John William Fozard (16 January 1928 – 17 July 1996) was a British aeronautical engineer who helped to design the

Hawker Siddeley Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British jet-powered attack aircraft designed and produced by the British aerospace company Hawker Siddeley. It was the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeo ...

Early life

John Fozard was born on 16 January 1928 at 21 Holme Street,

Liversedge Liversedge is an industrial town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. The Kirklees ward is now called Liversedge and ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, the son of John Fozard and Eleanor Paulkitt. He was brought up on the Firthcliffe estate in the same town. He grew up in austerity because his father was unemployed due to spinal injuries and only his maternal grandmother was in full-time employment. He passed the selection for

Heckmondwike Grammar School Heckmondwike Grammar School (HGS) is an 11–18 mixed, charitable grammar school and sixth form with academy status in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England. History The school was built by the Heckmondwike School Board after it was compel ...

in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where he excelled academically. In 1942 (aged 14) he joined the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

and with them visited RAF stations, where he flew in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and Halifax bombers. Fozard's headmaster arranged for interviews with

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 ...

in Yeadon and

Blackburn Aircraft Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1914 to 1963 that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft. History Blackburn Aircraft was founded by Robert Blackburn (aviation pioneer), Robert Blackburn and Jessy ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. Blackburn offered him an apprenticeship that allowed him to study for an engineering degree. In June 1946 he was awarded a London University Intermediate degree. At this time Blackburn transferred Fozard to their Brough site, which allowed to continue his studies full-time at Hull municipal technical college, funded by a West Riding Council scholarship. In July 1948 he was awarded a B.Sc with first class honours in aeronautical engineering. An extension of his scholarship allowed him to undertake two years postgraduate studies at

College of Aeronautics, Cranfield Cranfield University is a postgraduate-only public research university in the United Kingdom that specialises in science, engineering, design, technology and management. Cranfield was founded as the College of Aeronautics (CoA) in 1946. Throug ...

under Prof Sir Robert Lickley where he gained a DCAe (Diploma in Aeronautics) in 1950. Fozard would later tell American visitors at the Hawker plant on Lower Ham Road next to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...

that Yorkshire was the Texas of the UK.

Career

He worked for Hawker Siddeley from 1950, working under

Sydney Camm Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS (5 August 189312 March 1966) was an English aeronautical engineer who contributed to many Hawker aircraft designs, from the biplanes of the 1920s to jet fighters. One particularly notable aircraft he designed was t ...

. In the late 1950s he was working on the supersonic successor to the company's

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

, the P.1121, and the twin-seat P.1129. Although advanced designs for their time, these projects were cancelled by the infamous

1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected wa ...

, and Hawker concentrated all work on the P.1127, which had been considered less important up to that point. From October 1963 he was Chief Designer of the P.1154, which was cancelled in February 1965 (with the

BAC TSR-2 The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2 is a cancelled Cold War strike and reconnaissance aircraft developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The TSR-2 was designed ...

). He was Chief Designer of the Harrier from 1965 to 1978, taking over from

Ralph Hooper Ralph Spenser Hooper, OBE, FREng, FRAeS (30 January 1926 – 12 December 2022) was an English aeronautical engineer, recognised mostly for his work on the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, specifically in relation to the marriage between the Pegasus eng ...

. The Harrier entered service with the RAF (at

RAF Wittering Royal Air Force Wittering or more simply RAF Wittering is a Royal Air Force station within the unitary authority area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire. Although Stamford in Lincolnshire ...

) in August 1969. The first Sea Harrier (XZ451 – FRS.1) was handed to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

on 18 June 1979, at a ceremony at

BAe Dunsfold Dunsfold Aerodrome (former ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold. It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contractors ...

(the site had been owned by Hawker Siddeley from 1950), later to be based at

RNAS Yeovilton Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, commonly referred to as WAFU central, (HMS ''Heron'') is an airbase of the Royal Navy, sited a few miles north of Yeovil, in the English county of Somerset. It is one of two active Fleet Air Arm bases, the ...

. This version of the Harrier had been given the definitive go-ahead (funding) on 15 May 1975 by

Roy Mason Roy Mason, Baron Mason of Barnsley, (18 April 1924 – 19 April 2015), was a British Labour Party politician and Cabinet minister who was Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Early life Ma ...

, the Barnsley-born Defence Secretary, after being met with government indifference previously. The Pegasus engine, which was integral to the aircraft design, was designed by Gordon Lewis and Sir

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 ...

. From 1984–7 he was Divisional Director of Special Projects at the Military Aircraft Division of

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. ...

, Weybridge. In February 1989 he retired from BAe. He later became the Director of the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

, and held the

Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History The Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History, also known as the Lindbergh Chair, is a one-year senior fellowship hosted by the U.S. National Air and Space Museum (NASM), to assist a scholar in the research and composition of a book about ...

, from 1988–9. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

(FRAeS) in 1963. From 1986 to 1987, he was the President 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 Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...

. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 1987.

Personal life

Fozard married Mary Ward in 1951, but they divorced in 1985. They had two sons. He later married Gloria Roberts in 1985, and they lived in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

. He was awarded the OBE in 1981. He died from

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

, aged 68.

Quotations

References

External links

''Telegraph'' obituary

* ''Guardian'' obituary, 20 July 1996, page 32 * ''Times'' obituary, 24 July 1996, page 19 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fozard, John Alumni of Cranfield University English aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Harrier Jump Jet Hawker Siddeley Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Heckmondwike 1928 births 1996 deaths People educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School