Frederick Handley Page
| Frederick Handley Page | |
|---|---|
Handley Page circa 1930–1940
|
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| Born |
15 November 1885 Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 21 April 1962 (aged 76) Westminster, London |
| Resting place |
Langney Cemetery Eastbourne, East Sussex |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Finsbury Technical College |
| Spouse(s) | Una Thynne (1890–1957) (m. 1918–57) |
| Parent(s) | Father Frederick Joseph Page, furniture maker, Cheltenham. Mother Ann Eliza Handley |
| Engineering career | |
| Significant advance | Leading edge slot |
| Awards | Albert Medal (1960) |
Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, FRAeS (15 November 1885 – 21 April 1962) was an English industrialist who was a pioneer in the aircraft industry and became known as the father of the heavy bomber.
His company Handley Page Limited was best known for its large aircraft such as the Handley Page 0/400 and Halifax bombers and the H.P.42 airliner. The latter was the flagship of the Imperial Airways fleet between the wars and remarkable at the time for having been involved in no passenger deaths.
He is also known for his invention, with Gustav Lachmann, of the leading edge slot to improve the stall characteristics of aircraft wings. Frederick Handley Page was the uncle of World War II flying ace Geoffrey Page.
Handley Page was born in Cheltenham, the second son of Frederick Joseph Page, a furniture maker and member of the Plymouth Brethren. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School. In 1902, against his parents' wishes, he moved to London to study electrical engineering at Finsbury Technical College.
On qualifying in 1906 he was appointed head designer at Johnson & Phillips Ltd, an electrical engineering company based in Charlton in south east London. In 1907 he joined the Royal Aeronautical Society where he met the artist and aviation pioneer José Weiss. Weiss was performing experiments with gliders using an inherently stable wing design based on the seed-pods of the Zanonia macrocarpa which he was to patent in 1908. Unfortunately Handley Page, in his enthusiasm for aviation, started experimental work at Johnson and Phillips without authorisation: this was interpreted by the board as attempted fraud, and he was dismissed, leaving in charge his assistant, A.R. Low, who would later become an aircraft designer for Vickers.
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