Ronald Godfrey Moulton (1924–2010) was an English author and editor, notable for his work in the field of

scale models Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

and

aeromodelling A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed st ...

Biography

Moulton was born in Loughton Essex in 1924. Watching the

Alan Cobham Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer. Early life As a child he attended Wilson's School, which was then in Camberwell, London. The school was relocated to the former site of ...

Flying Circus, at the age of 10, inspired his interest in aircraft, and especially in modelling. In 1940, he trained at

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

, initially working on aircraft, before being posted to Pietersberg, South Africa, in order to service

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd, Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombin ...

monoplanes. In the post-WW2 period, Moulton was credited with introducing

control line Control line (also called U-Control) is a simple and light way of controlling a flying model aircraft. The aircraft is typically connected to the operator by a pair of lines, attached to a handle, that work the elevator of the model. This allo ...

models, initially to Great Britain, and then to Continental Europe. Moulton wrote extensively about model aircraft, model engines and kites. He worked as an editorial assistant at the ''Aeromodeller'' magazine, becoming its editor in 1959. Moulton's interest and promotion of

human-powered aircraft A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport. As its name suggests, HPAs have the pilot not only steer, but power the aircraft (usually propeller-driven) by means of a system ...

led to him acting as observer for 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 ...

for the 1979

Kremer prize The Kremer prizes are a series of monetary awards, established in 1959 by the industrialist Henry Kremer. Royal Aeronautical Society Human Powered Flight Group The Royal Aeronautical Society's "Man Powered Aircraft Group" was formed in 1959 b ...

-winning flight of the ''

Gossamer Albatross The ''Gossamer Albatross'' is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer ...

'' across the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. In 1981, he was an observer for the ''Solar Challenger'' flight between

Pontoise – Cormeilles Aerodrome Pontoise () is a commune north of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''département'', although in reality the ''p ...

, north of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, to Manston Royal Air Force Base in

Manston, Kent Manston is a village and civil parish in the Thanet district of Kent, England. The village is situated northwest of Ramsgate. The parish includes four hamlets and the former Manston Airport. Etymology The village was originally ''Mannestone'' ...

. In retirement, Moulton lived in

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...

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 ...

. He had been married to Betty, who pre-deceased him, and together they had a son and two daughters.

Publications

Moulton's books include:

As author

* * * * * * * *

As co-author

As editor

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

1924 births 2010 deaths People from Loughton People from Bushey English non-fiction writers 20th-century British non-fiction writers British aviation writers {{UK-nonfiction-writer-stub