born July 27, 1882, Haslemere, Surrey, Eng.
died May 21, 1965, Watford, Hertfordshire
British aircraft designer and manufacturer.
In 1910 he built and flew an airplane with a 50-horsepower engine. He formed his own company in 1920 and built the commercially successful two-seater Moth. In World War II the twin-engined Mosquito was the company's most successful product. After the war he pioneered the manufacture of jet-propelled airplanes with his Comet passenger jet and Vampire and Venom jet fighters.