Sydney Camm was born on 5 August 1893 in Windsor, Berkshire, the eldest child of the twelve children of Frederick Camm, a carpenter/joiner and Mary Camm (née Smith). In 1901 he began attending the Royal Free School on Bachelors Acre in Windsor. In 1906 the school trustees granted him a Foundation Scholarship. In 1908 Camm left school to become an apprentice carpenter.

Camm developed an interest in aeronautics. He and his brothers began building model aircraft which they supplied to Herbert's Eton High Street shop. After finding that they could obtain a higher price they began making direct sales to boys at Eton College, which were delivered in secret to avoid attracting the attention of Herbert and the school authorities. These activities led him to being one of the founders of the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club in early 1912. His accomplishments as a model aeroplane builder culminated in a man-carrying glider which he and others at the club built in 1912.

Shortly before the start of WWI, Camm obtained a position as a shop-floor carpenter at the Martin and Handasyde aircraft company, located at the Brooklands racing circuit in Weybridge, Surrey. His ability soon led to his being promoted to the drawing office, where he spent the war period.

George Handasyde resigned from Martinsyde in autumn 1920 and went on to form the Handasyde Aircraft Company. Following the liquidation of Martinsyde, Camm was employed by Handasyde late in 1921. There he was notably involved with the creation of the Handasyde Monoplane Glider and the later Handasyde Monoplane, produced for the 1923 Lympne motor glider competition.

In the autumn of 1923 the Handasyde company was dissolved and in November Camm joined the Hawker Aircraft Company (later Hawker Siddeley) based at Canbury Park Road in Kingston upon Thames as a senior draughtsman, under W. G. Carter. His first design was the Cygnet, the success of which led to his being appointed chief designer in 1925 after Carter resigned.

In 1925, with Fred Sigrist, Hawker's Managing Director, Camm developed the distinctive Hawker metal construction, using cheaper and simpler jointed tubes, rather than the alternative welded structure. In the late 20's and early 30's Camm designed the classic Hart family of fabric and metal biplanes. The Hart's success put Hawker in the front line of aircraft manufacturers and its design was used by Camm as a basis for aircraft to meet other requirements. These included the Demon fighter, the Hart trainer, the Audax army co-operation aircraft, the Hind, the Fury, the Osprey and the Nimrod Fleet Air Arm machines. This new generation of aircraft boasted performance far in advance of their contemporaries. At one time in the 1930s no fewer than 84 per cent of the aircraft in the RAF were of Hawker/Camm design.

Official prejudice had for many years precluded the adoption of monoplanes by the RAF, but Camm managed to overcome the Air Ministry's apprehension with his superbly designed Hurricane. This, Camm's most famous aircraft, was based on the Fury. Together with the Spitfire, it played a leading role in the Battle of Britain, the Hurricane shooting down more enemy aircraft than all other British aircraft and ground forces combined. Almost as celebrated were Camm's high-performance, piston-engined, Typhoon, Tempest and Sea Fury aeroplanes.

In the 1941 New Year's Honours, Camm was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

After the Second World War Hawkers did not rush into the new field of jet propulsion but, as always at the propitious time, they brought out the Sea Hawk and swept-wing Hunter jet fighters, both designed under the direction of Camm. The Hunter, one of the longest lived jet fighters and ground attack aircraft, first flew in 1951.

Towards the end of his career Sydney Camm was closely associated with the very advanced concept of vertical take-off and landing, the P1127, a forbear of the Harrier, which made its first vertical take-off in 1960.

During his employment at Hawker he was responsible for the creation of 52 different types of aircraft, of which a total of 26,000 were manufactured. More of a perfectionist than an innovator, Camm's designs evolved logically, progressively and successfully from each other. Although Camm started his career without any advanced scientific training, he had a masterful eye and an intuitive feel for a well-designed aeroplane. Endowed with these rare gifts he produced a succession of aircraft that were not only extremely good-looking but also boasted excellent performance and handling characteristics.

Sydney Camm was knighted 2 June 1953, on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He was President of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) from 1954 to 1955 and received its highest honour, the Gold Medal, in 1958. Since 1971 the RAeS has held the biennial Sir Sydney Camm Lecture in June, given by the current commander-in-chief of RAF Air Command.

Camm retired as chief designer at Hawker in 1965 and was succeeded by John Fozard. He, however, remained on the board of its successor, Hawker Siddeley until his death.

In 1966, Camm was awarded the Guggenheim Gold Medal, which had to be presented posthumously.

Sir Sydney Camm, CBE, FRAeS died on 12 March 1966 whilst playing golf at the Richmond Golf Club. He was buried in Long Ditton Cemetery, Long Ditton, in the County of Surrey.

1. Wikipedia
2. Sydney Camm, Hurricane and Harrier Designer, Saviour of Britain , John Sweetman (Pen and Sword Books, 2019)
3. Sidney Camm and the Hurricane, Ed. by Dr John W. Fozard (Airlife,1991)
4. Sir Sydney Camm Biography - Thamesweb Information - Windsor
5. ancestry.co.uk