Unit (HTDU) in 1972 to investigate cooling of turbine blades and thermal fatigue. All airliners today carry this technology. Personal life He retired from Rolls-Royce in 1978. He was appointed OBE in 1969. From the Royal Society he received the Mullard Award in 1979 for his work on the RB211. He died in August 2007 aged 90. For most of his life he lived at Turnditch in Derbyshire. During the war years he lodged with Ernest Townsend and his family in Coxbench, Derbyshire. In 1996 he was awarded an honorary DTech degree by Loughborough University. References 1917 births 2007 deaths British aerospace engineers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Warwick School People from Amber Valley People from Leamington Spa Rolls-Royce people