Bill Bradfield

Keith Noel Everal ("Bill") Bradfield , FIEAust (25 December 1910 – 12 June 2006), also known as K. N. E. Bradfield, was an Australian civil and aviation engineer, public servant and diplomat, who served two terms as Australia's Permanent Representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Bradfield is one of four Australian recipients of the ICAO Edward Warner Award, civil aviation's highest honour (alongside Don Anderson, Brian O'Keeffe and David Warren).

Early life and education Keith Noel Everal Bradfield was born 25 December 1910 in Gordon, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, the youngest child of civil engineer and creator of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Story Bridge, John Bradfield, and Edith Jenkins. Bradfield was educated at Gordon Public School, and the Sydney Church of England Grammar School from 1922 to 1928, where he was a prefect. On leaving school he was admitted to the University of Sydney in 1929, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1932 and Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours in 1934. During this time Bradfield resided in St Paul's College (1930–1933). After finishing his studies he went to Brisbane to assist his father's work on the Story Bridge.

In November 1934, at age 24 Bradfield was selected as the Rhodes Scholar for New South Wales, and began doctoral studies in Engineering Science at New College, Oxford. Under the supervision of Professor R.V. Southwell, he completed his doctoral thesis in 1938 on methods of stress analysis in mathematically indeterminate frameworks, such as occur in aircraft structures.

Whilst at Oxford, Bradfield joined the Oxford University Air Squadron, gaining his pilot certification flying the Avro Tutor and the Hawker Hart. Originally intending to complete a final year of study at University of California, Berkeley (which conducted the world's only course in airport design), with the continuing tensions leading up to the Second World War the Rhodes trustees asked him to remain in England and Bradfield spent the remaining time of his scholarship working for the airport design firm Norman and Dawbarn. In this role, Bradfield created designs for a significant expansion of Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney, with his plans approved by Prime Minister Ben Chifley in March 1946.

In 1947 Bradfield was appointed as Australia's permanent representative on the council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While there, Bradfield was involved in discussions on the limitations of runway lengths and meetings of the organisation's aerodromes, air routes and ground aids committee, which worked on determining international aerodrome standards. Bradfield was elected vice-president of the council in 1949–50 and also served on the Air Navigation Commission, the technical agency of ICAO that works towards the uniformity of Air regulations and standards, from 1949 to 1952.

However, these plans, costed at £9.3 million, underwent significant criticism from certain representatives in NSW who alleged that Bradfield's plans gave Melbourne an unfair advantage over Sydney as the premier international air terminal in Australia. NSW Labor MP for Shortland, Charles Griffiths, in particular questioned Bradfield on this in a sitting of the Parliamentary Works Committee, "I think you will admit that you will give Tullamarine a distinct edge, in that for five or seven years this sort of thing will have to occur." This was an accusation Bradfield firmly denied. Although heavily involved in the Tullamarine project, Bradfield also started planning for a new international terminal for Sydney to replace the greatly outmoded Mascot terminal that had been built prior to the growth of jet aircraft passenger travel.

Later career and legacy Bradfield returned to ICAO for another term as the Australian representative on the council from 1968 to 1972 and was involved in formulating ICAO provisions on aircraft noise and planning for the introduction of new types of aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Concorde. In addition to his work with ICAO, he also served as a member and chairman of the South Pacific Air Transport Council and in 1960 was a member of the West Indies Civil Aviation Commission, established to advise the West Indies Government. On his return from Montreal in 1972, Bradfield retired from the Department of Civil Aviation.

From 1973 to 1976 he was the civil aviation advisor to the Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea and the Independent Government of Papua New Guinea from 1975, serving as the PNG controller of civil aviation and a founding member of the National Airlines Commission and Air Niugini. In 1993 he was made a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia (FIEAust). Returning to Sydney, Bradfield lived in retirement until he died aged 95 on 12 June 2006, survived by his wife Jeannette, two sons, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.