Place Name
Sir Sydney Camm (1894 – 1966) was an aerospace pioneer based at the British Aerospace works in Kingston. Camm began work as a 14-year-old apprentice at the Martinsyde aircraft works at Brooklands, near Weybridge. He proved himself so adept and enthusiastic about aircraft that he was soon promoted from the shop floor to the drawing office. By 1925 he was the chief designer of HG Hawker Engineering Company, it was a role he held for the next 35 years, during which time he helped transform the company into a major aircraft manufacturer. His work included the design of the Hurricane, the first fighter plane to hit 300mph, which were used extensively in World War Two. Dr John Fozard who worked under Camm for 16 years wrote: “He hired, trained and nourished professionally many men whose career and contribution is now recognised internationally. Most important of all, Camm with his small team of the mid-1930s, working in shabby premises in a run-down Kingston back street, changed the course of history and thus preserved our way of life and our civilization.”
