Desmond Norman

Desmond Norman
Born	Nigel Desmond Norman (1929-08-13)13 August 1929 London, England
Died	13 November 2002(2002-11-13) (aged 73) Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Resting place	Gore Cemetery, Arreton, I.O.W.
Nationality	British
Education	Twyford School, Portsmouth Abbey School USA, Eton College, de Havilland Technical School
Occupation	Aircraft engineer,
Known for	Aircraft designs including the Britten Norman Islander
Title	C.B.E.(1970) FRAeS Ceng
Spouse(s)	married 1956 Anne Fogg Elliot (two sons; marriage dissolved 1964), 1965 Boel Holmsen (née Suenson; two sons, one daughter, one stepdaughter)
Parent(s)	Air Commodore Sir Nigel Norman Bt. and Patricia Moyra, née Annesley.
Notes
As Desmond Norman was quoted in Flight magazine in 2004: "You can make fortunes out of aviation -I am proof, having made three. You can also lose fortunes out of aviation. I have lost four."

As Desmond Norman was quoted in Flight magazine in 2004: "You can make fortunes out of aviation -I am proof, having made three. You can also lose fortunes out of aviation. I have lost four."

Nigel Desmond Norman, CBE, was an aircraft designer and aviation pioneer. Born in London on 13 August 1929, Norman co-founded Britten-Norman in 1954 was awarded a CBE in 1970, was chairman and managing director of AeroNorTec (1988–2002). With his longtime friend and business partner John Britten, he also designed, built and sailed racing yachts, as well as a series of air cushion vehicles and crop spraying equipment. He died of a heart attack at Basingstoke railway station, in Hampshire on 13 November 2002.

Norman's grandfather was Sir Henry Norman, 1st Baronet, a Liberal politician, and his family held title in the title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.

The son of Sir Nigel Norman, he attended Twyford School in Winchester, before being evacuated to the United States during the Second World War. There, he allegedly had a dust-up with the young Ted Kennedy. Returning to England, he was sent to Eton in 1945. At Eton, he kept a Norton motorbike in town and was given to riding it in school clothes. He was outstanding at sport, particularly on the rugby field and in the Eton eight, which he stroked at Henley in 1946. His independent spirit meant that rather than go to Cambridge University like his father and his brother Torquil Norman he went straight from Eton into a two-year engineering apprenticeship at the de Havilland Technical School. Here he met John Britten, whose enthusiasm for aircraft design matched his own. The two young men also shared a passion for sailing and one of their first joint commissions was to take an old 80 ft (24 m) ketch across the Atlantic to the Bahamas. As a national serviceman, he won the Sword of Honour during training, before spending two years in the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot. He later joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force No. 601 Squadron RAF. Desmond Norman's older brother Mark Annesley Norman (see Norman Baronets) worked for Bristol Siddeley Engines and later for Britten-Norman as sales manager. Norman was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, regularly raced his own designs and designed and built Wavewalker, a 2 masted gaff rigged 70 ft (21 m) schooner[1], for his family. In early 1953 John Britten and Desmond Norman designed and had built a 21 ft (6.4 m). Junior Offshore Group sailing boat. Prior to turning the Britten Norman partnership into an incorporated company Norman spent almost 2 years as an export assistant with the Society of British Aerospace Companies.

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