Today we celebrate a Hawker Aircraft event of 50 years ago - but are sad that the eventual successor to the P.1127 is going out of service in Britain soon, having done great deeds without quite achieving the world-wide sales we had hoped for. However, the Harrier will still be flying in one form or another with navies and air forces in various parts of the world; the Harrier will not be forgotten.

That one event was the culmination of years of hard work in many parts of the Company and today is the time to speak of the people who did so much in the late '50s towards that day in November 1960 when history was made.

In those days I was a humble 'bean counter' in Canbury Park Road, almost unaware of the work which was done and the battles which were fought in respect of the P.1121, P.1127, P.1154 and Harrier - so relying on the memory of others, not much has changed!

Ralph Hooper - by John Glasscock

toptop

Many of our colleagues are no longer with us, but one who is, is Ralph Hooper, and I am very privileged to pay a short tribute to him today as he is with us here, without making it sound as if he isn't - if you get my drift. His contribution to this and other projects was immense and much understated - modest and unassuming he allowed others to take much of the credit which was rightly his, although history is working to rectify that, as we are today.

Ralph and the recently deceased Gordon Lewis of Bristols worked in the shadows of two great men, Sydney Camm and Stanley Hooker, to make their concepts successful.

An anecdote about Camm comes to mind: Sir Sydney with Roy Chaplin talking to Sir James Martin and referring to the new P.1127 with Ralph Hooper present, "If it works we (SC and RC) done it; if it doesn't 'e done it (indicating RSH). (Ralph later said, "It's the nearest Sir Sydney came to paying me a complement.")

Well, the eventual outcome was very successful and we acknowledge Ralph's contribution to it as an individual and as leader of a team. He was and is much respected and he fought his corner as well on behalf of his design teams. He and I often disagreed over various aspects of management - quite often about pay. Both thought we were right - reason and compromise prevailed; both thought we were underpaid!

We cannot ignore Ralph's leadership later on in the Hawk project, one of the most successful programmes in our history. He has been a staunch supporter of the Hawker Association and other aerospace organisations leading to recognition with various awards which he has modestly accepted to add to his OBE which, had he worked at Warton would probably have been a knighthood!

British Aerospace released this great talent shamefully early; but that was their loss and diminished their capability to push ahead even further with advanced projects.

So, we pay tribute to a valued friend and colleague; we wish him well in the future and today we drink a toast to his health.