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1971: Sir Robert Lang Lickley
Sir Robert Lang Lickley (1912-1998)
86th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Lickley was born in 1912 in Dundee, Scotland and was educated at Edinburgh University. He graduated with a degree in civil engineering and was awarded a Caird Scholarship in 1932 to study aeronautics at Imperial College.
His career began at Hawker Aircraft Ltd at Kingston-on-Thames. He worked in the Stress office and was involved in stressing on the prototype Hurricane. During the Second World War, he was appointed as Chief Project Engineer working on the development of the Typhoon and the Tempest.
After the war, he took a professorship at the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield and devoted his time to raising the standard of aircraft design education. He served on a number of committees and performed consultancy work. In 1951, an opportunity arose to join the Fairey Company as Chief Engineer and Lickley quickly progressed through the company to become Managing Director. As well as overseeing the development of the Rotodyne, the first large compound helicopter, Lickley was also involved in the atomic energy work of the company. He served on the Board of Atomic Power Constructions which built the Trawsfynydd Power Station.
During the 1960s, Lickley left Fairey and joined Hawker Siddeley Aviation. There he managed the supply of the Harrier to the US Marine Corps. In later years, he was a key member of the Rolls Royce Support Staff at the National Enterprise Board.
He became a member of the IMechE in 1950, was elected to Council in 1964 and became President in 1971. From 1981-1982, he served as President of the Institution of Production Engineers. He was bestowed a fellowship from the Royal Aeronautical Society and received honorary doctorates from the universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde.
He died in 1998.
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