Richard Peter Glaves Collinson BSc (Eng) CEng FIET FRAeS, November 1926 – February 2022
Published: Tue 15 Mar 2022
Richard Collinson, always known as Dick, sadly passed away at age 95 on 16 February 2022.
He was born in East Ayton, North Yorkshire, and went to Palmer’s School in Gray’s, Essex.
In the early part of the war, he had been in the Air Training Corps, then at the age of 18, Dick volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm, but unfortunately failed his medical and found himself as an artificer aboard the frigate HMS Modeste, instead.
His career in engineering followed service in the Royal Navy from 1944 to 1947, when he took the University of London engineering degree course at Battersea Polytechnic, graduating with a first-class Honours Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1951.
Despite his military service in the Royal Navy, his real passion was flight, and he subsequently spent his entire working career in the avionics industry.
His first job was for the Bristol Aeroplane Company, working on the Bloodhound Missile Control System.
Dick then joined Elliott Bros as a Development Engineer at Borehamwood in 1953, before transferring to the newly formed Aviation Division in January 1954. During his term at Borehamwood, he worked on the Blue Steel Inertial Navigation System and was responsible for the first Blue Steel Navigator, which flew successfully in early 1959.
He was then appointed Chief Systems Engineer of Military Aircraft Controls Division (MACD) in 1960 and transferred to Rochester, where he spent the first few years on the Inertial Navigation Systems development and Air Data Systems for Lightning and Buccaneer aircraft.
In 1961 he became Chief Engineer of the newly formed Flight Automation Research Laboratory (FARL).
He became Divisional Manager of the Laboratory the following year, and over the next three years, the Laboratory activities expanded into a wide range of new developments.
Later, in 1966, he was appointed Divisional Manager of Flight Instruments Division (FID). In the same year, the company started its successful penetration into the American market, and FID secured the contract for the Air Data Computer.
His appointment to Divisional Manager of Inertial Navigation Division followed in 1968, where he helped develop the Navigation Weapon Aiming System (NAVWASS) for the Jaguar aircraft.
His interests were in the engineering aspects of the business, and he undertook a staff appointment as Project Development Executive in 1971 to cover the field of new products and technology.
In 1972, he returned to FARL as Divisional Manager. The laboratory’s activities had expanded and a whole range of new technologies and concepts were initiated and developed for the product divisions to exploit for many European and United States aircraft.
These ranged from fibre optics for the Boeing YC14 flight control system to helmet-mounted displays and sighting systems.
Dick Collinson received his 25 years' service award and received a quartz clock by Mr. W.H Alexander. Towards the end of his career, Dick was appointed Technical Executive in GEC Avionics before retiring in 1992, after 38 years of distinguished service.
After retiring, he wrote the textbook Introduction to Avionics Systems - which is now in its fourth edition and deemed the bible for avionics students.
Dick Collinson was a Fellow of the IET and is survived by his wife Brenda and three children, five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.