Flags to honour aviation engineer Sir George Dowty

The Dowty flag is being flown above factories and municipal buildings to commemorate Sir George Dowty's contribution to the aviation industry on the 50th anniversary of his death.

The engineer founded Cheltenham-based Dowty Aviation in the 1930s. The firm went on to manufacture parts for military aircraft flown during World War Two, and later, Concorde.

At one time the company employed 15,000 people across Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

Martin Robins, chairman of the Sir George Dowty memorial committee, said: "His legacy wasn't confined to this country, it was worldwide, and it wasn't merely in aircraft."

Mr Robins was an employee at the Dowty Group for 10 years from the early-1970s.

He said that Sir George had left a significant heritage - first and foremost the design for the undercarriage of the Lancaster bomber, but also hydraulic systems.

"After the war, he developed the technology similar to that for aircraft for mining equipment.

"Sir George's status in America, 50 years after his passing, is huge within the mining industry today," he said.

Mr Robins remembered Sir George as a "very benevolent employer", who was committed to the welfare of his employees.

"Providence gave him the ability to think in a way that others didn't," he added.

"He also had tremendous enthusiasm - his philosophy was, 'it can be done', and that became infectious, so the people around him acquired the same philosophy."

Sir George's son George Dowty said his father regarded his company as his wider family.

"Literally thousands of apprentices went through the Dowty system and many stayed with the company," he said.

"The current managing director of Safran [the French firm that took over the landing gear business] is a former Dowty apprentice and they were the bedrock of the company going forwards.

"Quite a few of the Dowty apprentices have gone on to run their own very successful businesses all over the country.

"I come across people who say, 'my father was a Dowty man, or my father was an apprentice and we so appreciate what your father did for them'."

The Dowty flag was designed in 1936 for the Paris Air Show and Mr Robins said: "It's a delightful flag and we thought it was an appropriate way of recognising the anniversary of his passing."

It is being flown extensively across Gloucestershire on Sunday - the 50th anniversary itself - including at Dowty Propellers in Gloucester, above Tewkesbury town hall and at Dean Close School in Cheltenham, where Sir George was a governor.

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