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Guild of Aviation Artists   Quarterly News Summer 2003

Obituary

Sir George Robert Edwards OM, CBE, HonFRAeS, FRS, DL

1908-2003

The most profoundly-accomplished and highest regarded British aircraft designer and industrial leader after the original pioneers, and of world stature, Sir George Edwards died in his 95th year. His outstanding 40-year aviation career, from 1935 to 1975, spanned the nationally-critical years of the late-l930s and the wholesale re-equipment and expansion of the Royal Air Force to meet the exigencies of WWII, through to the pioneering launch of the jet age of aviation in the immediate post war years and the creation of large-scale international industrial collaborative programme alliances in the 1960s and 1970s.

Throughout this dynamic period of his familial leadership style, prolific achievements and hugely-significant influence were unmatched in the western world. This extraordinary cavalcade of events not only included working at the heart of the advancement and reshaping of both the British and European industries to world status but also numerous British and world firsts and records and the setting of many of the standards which his successors have taken forward so beneficially to the global industry of today. His many contributions to the leading aerospace professional bodies on both sides of the Atlantic, most notably the Royal Aeronautical Society, and in the academic domain, were also correspondingly influential, appreciated and rewarded

In his personal and family life his humanity, compassion and unfailing good humour were combined with a wide variety of interests and pursuits, making him an exceptionally well-rounded man of a legion of attainments and friends.

(reprinted with kind permission from The Aerospace Professional)

It has been my great privilege to give advice and encouragement to Sir George in his painting endeavours for over 35 years, commencing some eight years before his retirement from the British Aircraft Corporation in 1975.

‘GRE’s’ paintings in those early years were landscapes centered around the West Country, the Lake District or Scotland where he used to go on his brief holidays, and included studies of the derelict tin mines in Cornwall, and many Lochs, Lakes and Mountains which he so loved His passion for angling was reflected in many studies of his favourite fishing lake in Surrey, where his ambition to catch a 5lb Chubb was finally realised.

Despite being Patron of the Guild since its inception, Sir George did not produce an aviation painting until 1980. In a letter to me from Borrowdale dated May of that year, he says “we’ve talked about my putting in a ‘Patron’s’ painting at the Aviation Artists show. It occurred to me that with the credentials of Kennington Oval established, suppose I painted in a small Concorde to give it an aviation flavour and called it “Concorde over Kennington”. You may think it’s daft. They may have no room. It’s just a thought.” The reference to Kennington relates to a series of paintings he did of the famous cricket ground, one of which was hung in the committee room in the members’ pavilion.

Many artists would think twice before attempting a subject as complex and demanding as that - painting hundreds of spectators in the grandstands surrounding the field. But Sir George never flinched from such difficulties. His favourite motto, which he used to describe as ‘writ above the door’ was “Never Give Up”. An example of that was his insistence that each year (from about 1975) we should select three of his most recent paintings and submit them to the Royal Academy for the Annual Summer Exhibition. Year after year these were rejected. Then we set about an analysis of the selection procedures and the daunting statistics (numbers selected vs. numbers submitted) and this included close study of the accepted paintings, including the dimensions, from which an attack strategy was evolved. “Never Give Up’ Sir George was finally rewarded by having a picture selected and hung in Millennium year.

Painting became Sir George’s major occupation after his retirement and few days passed when he could not be found in his “paint shop” , In both 1988 and 1998, to mark his 80th and 90th birthdays, a one-man show of his paintings was mounted in the Performing Arts Technology Studio of Surrey University.

Sir George was a great admirer of the works of Van Ruysdael and his rendition of monumental skies in his landscape paintings reflect this, together with his own intimate knowledge of meteorology

During our frequent discussions on his latest work, I would sometimes ask him a question related to some detail in the painting. This would set him off on a monologue often lasting ten minutes or more, by which time I had forgotten the question - but he had not, and he used to say “now, to answer your question, which was...” Thus his answers were always deeply qualified and enlightening.

Just a few months ago Sir George said to a mutual friend and colleague Robert Gardner, “Why don’t you take up painting in your retirement?” to which Bob replied “Well, I can’t even draw.” GRE thought about this for a minute or two and then said “Ah well, that would be a bit of an ‘andicap.”

It has been a great joy for me to have made some small contribution in the life of this truly great man, but I think he taught me much more than I ever taught him.

Details of Sir George’s outstanding aviation career were previously published in the Summer 1995 edition of the QN

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