Sir Alfred Hubert Roy Fedden MBE, FRAeS was an engineer who designed most of Bristol Engine Company's successful piston aircraft engine designs.
15 Facts About Roy Fedden
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Roy Fedden's family was the first in the area to own a car, an interesting parallel with fellow engine designer, Harry Ricardo.
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Roy Fedden attended Clifton College, but did not do well scholastically and was known primarily for sports.
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Roy Fedden's apprenticeship was completed in 1906, and he immediately designed a complete car.
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Roy Fedden managed to convince the local firm of Brazil Straker to hire him, and the design was produced as the successful Shamrock.
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Roy Fedden remained at Brazil Straker over the following years, and he was particularly influential in convincing company management to take on the repair of various aircraft engines when World War I started.
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In 1915, Roy Fedden started the design of his own aero engine, along with his draughtsman Leonard Butler.
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The Jupiter became a commercial success and was widely used around the world, resulting in Roy Fedden becoming one of the most highly paid engineers in Europe.
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Not one to rest on his laurels, Roy Fedden then started adapting the Hercules into a two-row 18-cylinder design as the Bristol Centaurus.
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In 1945 Roy Fedden led a Ministry of Aircraft Production mission to examine German aeronautical expertise and research.
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Roy Fedden wrote several articles on German engine design and production concepts, and concluded generally that the German engines were lacking in supercharger design and power-per-volume compared to British types, although their fuel injection systems and single-lever controls were excellent.
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Roy Fedden was provided sixty Volkswagen Type 1s by Major Ivan Hirst but was unable to sell any in the anti-German postwar climate and difficult economic conditions.
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The company's first product, the Roy Fedden O-325, was a small horizontally-opposed fuel injected six cylinder sleeve valve aeroengine intended for helicopters or for submerged wing installation in aircraft.
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The engine did not progress beyond development as "Roy Fedden Limited" went into liquidation in June 1947.
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Roy Fedden has sometimes been mistakenly described as the father of a prominent British artist, Mary Fedden.