FARREN

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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3.4.1892 Cambridge/UK - 3.7.1970 Kingston/UK

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William Scott Farren graduated in mechanical sciences from Cambridge University in 1914. He joined the staff of the Royal Aircraft Establishment RAE in Farnborough in 1915 where he met Melvill Jones (1887-1975) and Geoffrey I. Taylor (1886-1975), among others. Farren became head of the aerodynamics department, learned to fly, and played a significant role in the design of a combat airplane. He returned as a Lecturer in aeronautics under Jones to Cambridge University in 1920, and also designed the first wind tunnel of the institute. Farren left in 1937 Cambridge for the Air Ministry and in 1939 there became deputy director of research. In 1940 he moved to the newly created Ministry of Aircraft Production which he later directed. In 1941, Farren returned to RAE as the director: The four most grueling years of his life followed, during which rapid advancement in aeronautical techniques was essential for Britain's survival. Farren gave a sense of team spirit to the greatly expanding RAE and galvanized the entire Establishment into a dynamo of activity.

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In 1946 Farren joined the Blackburn Aircraft Company as technical director and in 1947 moved to a similar position with A.V. Roe in Manchester, where he remained until 1961. In parallel, he was a director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation from 1959. During his years in the industry his two major projects were the advanced design of the Vulcan V Bomber, a tailless aircraft which proceeded to do yeoman service with the Royal Air Force, and the stand-off supersonic Blue Steel missile which went into successful production for the V Bomber Force. Farren was recognized by many honors; he was knighted in 1952 and elected FRS in 1945; Manchester University conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate. He also delivered the 44th Wilbur Wright Lecture in 1956.

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_{Farren, W.S. (1929). Monoplane or biplane? Journal Royal Aeronautical Society 33: 490-540. Farren, W.S. (1944). Research for aeronautics - Its planning and application. Journal of Aeronautical Sciences 11(2): 95-105. P}

_{Farren, W.S. (1949). Problems and progress in aircraft design. Aircraft Engineering 21: 132- 133.}

_{Farren, W.S. (1956). The aerodynamic art. Journal Royal Aeronautical Society 60: 429-449. P Jones, B.M., Farren, W.S., Lockyer, E.W. (1926). Preliminary experiments on two-dimensional flow round bodies moving through a stationary fluid. ARC Reports & Memoranda 1065. Morgan, M. (1981). Farren, Sir William Scott. Dictionary of National biography 1961-1970: 347-349. Smith, Elder&Co: London.}

_{Thomson, G.P., Hall, A.A. (1971). William Scott Farren. Obituary Notices FRS 17: 215-241. P}