Opening of the Baker Building, cambridge Univesity, in 1952. Austyn Mair stands behind the Duke of Edinburgh, to the right.
austyn mair, born 1917
AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER & ACADEMIC
William Austyn Mair was the Francis Mond Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Cambridge University from 1952 to 1983. He was head of the Engineering Department from 1973 to 1983. After graduating from Cambridge University he worked during throughout the second World War on research into high speed aerodynamics using aircraft in flight. Although the main purpose of the research was to investigate the behaviour of aircraft as they approached the speed of sound, Mair also conducted an investigation into the rumour, hushed up at the time, that the tails came off Spitfires if they were flown too fast. After the war Mair took up a post at Manchester University, before returning to Cambridge as Professor of Aeronautical Engineering.
Source: Compiled by Alex Reid, with acknowledgement and thanks, from internet material in 2019.