I first met Bob Fairclough over 40 years ago.  I assisted on the West Riding Branch of Air-Britain stand at the SSAFA Air Displays at RAF Church Fenton on Spring Bank Holiday Mondays when Bob Fairclough and Cliff Hodgson used to call for a chat and to buy the latest Air-Britain offerings.  Later on Bob gave a talk on English-Electric to the Branch.  When I moved to Blackburn in the Seventies I made contact with Bob and he came along to one or two Rossendale Aviation Society meetings, giving a couple of talks and judging the Photographic Competition.  Eventually he joined the Society in 1981 and later joined the Committee, serving as Chairman for a period and then moving to edit the Newsletter for many years.  He gave many talks at Society meetings, either on one of Warton’s products or a report of his regular trips to North America.  He was a supporter of the Society’s competitions and a regular participant in Society visits. 

Bob was born in Preston on 12^th June 1941 and lived in Grimsargh until the family moved to Dewsbury, eventually returning to Lancashire where the family settled in Blackburn and where Bob lived for the remainder of his life.  He joined the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation at Strand Road, Preston as a student apprentice in September 1960 and studied Aeronautical Engineering at Salford College of Advanced Technology (later the University of Salford) graduating as a Bachelor of Science.  During his apprenticeship he worked both at Strand Road and Samlesbury working on Canberra, Lightning and TSR-2.  He moved to the Technical and Design Department at Warton completing his student apprenticeship in September 1965 joining the main design office at Warton.  He did a variety of work as an aircraft designer including part of the fin of Concorde, parts of wing and rear fuselage structure of the Jaguar, and design and brochure work for the AFVG and UKVG projects and for MRCA.  A lot of work was done on both versions of Tornado particularly in connection with weapons installation.  During the 1980s Bob moved into costings work and more managerial roles and his job titles included, Chief Value Engineer, Assistant Chief Estimator, Course Manager, Manager – Technical Staff, and finally Manager – Technical Business and Cost.  In 1992 a major restructuring of the Technical Directorate enabled Bob to take advantage of early retirement which he certainly enjoyed.

Bob was an aircraft enthusiast from an early age and Cliff Hodgson remembers first meeting him outside Samlesbury where they were both checking on the latest Canberras.  Bob joined Air-Britain in 1959 and his membership number was 2987.  Once he started working in the Aircraft Industry he took a strong interest in the history of English Electric and its products and took every opportunity to learn more and talk to everybody he could.  In collaboration with Stephen Ransome, Bob started work on the history of the Company, which resulted in the publication in 1987 of ‘English Electric Aircraft and their Predecessors’ one of the Putnam series of histories of Aircraft Manufacturers.  He was given wide access to Company records and that and the efforts of the authors resulted in a work that has never needed updating.  Bob contributed to many other books and had various magazine articles published.  In 1995 the BAe North West Heritage Group was set up at Warton and Bob became an enthusiastic member.  For most enthusiasts he will be thanked for his part in the setting up and conducting of the regular tours at Warton, but he was the official Group Historian setting up the various display panels used by the Group and was also involved with the declassification of archival material.  He was a regular speaker at various organisations, his subjects including TSR-2, the history of English Electric, the Canberra and the Lightning.  He was an active member of the Preston branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society and held the title M.R.Ae.S.

Bob was not totally absorbed in aviation and he took a general interest in current affairs and enjoyed travelling.  Bob’s brother Neville lives near Toronto and since his retirement Bob has generally spent 6 weeks or so in North America each year starting and finishing in Canada.  He was three quarters of the way through his aim of visiting every National Park in the USA and had also developed an interest in North American Railroads.  Ever the engineer he was fascinated by the shipping on the Great Lakes resulting him taking his first cruise, from the St.Lawrence to Chicago.  He caught the cruise bug but his choice of voyage was always governed by the intended ports of call; he ventured up the Amazon and through the Panama Canal at least twice.  Unfortunately his planned visit to the Falkland Islands was curtailed by bad weather.  His last voyage in June this year took him from Singapore to various destinations in the Far East.  When he became ill he was optimistic about the outcome and was happy to discuss the various aspects of his treatment. Bob was fairly reserved but was always ready to answer peoples’ questions on his areas of knowledge.  He never married but enjoyed seeing his nephew and nieces grow up, and was always on hand whenever they crossed the Atlantic.  Bob’s passing is a great loss to the Rossendale Aviation Society and to the BAE North West Heritage Group.  We shall miss him

Martin Powell (with additional notes from Jim Longworth of NW Heritage)