A. H. Tiltman

Who was A. H. Tiltman?

Alfred Hessell Tiltman FRAeS, known as Hessell Tiltman, was a notable and talented British aircraft designer, and co-founder of Airspeed Ltd.

He graduated in engineering from London University, then served an apprenticeship with the Daimler Co in 1910-11 and worked on structural steel design in Canada and England.

In 1916 he joined Geoffrey de Havilland’s company Airco; then moved to the De Havilland Aircraft Company when it was formed in 1921. As assistant designer he was involved in the design and testing of a number of DH aircraft, from the small DH 60 Moth to the DH 66 Hercules airliner.

He then worked on the Vickers R100 airship with Nevil Shute Norway. Following the disaster to the rival, Government sponsored R101, the British airship programme was cancelled with the result that, in 1931, Norway and Tiltman founded Airspeed Ltd. Tiltman designed all Airspeed's early aircraft, including the three-engined Ferry, the innovative and fast single-engined Courier, and the elegant twin-engined Envoy.

The Courier was the first British aircraft for many years to incorporate a hydraulically operated, retractable undercarriage and was used to pioneer in-flight refuelling. In the 1934 MacRobertson air race from England to Australia, a Courier finished in seventh place, making very good time against formidable opposition from aircraft such as de Havilland's purpose built Comets and a Douglas DC2 airliner.