This was found to be experimentally true, at great cost to the project and to Rolls-Royce. He made great improvements to the design of the high-pressure (HP) turbine blade, and this design is still in

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

engines today, and in other manufacturers. He also set up the High-Temperature Demonstrator Unit (HTDU) in 1972 to investigate the cooling of turbine blades and thermal

fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a signs and symptoms, symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated wit ...

. All airliners today carry this technology.

Personal life

He retired from

in 1978. He was appointed

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1969. From the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

he received the

Mullard Award The Mullard Award is awarded annually by the Royal Society to a person who has "an outstanding academic record in any field of natural science, engineering or technology and whose contribution is currently making or has the potential to make a co ...

in 1979 for his work on the

RB211 The Rolls-Royce RB211 is a British family of high-bypass turbofan engines made by Rolls-Royce. The engines are capable of generating of thrust. The RB211 engine was the first production three-spool engine and turned Rolls-Royce from a signif ...

. He died in August 2007 aged 90. For most of his life he lived at Turnditch in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

. During the war years he lodged with Ernest Townsend and his family in Coxbench, Derbyshire. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary DTech degree by

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

.THES 1996
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Geoffrey 1917 births 2007 deaths British aerospace engineers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Warwick School People from Amber Valley People from Leamington Spa Rolls-Royce people