Fedden: The Life of Sir Roy Fedden (Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Historical Series #26), 1998, 1998

Document Type: Book (Historical Study).

Purpose: Informational.

Authority: Author Expertise.

Series: Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Historical Series #26.

NB: The Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust and the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation are closely related. From "Rolls-Royce: The Pursuit of Excellence" (1984): "Both organisations share the history of the early days and work closely in harmony. This Historical Series of books was started by the Trust and it is intended that a series shall follow, produced by both organisations in the same format, thus building up an embracing library of true Rolls-Royce history."

Scope: This biography of Sir Roy Fedden is written by long-time aviation journalist and historian Bill Gunston, OBE [Order of the British Empire], FRAeS [Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society]. It is a revised editiion of his earlier book, By Jupiter, which was published in 1976 by the Royal Aeronautical Society and long out of print. Roy Fedden was the an early automotive engineer, who went on to be a key player in Britain's aeroplane and aeronautical engine industry, founding the Bristol Aeroplane Company. His Bristol engines powered a significant portion of British aircraft in the first half of the 20th century.

From the Foreword: "This book tells the story of one of the few men who can properly be called a Titan. Indeed, some of his associates at times forgot that his whole purpose in life was good, and thought of him as a monster, So powerful was his personality, and so intense his way of working, that even a few minutes in his presence could leave people sucked dry and exhausted, like a limp rag. Yet many people who suffered him daily were glad to go on until they dropped. They knew that Alfred Hubert Roy Fedden was a man of destiny.

I did not experience this myself. When Fedden was at the peak of his career in the 1930s I was only a boy. But, like many boys at that time, I knew that Fedden's aero engines powered Britain's national airline, more than half the Royal Air Force, and about half the other airlines and air forces of the world. When I write "Fedden's aero engines" I do not mean he made them himself; in fact thousands of them were made under licence in distant lands, and like virtually all modern engineering products they were the result of the efforts of a team. But Fedden was the leader. He was the leader more powerfully and more purposefully than in any other engineering enterprise I can call to mind. Had he gone in for politics - a field he found supremely uninteresting - he would swiftly have become a giant figure on the world stage. Even in his chosen and relatively despised profession he was a household word as early as 1907 because he produced a car intended not for the wealthy but for ordinary owner-drivers, which nobody in Britain had previously thought of. More than 60 years later he was still hard at work.

In his extremely long active life he accomplished more, pleased more, angered more, planned more, earned more and worked more than any five ordinary men. Engineers as a species are often thought to be rather grey and boring people, but nobody could dream of levelling this charge at Fedden! It was for this reason, even more than the merit of his accomplishments, that made me accept like a shot when he asked me to write his life-story in 1971."

Contents (list of chapters from the Table of Contents): "Chapter One - Boyhood Chapter Two - The world of motors Chapter Three - Bristol engines Chapter Four - Survival Chapter Five - Building on success Chapter Six - Pegasus and Mercury Chapter Seven - Sleeve valves Chapter Eight - Years of crisis Chapter Nine - The break... Chapter Ten - A fresh start... Chapter Eleven - Projects and politics

Appendix I - Bristol piston engines - BHP increase and weight per BHP decrease. Appendix II - Piston aero engines built in Bristol 1914-1965 and the Shadow factories and licensees. Appendix III - The evolution of Rolls-Royce Appendix IV - Butler Appendix V - Flying Bristol piston engines Appendix VI - Bristol Bulldog Appendix VII - Museum engines Appendix VIII - Buckland Old Mill - the Cosmos Lucifer chandelier Appendix IX - Extract from the Clifton College register - 1962"