Frederick Handley Page

Sir Frederick Handley Page, CBE, FRAeS (15 November 1885 – 21 April 1962) was an English industrialist who was a pioneer in the design and manufacture of aircraft. His company Handley Page Limited produced a series of military aircraft, including the Halifax bomber in World War II, of which around 7,000 were produced. They also produced civil aircraft, including the H.P.42, flagships of the Imperial Airways fleet and remarkable at the time for no passenger deaths.

Page was the uncle of the World War II flying ace Geoffrey Page.

He was the son of Theodore Page, a furniture maker and member of the Plymouth Brethren. He married Una Thynne (1890–1957) in 1918; they had three daughters, Helen Anne, born on 5 November 1919 (m. Manley Walker, d. 2001); Phyllis (Elizabeth “Buffy”), on 10 December 1921 (m. Winfield, d. 1987), and Patricia (Mary), on 14 June 1923 (d. 1992).

His positions included:

• President of the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) (1938-39 - he also served as honorary Treasurer and Chairman);
• President of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) (1945-47 – and longstanding member of its Council);
• Vice-Chairman of the Air Registration Board (for 20 years);
• President of the Institute of Transport (1945–46); and
• Chairman of the Board of Governors of the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield.

References

• “Handley Page Aircraft since 1907”, Barnes, Christopher Henry, Putnam 1987 (2nd Ed, Rev. Derek N James)
• “Handley Page – A History”, Dowsett, Alan, Tempus Publishing, 2003
• “The Vicissitudes of a British Aircraft Company: Handley Page Ltd Between the Wars”, Fearon, Peter D, in Business in the Age of Depression and War, R P T Davenport-Heines, Ed. Frank Cass, (1990) (also in Business History, 20 (1978), 63–86)