Born in 1893, Camm joined the Martinsyde aeroplane company at Brooklands at the outbreak of war in 1914, learning the business and developing his skills in aircraft design.
In 1921 Martinsyde went out of business and in 1922 Camm joined the Hawker Engineering Company, successor to the Sopwith Aviation Company Ltd, as a senior draughtsman. Within two years he was appointed chief designer and stayed with Hawker for 43 years.
In the 1920s and early 30s Camm designed the classic Hart 'family' of fabric and metal biplanes, putting Hawker in the front line of aircraft manufacture. At one time in the 1930s no fewer than 84 percent of RAF aircraft were of Hawker/Camm design. But it was clear that monoplanes were the aircraft of the future and Hawker and Camm decided to specialise in fast fighter aircraft.
In 1934 the Air Ministry issued specification F.36/34, for a monoplane eight-gun fighter. Built by Hawker it became the iconic Hurricane - 100 mph faster than anything previously flown. It was in full production at the outbreak of war in 1939 and with Mitchell's Spitfire, formed a major part of Fighter Command strength during the Battle of Britain. The News Chronicle hailed Camm as the man who saved Britain and he was made a CBE in 1941. An RAF fly-past over London to commemorate the Battle of Britain was led by a lone Hurricane. Camm went on to design the Typhoon fighter-bomber which was heavily involved in the 1944 Normandy invasion, followed by the Tempest and the Sea Fury, the ultimate in high-performance, piston-engined, propeller-driven monoplanes.
Since the advent of the jet engine in 1942, Camm had been working on the design of the highly successful jet-driven Sea Hawk and then its successor, the swept-wing Hunter jet-fighter, which gained the world air speed record in 1953.
With the Hunter the possibilities of subsonic aircraft had reached a peak. Camm's designs for a supersonic fighter were never realised, but he joined Bristol Siddley Engines in developing the radical concept of VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) which, as the Harrier jump jet, revolutionised military aviation and warfare.
Sydney Camm was one of the last great individual designers, his intuitive feel for design more than compensating for any lack of advanced scientific training. The Times accurately called him "one of the most consistently successful designers the aircraft industry has ever had" who triumphed "without making a false step". Sir Thomas Sopwith credited him with being the greatest designer of fighter aircraft the world had ever known. Camm was knighted in 1953 and retired to Thames Ditton. He died in Richmond in 1966.
Camm's connection with the borough
Sydney Camm was born in Windsor on 5 August 1893, one of 12 siblings living at 10 Alma Road, and became a pupil at the Royal Free School. His father was a journeyman carpenter and joiner and Sydney took up a woodworking apprenticeship when he left school. As a schoolboy Sydney had avidly designed and constructed model aircraft. With his brother Fred, also a competent modeller and designer who became editor of the famous Practical series of magazines, he supplied Herberts' Eton High Street shop with high-quality models of biplanes and monoplanes advertised as Will Really Fly and Will Rise from the Ground.
Their venture into more profitable private enterprise - selling direct to the Eton boys - was not appreciated by Herberts. Deliveries had to be made at night via a string lowered from the dormitories to avoid detection by the school authorities (and Herberts!). Sydney was instrumental in setting up the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club where he and his friends built a man-carrying glider to which they added an engine and flew it in December 1912. There is a commemorative plaque on the wall of Athlone Square, Ward Royal, on the site of the workshop where the glider was built. There is also a commemorative plaque on the wall of No 10 Alma Road and a Hurricane replica memorial in Alexandra Gardens. Many of his designs can be seen at the RAF Museum in Hendon.