George Rudolph Volkert was born on 4 July 1891 in Fulham, London, the son of Charles Volkert and Cacilie Helene Sophie Wilhelmine Elisabeth Volkert (nee Chrÿsander). His father, originally from Germany, had become a naturalised British citizen in March 1886 and had anglicised his name from Carl Gottlieb Joseph Volkert.

Volkert studied mechanical engineering at the Northampton Institute in London (now City University London), where he attended Frederick Handley Page's aeronautical lectures. On graduation in 1912, having already put in vacation work with Handley Page, he accepted Handley Pages invitation to become chief designer.

For the 1913 Olympia Aero Show, which opened on 14 February, the Handley Page show brochure was decorated on its front cover with a perspective outline sketch of Type E - the first drawing made by George Volkert at Cricklewood, but he immediately followed this up with a scheme to convert the lateral control from warping to ailerons. Volkert was next instructed him to develop a biplane as good as the B.E.2a, but using the materials already at hand and the experience gained with the Type E and F monoplanes; the result was the Type G.

Following the outbreak of WWI, a meeting was held between the Royal Navy's Director of the Air Department, Captain Murray Sueter, with Frederick Handley Page and Volkert. Volkert displayed drawings of the L/200 and sketches of its proposed twin-engined variants, M/200 and MS/200; but Sueter’s technical adviser, Harris Booth, preferred a very large seaplane. Handley Page and Volkert suggested building a landplane of similar size, and a specification was drawn up around his suggestions: this was formally issued on 28 December 1914 as the basis of an order for four prototypes. The result was the O/100 and its successor, the O/400.

Towards the end of the war, Volkert designed the much larger V/1500. In October 1917, in view of the strict secrecy of the project and lack of drawing office capacity at Cricklewood, Handley Page arranged, with Sir William Weir’s help, for the design work and prototype manufacture to be undertaken at Belfast by Harland and Wolff Ltd, who supplied twenty draughtsmen and a large number of fitters and carpenters, normally employed on the interior furnishings of luxury ocean liners but transferred to aircraft work for the duration of the war. Volkert went to Belfast in charge of the project, taking with him Francis Arcier as his chief assistant and four senior designers.

From the beginning of 1919, Handley Page realised that adaptation of the O/400 bomber as a transport could not produce a satisfactory post-war airliner, whatever its value as a means of generating traffic and enthusiasm for the new mode of travel. For one thing, the internal tubular bracing, which replaced tie-rods in the cabin, was a hindrance to passengers and prevented seats from being placed in the best positions. As a result, in February 1919, Volkert, assisted by S. T. A. Richards, began sketching layouts for a new project known as Type W. This, however, was to be his last work for Handley Page for a few years. The end of WWI and the subsequent cancellation of aircraft orders caused severe financial problems for the majority of the industry. Volkert was released to become part of the British Aviation Mission under Colonel The Master of Sempill, departing on 6 August 1921, his place as chief designer being taken by S. T. A. Richards.

Volkert returned from Japan in 1924, and was conferred with the Insignia of the Sixth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, in recognition of valuable services rendered by him. He returned to Handley Page to design the Hare and H.P.38, followed by one of Handley Page's most iconic aircraft, the H.P.42.

In 1934 Volkert travelled to America to review the latest production techniques in use, returning in July 1935 and introduced rapid and efficient assembly lines, first introduced on the H.P.54. Volkert went on to design the Hampden and then the Halifax, one of the more important aircraft of WW2. From 1943 and through early post war years, the Halifax design eventually led to the Hastings and Hermes series of transports.

In the 1945 New Year's Honours, Volkert was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). He retired from Handley Page in 1948, but in 1953 he was persuaded to return on a part time basis as deputy chief engineer to advise and assist on the design of the H.P.R.3 Herald at Reading.

George Rudolph Volkert CBE FRAeS died on 16 May 1978.

1. Handley Page Aircraft since 1907, C.H. Barnes (Putnam, 1976)
2. ancestry.co.uk