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Ronald Edward ‘Dickie’ Bird, C Eng, FRAeS 1922-2010

Ronald Edward ‘Dickie’ Bird, C Eng, FRAeS 1922-2010

It is with great sadness we mark the passing of Dickie Bird, erstwhile Chief Designer at Rearsby. Dickie died peacefully in the early hours of 10 May 2010.

His cremation was marked with a flypast of three Austers, and guests were entertained afterwards to lunch by Dickie’s widow Jean and her family. The IAC was well represented with Auster ties much in evidence. Son-in-law David informed us that Dickie was wearing his too.

Dickie’s introduction to aviation was as an apprentice with Percival Aircraft at Luton in 1937. After two years there he and a friend built a Flying Flea. This aircraft survived the temporary grounding of the type, and each of the youngsters managed a hop to about 10 feet before moving the machine to the airfield in preparation for its first proper flights. This could have been the end of the story, as neither of them had received any flying instruction and were ready to teach themselves. Fortunately, on the day of the planned flights war was declared, and all civil aircraft were grounded.

Dickie enlisted in the RAF and passed the medical for flying duties before being told he was in a reserved occupation and must return to Percival. Two years later he was summarily sacked for apparent misconduct. That evening he was quietly informed that he had been secretly assigned to Herts and Essex Aviation at Broxbourne airfield to work as Head Draughtsman on a project involving French aircraft flown to England by escaping Free French pilots. These aircraft, mainly various types of Caudron, were required for further use and had to be repaired and modified. In many cases orders were passed secretly to factories in German occupied France, and the necessary parts were smuggled out. At the end of the war the French expressed their appreciation by flying him to France to be wined and dined as never before.

In 1943, Dickie joined Taylorcraft Aircraft (England) Ltd which subsequently became Auster Aircraft Ltd as Senior Stressman and Aerodynamicist. By 1947 he had become Chief Designer and saw the company through a difficult period with a series of new Auster models trying to balance customers’ aspirations with the engines available in the prevailing climate of currency restrictions and industrial politics. Whilst Austers were selling well throughout the world, Dickie was designing a new aircraft for the Army and was particularly disappointed to have an unsuitable engine forced upon him when hoping to achieve sparkling performance with an engine of choice. This aircraft became the Auster AOP 9, which was much liked for its excellent handling but criticised for lack of power, particularly in the hot and high conditions of Malaya, Aden and Kenya, where many of the aircraft were deployed. Dickie’s other tour de force at Rearsby was the Agricola, which was well liked by its spraying and top dressing operators in New Zealand but failed to achieve projected sales in the face of politics and protectionism.

In 1959 He joined the reorganised Miles company, now part of Beagle, and was tasked by the boss Sir Peter Masefield to produce an executive twin which became the Beagle 206. It had to be ready for the next Farnborough Air Show, and Dickie took the aircraft from start of design to first flight in 186 days. In 1965 Dickie moved to Britten Norman where as Chief Designer he took on design responsibilities for the Islander, which achieved world wide success and sold in its hundreds, a total of 1280 being built not only on the Isle of Wight but also under licence in Belgium, Romania and the Philippines. A few years ago on the way across the USA a few of us landed on Beaver Island Lake Michegan to be welcomed by Paul Welke, owner of an island hopping airline operating four Islanders. He was delighted to learn that the Auster 9 we were flying had been designed by Dickie as he had fond memories of him when collecting his very first Islander from the factory in the late 60s. Paul took us all for a ride in an Islander, and he in turn flew the Auster 9 with Ed Hammerle.

After leaving Britten Norman, Dickie held a number of senior positions in the aviation industry both at home and abroad before finally retiring at the age of 70. By happy coincidence he and his wife Jean settled in Devon to be close to family, and from then on were in regular attendance at Richard Webber’s Auster fly-ins both at Hayrish Farm and Eggesford where his stories of times at Rearsby are well remembered.

It is planned that Dickie’s ashes will be scattered from an Auster 9 at this year’s Eggesford fly-in.