Working at the Handley Page company, and then in the guided weapons division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company (now part of BAE Systems), in the 1950s and 60s, the engineer and aerodynamicist Ron Ayers, who has died aged 92, became one of Britain’s most experienced supersonic and high-speed aircraft designers.
Following retirement in 1988, he took on a volunteer role at the Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, and was fascinated to discover, among the aviation archives held there, aerodynamic and wind tunnel work on the prewar generation of land-speed record-breaking cars. This led to Ayers meeting Ken Norris, designer (with his brother Lew) of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird car and jet-powered boat. With these two vehicles, in 1964, Campbell had achieved world records, for land speed of 403.1mph (648.73 km/h), and for water speed of 276.3mph (444.71km/h).
