Sir John Charnley
Aeronautical engineer who led the quest for a blind landing system and worked on supersonic flight
SIR JOHN CHARNLEY, who has died aged 99, was one of the country’s most distinguished aerodynamic scientists and research engineers; he helped to pioneer a blind landing system for aircraft before filling senior appointments, which took him into the world of Whitehall and Westminster.
In 1955 Charnley was appointed as superintendent of the recently formed Blind Landing Experimental Unit (BLEU) at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk, which he then moved to Thurleigh Airfield, Bedford. The unit was tasked with developing a blind approach and landing system for military and civil aircraft, which would lead to a fully automatic system known as “Autoland”.
The system developed by BLEU used radio guidance signals from an early Instrument Landing System, which defined the extended centre line of the runway and a three-degree approach path. A magnetic leader cable system was used for azimuth guidance during the final stages of the approach, with a radio altimeter in the aircraft being developed for height guidance during the flare-out, and using an automatic throttle system to control aircraft speed.
Varsity and Canberra aircraft were used to develop the capability with a view to the system being installed in the new V-bombers entering RAF service, allowing them to land in thick fog. Although Charnley had complete confidence in the system, he was rather concerned when the Duke of Edinburgh contacted him, wanting to have a flight. Charnley warned his wife: “They may still send people to the tower for harming a Prince.” He was understandably relieved when the aircraft landed safely, only to panic again when the Duke commented, “That was incredible! Can we go round again?”
William John Charnley was born in Liverpool on September 4 1922 and attended Oulton High School before studying Civil Engineering at Liverpool University. After graduating with first class honours, he expected to be drafted into the Army, but was sent in January 1943 to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, where he joined the Flight Test Division of the Aerodynamics Department known as Aero Flight.
His arrival occurred in the infancy of jet-propelled flight and Charnley became immersed in the uncharted world of subsonic, and later supersonic, flight and the mysterious behaviour of aeroplanes as they approached the speed of sound. This required vivid new insights into aerodynamics as well as the testing of theory in flights that explored the limits of human performance and courage. Charnley’s harmony with the test pilots whose flights he controlled was established by his willingness to share the risks in the air.
After eight years with BLEU he completed a year at the Imperial Defence College, (now the Royal College of Defence Studies) including a six-week tour of the Far East, an experience he found fascinating. He returned to Farnborough in 1963 to head the Instrument and Electrical Engineering Department, two years later moving to be head of the Weapons Department.
In 1968 he transferred to the Ministry of Technology in London to be involved with the planning of research and development across all sectors of the aircraft manufacturing industry. In 1972 he was appointed Controller of Guided Weapons and Electronics in the Ministry of Defence, responsible for all defence procurement in this rapidly moving field.
He served as head of planning in the Ministry of Technology, followed in 1973 by his appointment as the Chief Scientist, RAF. This coincided with a series of multinational projects, the most important at the time being the Tri-national Multi-role Combat Aircraft, which became the Tornado. Later his role was extended to Chief Scientist to all three services, giving him a seat on the boards of the Army, Navy and the RAF.
In 1977 Charnley moved to be Controller of the 12 UK defence R&D establishments and Head of Defence Scientists. His post included the RAE at Farnborough, though in a rather different role from when he had started there, but also included the weapon’s testing range at Woomera in the middle of the Australian desert.
He sometimes took his wife with him to Woomera, not only because the wives based there were keen to show how they filled their time but mainly because the first time she visited she brought with her the first rain they had had for several years, and they kept hoping she would do so again.
In retirement, Charnley acted as a consultant to many aircraft organisations, including the Civil Airline Authority, and also as a defence adviser to the House of Lord’s Select Committee on Science and Technology.
One of his favourite appointments was as chairman of the Shuttleworth Trust, which maintains a collection of vintage aircraft and vehicles at Old Warden in Bedfordshire. He often recalled the enjoyment of being allowed to ride one of the vintage cars in the Brighton Run, even if it did mean getting out to push up the last hill on the South Downs.
In 1960 Charnley received, on behalf of the BLEU team, the bronze medal of the Royal Institute of Navigation, followed in 1964 by the Cumberbatch Trophy of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. He was elected president of the Royal Institute of Navigation in 1987; he was later made a fellow and awarded their gold medal.
He was also awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society’s silver and gold medals, and in 1980 delivered the Society’s Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture. He was elected an honorary fellow of the Society in 1992 and was also a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was appointed a Companion of the Bath (CB) in 1973 and knighted in 1981.
Although filling very busy appointments, Charnley always had time for something else. In his early years of test flying his form of relaxation was distinctly earthbound, as lock forward in the second row of the RAE rugby union team, a position for which he was amply endowed by nature.
Away from aviation he had a wide range of other interests, reflected by the variety of his travels to Latin America in pursuit of the eccentricities of natural history; to the Middle East, through a preoccupation with the ancient civilisations; to Lords and Twickenham; and as a member of an informal club of his long-standing RAE friends, which they are pleased to call an “Ambling Club” by virtue of the sedate pace of the perambulations which follow lunch at a local hostelry.
Sir John Charnley married Mary Paden, whom he had known since their schooldays, in 1945, and she predeceased him in 2007. He is survived by a son and daughter.