Morien Morgan

Sir Morien Bedford Morgan CB FRS then at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and from 1931, St Catharine's College, Cambridge. It was during his time at Cambridge that he became fascinated with aircraft, and won the John Bernard Seely prize in aeronautics in 1934.

After a brief apprenticeship at Vickers Aviation, Morgan took a position at the Aerodynamics Department within the RAE in 1935. Based in Farnborough, there he met Sylvia Axford and married on 19 April 1941. They had three daughters, Carol, Deryn and Gwyneth. He returned to the RAE as Director in 1969, and served in this role until 1972. In 1967, he became the first Welshman to be President of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

In 1972 he succeeded Prof. Keith Guthrie as Master of Downing College, Cambridge, a post he held until his death. At Downing "his enthusiasm and good humour together with his Welsh charm, eloquence, and love of music" made sure that he got on well with everyone. His love of music was widely noted.

Morgan was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1958 Queen's Birthday Honours, and knighted in the 1969 New Year Honours. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1972.

During the Concorde work, Morgan tirelessly worked through problems, both technical and political, to see the project to its conclusion. Alternating with his French counterpart, Robert Vergnaud, he chaired the Concorde oversight committee from 1963 when work began in earnest, to 1966 when prototype construction was well advanced. Given the aircraft was the first of its sort, the relatively rapid progress from design to construction is notable (testing and certification took much longer, however). Morgan noted:

I became convinced – than in this I have been reinforced of late by the impressive way in which Concorde is ploughing through the prototype flying phase – that in aeronautical design and research a combination of Gallic fervor and British phlegm produces pretty impressive results by any standards. It is a combination well worth preserving.