Gordon Manns Lewis (24 June 1924 – 4 October 2010) was a British aeronautical engineer who made significant contributions to the arts and sciences of turbine engine design.

Early life

He was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

in 1924, the son of a clerk on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

. He won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Oxford and graduated in Engineering Science in 1944.

Career

Bristol Engines

He joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1944 and was put to work on stress calculations of the Theseus engine. In 1946 he was entrusted with the design of the Olympus engine, which performed flawlessly on its very first test bed run, largely as a result of the discipline that Gordon Lewis brought to its design. ee Pegasus The Heart of the Harrier, by Andrew Dow. The Olympus was later developed to power the Avro Vulcan, TSR-2 and Concorde. He was given responsibility for compressor design generally, and among other projects worked on transonic compressors, this being well ahead of equivalent work in America. He also examined the virtues of two-spool engines with contra-rotating spools, and hypersonic designs. In 1956 he was asked to comment upon the proposal made by Michel Wibault for a Vertical takeoff fighter powered by an engine of Wibault's conception, using vectored thrust. Gordon Lewis simplified and lightened the design, incorporating axial compressors and pairs of rotatable nozzles for the cold and hot gas streams. This was evolved into the BE53/2, later named the Pegasus. The master patents for this engine were in the names of Michel Wibault and Gordon Lewis. The Pegasus powered, successively, the Hawker P.1127, Kestrel, Harrier and Harrier II. It remains in service with the US Marine Corps. Aircraft engine RR Pegasus cut-out RH

Rolls-Royce

Gordon Lewis spent some years as Managing Director of Turbo-Union, which developed the Turbo-Union RB199 engine for the

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three primary #Variants, Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS ...

. His patented devices cover a forty-year span, and he remained active in many aspects of turbine engine work well into the 21st century.Andrew Dow, Pegasus: The Heart of the Harrier.

Personal life

He died in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

on 4 October 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Gordon 1924 births 2010 deaths Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Concorde English aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Harrier Jump Jet People educated at Pate's Grammar School People from Cheltenham Lewis