Abstract
DB. HEBBEBT CHARLES HENRY TOWNEND, who was accidentally killed on August 19, was born in London on March 18, 1896, and was educated privately. In 1915, he enlisted as a private in the Honourable Artillery Company and after receiving a commission in the London Regiment was attached to the Royal Air Force as an observer and served in Salonika, Egypt and Palestine. On returning to civil life, in 1919, he became a student at the Northampton Polytechnic, University of London, and obtained the B.Sc.(Eng.) (Lond.) degree, with first-class honours, in 1923. In October of that year he joined the staff of the National Physical Laboratory as a scientific officer. He took part in experimental work in the Aerodynamics Department covering a number of different subjects, but was best known to the outside world as the inventor of the Townend ring, a cowling device used to reduce the drag of the exposed cylinders of air-cooled engines. He made this discovery by accident when engaged on work with quite a different object, a chance observation directing his thoughts in a direction which ultimately led to the development of the ring. Townend was granted a patent on the device and it was at one time very widely used. For his work in this sphere he was awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1931 and was awarded a D.Sc.(Eng.) (Lond.) in 1932. Dr. Townend was elected an associate fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1930 and a fellow in 1933. He was also an honorary scientific member of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences of the United States.
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Dr. H. C. H. Townend. Nature 152, 407–408 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/152407b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/152407b0