My colleague Geoff Byham, who has died aged 71, will be remembered as the architect of advanced rotor aerodynamics at Westland Helicopters.
In 1974, as Westland’s head of aerodynamics research, he led the development of new rotor aerodynamic solutions in partnership with the Royal Aircraft Establishment. This programme would later blossom under his leadership into the British Experimental Rotor Program (Berp), from which emerged a revolutionary helicopter blade.
Flight testing of the Berp III rotor began in 1985 and immediately the predicted improvement in performance could be seen. As promised, the Berp team had broken through a speed barrier traditionally seen as impenetrable, in a complex environment in which each blade must accommodate near sonic speed followed by near stall speed on each revolution of the rotor.
In this same period, the Westland affair, which centred on the controversy surrounding rescue bids for the company, was generating negative headlines. Geoff, together with a small group of senior engineers, hatched a scheme to shift the references to Westland on to a more optimistic footing: the company’s Lynx demonstrator would be fitted with the new blade and make an attempt on the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) absolute world speed record for helicopters.
In the failing evening light of 11 August 1986, driven along by its Berp rotor, the aircraft recorded an average speed of 249.1mph, demolishing the previous record and setting a new one that has stood for more than 30 years without serious challenge.
The son of Millie (nee Law), a shirtmaker, and George Byham, foreman in a wine warehouse, Geoff was born in London, and grew up in Bermondsey. He won a scholarship to Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex, then went to Southampton University to study aeronautics and astronautics.
After graduating in 1968, Geoff joined Westland, based in Yeovil, Somerset, to work in helicopter aerodynamics, rising to the post of chief engineer and later the head of engineering. For the last decade of his career, Geoff was a director of the Aircraft Research Association, becoming its chairman in 2002.
Geoff was appointed MBE in 1999 and in 2004 he was presented with the Royal Aeronautical Society silver medal and admitted as a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
In his spare time, Geoff loved working on cars, especially his beloved and rare +2 Lotus Elan (nicknamed “Beryl”), and building model boats, and he had a penchant for narrowboat holidays.
He is survived by his wife, Jenny (nee Hadley), whom he married in 1970, their daughters, Sarah and Lizzie, and four grandchildren.
