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SIr George Edwards, 94, British Aircraft Designer, Dies By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS L ON DON, March 7 Sir George Edwards, who designed the four engine Viscount turboprop airliner and was a leader in the development of the supersonic Concorde, died on Monday! He was 94. In the 1970’s, Sir George persuaded politicians and aircraft engineers in both Britain and France that the Concorde project should go ahead. The plane was a technical triumph but a commercial disappointment only 20 were built. Sir George started out as an engineer but developed into a deft salesman and leading businessman. His skills helped to build the British aircraft industry in the economically difficult years after World War II His turboprop engines bridged the gap between piston-engine planes and pure jet aircraft. After a stint in engineering workshops, he joined the design office of Vickers-Armstrongs, the aircraft engine maker, in 1935. During World War II he was promoted to the post of experimental works manager. Sir George designed the Viking, an airliner developed from the Wellington bomber; the Valetta and the Varsity, which were military versions of the Viking; and the Viscount and the Valiant, the first of the Royal Air Force’s three types of nuclear bombers. The Viscount was the world’s first turboprop airliner to operate passenger services and the first British airliner to make inroads into the American domestic airline market. The Valiant, which appeared in 1951, was Britain’s first aircraft capable of carrying a nuclear weapon. One of them dropped Britain’s first hydrogen bomb off Christmas Island in 1957. Sir George was appointed managing director of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) in 1953, and of its successor, British Aircraft, in 1955. He was knighted in 1957. Sir George’s wife, Marjorie, died in 1994. He is survived by a daughter.
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