CaptainFrank Sowter BarnwellOBEAFCFRAeSBSc (23 November 1880 – 2 August 1938) was a Britishaeronautical engineer. With his elder brotherHarold, he built the first successful powered aircraft made in Scotland and later went on to a career as an aircraft designer with theBristol Aeroplane Company, designing aircraft such as theBristol Fighter, theBulldog and theBlenheim.
Barnwell was born inLewisham in south eastLondon but the family moved toGlasgow the year after his birth. He was educated atFettes College inEdinburgh, after which he served a six-year apprenticeship with theFairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, of which his father was a partner, between 1898 and 1904. He attended theUniversity of Glasgow at the same time and received a BSc in naval architecture in 1905.[1] He then spent a year in America working as a draughtsman for a shipbuilder.
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In 1907 he returned to Scotland and established the Grampian Motors & Engineering Company inStirling in partnership with his brotherHarold. The brothers had built an unsuccessful glider in 1905, and between 1908 and 1910 they constructed three experimental powered aircraft. The first lacked sufficient power to fly, but the second, acanardbiplane, made the first powered flight in Scotland, piloted by Harold in July 1909.[2] but was wrecked on the second attempt to fly it. The third, a mid-wing monoplane, was built during 1910 and flown by to win a prize for the first flight of over a mile in Scotland on 30 January 1911 at Causewayhead under theWallace Monument. In late 1911 Barnwell was hired to work as a designer for a secret department set up by theBritish and Colonial Aeroplane Company to work on an unconventional seaplane project for theAdmiralty in collaboration withDennistoun Burney, resulting in the unsuccessfulBristol-Burney seaplanes. He then co-designed theBristol Scout withHarry Busteed. When war broke out in 1914 Barnwell enlisted in theRoyal Flying Corps and after qualifying as a pilot at theCentral Flying School, Upavon, he joined12 Squadron RFC but in August 1915 was released from service to become chief designer at Bristol. Here he put his experience of service conditions to use by designing theBristol Fighter, one of the outstanding aircraft of the war. With the exception of a short period between October 1921 and October 1923, when he briefly emigrated to Australia to work as an aviation advisor to the Australian Government,[3] he worked as Bristol's head of design for the rest of his life, designing aircraft such theBristol Bulldog andBristol Blenheim.[1]
Barnwell was killed in an aircraft crash in 1938,[4] piloting a small aircraft he had designed and had constructed privately, theBarnwell B.S.W. The aircraft was thrown into the air when it struck a bump when taking off fromBristol (Whitchurch) Airport and then stalled, crashing onto a nearby road.[5]
Frank and Marjorie (née Sandes) Barnwell had three sons who all lost their lives in the second world war:
Gutman, J. "Bristol F2 Fighter Aces of World War 1". Osprey Publishing 2007.ISBN 978-1-84603-201-1
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| Preceded by | Chief Designer of theBristol Aeroplane Company October 1923 - August 1938 | Succeeded by |
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