| W.E.W. (Teddy) Petter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 August 1908 Highgate, north London |
| Died | 1 May 1968 Béruges, France |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
| Spouse | Claude Munier |
| Children | 3 daughters |
| Parents | Sir Ernest Willoughby Petter |
| Work | |
| Engineering discipline | Aeronautics |
| Employer(s) | Westland Aircraft, English Electric, Folland Aircraft |
| Significant design | Westland Lysander, Folland Gnat |
| Significant advance | Canberra, Lightning |
| Significant awards | John Berbard Seely Prize for Aeronautics |
William Edward Willoughby "Teddy" Petter CBE (8 August 1908, Highgate in Middlesex - 1 May 1968, Béruges) was a British aircraft designer. He is noted for Westland's wartime aeroplanes, the Canberra, the early design of the Lightning, and his last plane, the Folland Gnat.
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Edward was the son of Sir Ernest Petter (26 May 1873 - 18 July 1954), who founded the Petters Limited engineering company. He was a descendant of one of the twin sons that founded Westland in 1915, the company being a separation of the aircraft business from Petter engines. It built flying boats. Both were Yeovil companies.
He attended the prestigious Marlborough College in Wiltshire. He studied the Mechanical Sciences Tripos at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1929. He won the John Bernard Seely Prize for aeronautics.
Petter joined Westland, the family firm, as a graduate apprentice in 1929. He became Technical Director in 1935. This appointment was not welcomed by older members of the management, who left. In 1935 Westland set up its aircraft subsidiary. Westland was taken over by John Brown Ltd of Clydebank in 1938.
He designed the Lysander. Originally created as an army cooperation aircraft, in the second world war it was used for transporting spies into France.
Petter's next plane was the twin-engined Whirlwind (which was one of the fastest aeroplanes in the world at the time). Not many were built. His last plane for Westland was the high-altitude twin-engine Welkin. It had a pressurised cockpit and was designed to intercept German reconnaissance aircraft. Around 100 were built. At this time Westland was mostly building Spitfires, under contract.
Petter left Westland in December 1944, after wanting to take over production as well as design. They chose to concentrate on helicopters through a link-up with Sikorsky.
He went to English Electric as Chief Engineer who were then moving into aircraft design, at Warton near Preston, having been involved in building aircraft under contract during the war. While at EE, under the leadership of George Nelson, he designed the Canberra. This plane was based on a Westland design for a jet bomber, created by Westland's Chief Engineer, Arthur Davenport. The aircraft would stay in operation in the RAF for 57 years until June 2006. The Americans built it as the Martin B-57 Canberra, being heavily used in Vietnam. NASA still flies it.
He started the work on what would become the Lightning. He split with EE in 1950 over the direction of aircraft design, he favouring the small over the large. He also wanted to be in charge of production as well as design. Petter was replaced as Chief Engineer by Frederick Page, previously his assistant.
The Lighting remains the only all-British Mach 2 aircraft. The plane has been described as fifteen tonnes of screaming aluminium.
Petter joined Folland Aircraft Limited in Hamble, Hampshire as Chief Engineer in 1951, and took some colleagues from English Electric. At Folland, he designed the Midge, which first flew 11 August 1954, and the Gnat training jet (first flight 18 July 1955). He was also responsible for early work on the Red Dean air-to-air missile before this work was transferred to Vickers.[1] The Gnat was entirely his design; it was his attempt to make an affordable and easy-to-build fighter. He felt that other contemporary fighter aircraft were too big and expensive.
Petter became Managing Director of Folland in 1954 when Henry Folland died. Folland Aircraft was bought by Hawker Siddeley in 1959, which kept the Folland name until 1963. Petter left when Hawker Siddeley took over; he did not like working for large organisations, preferring to run projects himself. Colleagues found him authoritarian and eccentric - some described him as likeable but difficult. His manner was likened to that of a sixth form maths tutor. He was known as an excellent leader of teams, so long as things went as he wanted.
On leaving Folland / Hawker Siddeley, Petter left the aircraft industry completely. He moved to Switzerland.
Petter had two younger brothers and a younger sister. He married and had three daughters (including two born in 1936 and 1938). He died in Poitou-Charentes in France aged 59. Petter married Claude Marguerite Juliette Munier, from Geneva. She died in 1975, having suffered for a long time from Parkinson's disease.
Origin of this Petter family in North Devon see "Some men who made Barnstaple..." Pauline Brain 2010