Frederick Howard Buller
Encyclopedia
Frederick Howard Buller, an aeronautical engineer, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 25, 1914.

Early career

Buller began with an interest in sailboat design. He attended University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

 from 1932 to 1935. Thereafter, he spent several years studying naval architecture in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1937, he switched his focus to aeronautical engineering, moving to Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

 to enroll in the Boeing School of Aeronautics. In 1939, he moved to Edmonton, Alberta and began working in the field with Aircraft Repair (later Northwest Industries). In 1943, he relocated to London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, assisting in the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 efforts at Central Aircraft, a subsidiary of de Havilland
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...

. In September of 1944, he settled in Downsview at de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd (DHC), where he would remain for 35 years.

Later career

At de Havilland, Buller, who became its Chief Designer, worked on the designs of a number of notable aircraft, including the Chipmunk
De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
The de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft which was the standard primary trainer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Air Force and several other air forces through much of the post-Second World War years...

 and the de Havilland STOL Beaver. The Chipmunk was extensively used in training RAF and RCAF pilots. The Beaver, registered by then de Havilland president P.C. Garratt as ‘CF-FHB’ in honor of its designer, is on display in the Canadian National Aviation Museum
Canada Aviation Museum
The Canada Aviation and Space Museum is Canada's national aviation history museum. The museum is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, at the Ottawa/Rockcliffe Airport...

 in Ottawa. Buller was also involved in or oversaw the design of the DHC-3 Otter
De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but was overall a larger aircraft.-Design and...

 (1951), DHC-4 Caribou (1958), DHC-5 Buffalo (1964), DHC-6 Twin Otter (1965), and DHC-7 Dash 7 (1975). He was a consultant on the HMCS Bras D’or
HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400)
HMCS Bras d'Or was a hydrofoil that served in the Canadian Forces from 1968 to 1971. During sea trials in 1969, the vessel exceeded , making her the fastest unarmed warship in the world....

, a hydrofoil commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
The history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...

.

In 1955, Buller became one of the founding members, and a Fellow, of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. Frederick Buller died on June 7, 1994 at White Rock, British Columbia.

Honors

In 1971, the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute award Buller its McCurdy Award for his major contributions to the de Havilland family of STOL aircraft. The Engineering Centennial Board named the DHC-2 Beaver as among the ten best engineering accomplishments in Canada in 1987. In 1997 he was inducted into the de Havilland Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK