G. Tilghman Richards

George Tilghman Richards (1883–1960), usually known as G. Tilghman Richards, was a British aeronautical engineer, mechanical engineer, and Science Museum, London curator, best known for his work on the Lee-Richards annular aeroplanes.

Richards was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), Member of the Institute of Aeronautical Engineers (MIAeE), Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (M.I. Mech.E.), and a chartered mechanical engineer.

Early life George Tilghman Richards was born in Altrincham, Cheshire on 18 August 1883, the only son of George Richards, originally from Philadelphia, USA, and Amy Florence Richards (nee Ford-Smith).

Richards received his engineering training at his father's firms, George Richards and Company, and Tilghmans Patent Sand Blast Company (the two companies merged in 1896 but retained separate premises), and Smith and Coventry Ltd.

Between 1904 and 1908, Richards gained further professional engineering experience, first as a leading draughtsman and automotive engineer working for Rolls-Royce from 1904 to 1906 and from 1906 to 1908 as a designer at Belsize. Together, Lee and Richards finished the aeroplane, fitting a Gnome Omega engine in the front.

Between 1911 and the outbreak of war in August 1914, Richards was engaged in original research and experimental aviation, almost entirely relating to this machine and other variations, known variously as the Kitchen annular biplane and the Lee-Richards annular biplane and referred to as the flying doughnut due to its unusual circular wing shape. Flight tests in 1911 were disappointing and that Autumn the biplane was destroyed on the ground by high winds, when its hangar collapsed. A non-flying replica later appeared in the 1965 film Those magnificent men in their flying machines and is now on display at the Newark Air Museum.

Lee and Richards continued experimenting with models and Richards especially further developed the aerodynamic theory of the annular wing. They developed a form having a circular lower wing with an auxiliary plane above the front half of the main wing. A full-size manned glider proved successful.

Science Museum In 1924, Richards began working for the Science Museum, London as a curator and lecturer, specialising in aeronautics and later typewriters. By 1939, Richards was senior lecturer in Engineering and Industry at the museum and he remained there until his retirement in 1954. In 1938, Richards wrote a Science Museum handbook Handbook of the collection illustrating typewriters, later reissued as The History and Development of Typewriters. In 1954, he retired from the Science Museum.