The Royal Aeronautical Society, British Gold Medal for Aeronautics awarded to Sir Sydney Camm, C.B.E., F.R.A.e.S, one of the most important aircraft designers that Britain has produced - ‘responsible for the creation of 52 different Hawker aircraft types, of which a total of 26,000 examples were built.’ At one time during the 1930s, Camm was responsible for the design on 84 per cent of the RAF’s aircraft, but possibly his most important design and creation was the Hurricane fighter aircraft which was so prominent during the Battle of Britain

Royal Aeronautical Society, British Gold Medal For Aeronautics, by A. G. Wyon, silver-gilt, 50mm., edge inscribed ‘Awarded 1949 To S. Camm F.R.A.e.S. For His Outstanding Design Work On Fighter Aircraft’, test cut to edge of reverse just after three o’clock, very fine £700-900

Sir Sydney Camm, C.B.E., F.R.A.eS. was born in Windsor, in August 1893, and was educated at the Royal Free School, Windsor. One of 12 children he left school in 1908 to become an apprentice carpenter. He developed his early interest in aeronautics through building model aircraft, the latter he sold directly to the boys of Eton College. He subsequently became a founder member of the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club in 1912, and contributed to the building of a glider capable of carrying a person.

Camm found employment as a carpenter with the Martinsyde aircraft company, and was based at the Brooklands racing circuit in Weybridge. He was promoted to the drawing office, and was employed by the company for duration of the Great War. After Martinsyde went into liquidation in 1921, Camm followed George Handasyde into his new venture which was responsible for the production of the Handasyde Monoplane. He made his most significant career move in 1923, when he was employed as a senior draughtsman at the Hawker Aircraft Company, based in Kingston-upon-Thames.

The Hawker Cygnet was Camm’s first successful design, and he was appointed the company’s Chief Designer in 1925. What followed was an important and prolific career in aircraft design, with Camm being ‘responsible for the creation of 52 different Hawker aircraft types, of which a total of 26,000 examples were built.’ (Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain, by L. McKinstry, refers).

At one time during the 1930s, Camm was responsible for the design on 84 per cent of the RAF’s aircraft. Arguably his most notable contribution was the design of aircraft that were to became of great importance during the Second World War - the Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest and the Sea Fury. He continued his work after the war and contributed to the creation of the Hunter and the Harrier jump-jet.

Camm was knighted for his services to British Aviation in 1953, and was appointed the President of the Royal Aeronautical Society the following year. He retired from Hawker in 1965, remaining on the board of it’s successor company Hawker Siddeley - which in turn later merged with British Aerospace. Camm died whilst playing golf in March 1966, with various memorials, plaques and a society now dedicated to him.