John Carver Meadows Frost
Encyclopedia
John Carver Meadows Frost known as "Jack" (1915 in Walton-on-Thames
, England
– 9 October 1979 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a British
aircraft
designer. His primary contributions centred on pioneering supersonic British experimental aircraft and as the chief designer who shepherded Canada's first jet fighter project, the Avro Canada CF-100, to completion. He was also the major force behind the Avro Canada
VTOL
aircraft projects, particularly as the unheralded creator of the Avro Canada flying saucer projects.
teacher A. Maitland Emmet
had taken him up in a Bristol Fighter
. John Frost had been born in Walton-on-Thames near London
in 1915 and had showed an early interest in the sciences at St. Edward's School, Oxford where he graduated with honours in mathematics, chemistry and physics.
before he moved on to the Miles
, Westland
, Blackburn and Slingsby
companies. In 1937, Frost had designed the fuselage of the new Westland Whirlwind
fighter. At Blackburn, he had been involved with the design and construction of their pre-war wind tunnel
. While working for Slingsby Sailplanes from 1939–1942, he met his future wife, Joan, who had worked in the Slingsby Design Office as a technical artist. Frost designed the Slingsby Hengist
, a troop-carrying glider to be used for the Normandy landings
. It was not a success and only a few were built but it included an ingenious innovation: the use of a rubber bag undercarriage.
(UK), builders of the famed Mosquito
bomber and fighter. After joining the de Havilland firm in 1942, Frost had become one of the senior members of the design team working on the Hornet
fighter, based on the Mosquito, for which he designed a unique flap design. Later, as one of the team of designers on the D.H.100 Vampire
, he was responsible for the design of the original flaps, dive brakes and ailerons for this fighter. The Vampire was the second British jet fighter designed in the Second World War, but other than its powerplant and plywood construction patterned on the Mosquito, the diminutive fighter was mainly conventional in design.
, had already begun the D.H.106 Comet
development process and was considering that radical configuration for the world's first jet airliner. As Project Engineer on the D.H.108, with only a team of 8-10 draughtsmen and engineers, Frost created a remarkable aircraft by marrying the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire
to a swept wing and short stubby vertical tail to make the first British swept wing jet, soon to be unofficially known as the "Swallow." The elegant and sleek experimental D.H.108 was also to serve as a test "mule" to investigate stability and control problems for the new Comet airliner.
The D.H.108 first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after Frost had a go-ahead on the project. Company test pilot and son of the builder, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr
., flew the first of three aircraft and found it extremely fast - fast enough to try for a world speed record. On 12 April 1948, a D.H.108 did set a world's speed record at 973.65 km/h (605 mph) and later on became the first jet aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. The first D.H.108, TG-283, was alleged to have suddenly jumped from Mach .98 to Mach 1.05 while being test-flown by John Derry
on 9 September 1948. On 27 September 1946, while practising for an upcoming run at a new speed record, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. died when his D.H.108 broke up in the air at or near the speed of sound.
). To him, this was an ideal opportunity- there was a promising project to work on and a chance to get away from the depressing conditions of postwar Britain. At the time, his wife, Joan, was living in the north of England while Frost worked at Hatfield
, near London. Accommodations for many young couples were similarly strained. During his tenure at de Havilland, Frost began to put forward a number of unique ideas in regards to a tip jet-driven rotor helicopter
- a concept also known as a gyrodyne. He continued his research privately and with a group of friends, including fellow engineer, T. Desmond Earl, built a scale model to test his theories. Shortly after his departure to Canada, Earl joined Frost in his new venture, and remained his "right-hand man" for the rest of the Canadian period.
's Malton, Ontario
facility with his wife to take over as Project Designer of the new XC-100 jet fighter interceptor. After 18 months of development, the fighter had entered the mock-up stage. Frost made a decision to alter the aircraft design which immediately brought him into conflict with Avro Canada Chief Aerodynamacist Jim Chamberlin
. Basically "cleaning up" the fuselage, Frost set out to change the design subtly. Even though he wanted to use a swept-wing configuration, the prototype (by now called the CF-100 Canuck) proceeded to prototype stage in the same basic configuration of straight-winged, twin-engined form. (The swept-wing CF-103
proposed by Frost in December 1950 was a transonic follow-up to the CF-100). Although the CF-100 prototype was now a much more sleek shape, Frost still considered the design awkward. "It was a clumsy thing. All brute force," he remarked.
While Frost was in England to confer with members of the Hawker Siddeley Group, Chamberlin made another alteration moving the engines back "notching" the wing spar
to accommodate the change. The weakened spar was a flexible structure where the stress was heavy leading to potentially dangerous situations with the CF-100.
Gloster's Chief Test Pilot
Bill Waterton
flew with Frost in the second seat; to the test pilot, this was a revelation: "(Frost was)...very much the keen English public schoolboy type. Here was another delightful contrast to England, where I was never able to find a designer with spare time enough to fly in his own creation." Frost considered it important to get a feel for the aircraft and its systems. He even tested the CF-100's ejection seat by becoming a test subject himself. Early flights revealed the great potential of the aircraft but also showed the flaw in the spar was dangerous. With the crash of the second CF-100 prototype and early production CF-100s delivered to the RCAF without the final modifications to the spar, Frost was blamed for the delays and removed as CF-100 Project Designer in early 1952.
, there's no way it should fly. It only does so because of the wing which gives it lift and the engine's power to overcome the drag of the fuselage, the load, the tailplane, the stabilizers, fins and the engines."
Shortly after its formation in 1952, Frost's Special Projects Group started a paper study on a "pancake" engine, a jet turbine that had its main components arranged in a circular design. From the outset, the Special Projects Group had a cloak-and-dagger feel to it. Housed in a Second World War-era structure, across from the company headquarters, the group had all the accoutrements of a top-secret operation, including security guards, locked doors and special pass cards. Within the confines of this technical fortress, Frost surrounded himself with a collection of like-minded dreamers and maverick engineers. There he encouraged close cooperation and, while ostensibly the boss, he was collegial and very much one of the boys.
Research undertaken by Frost on the "Coandă effect
" confirmed that the concept of ground cushion could be the basis for a vehicle he had envisioned that could have both have vertical take-off and landing (VTOL
) capabilities and could still operate as a high-performance aircraft. As Frost developed further studies, his ideas on revolutionary vertical takeoff systems led to the patent of "Aircraft Propulsion and Control".
In 1952, "Project Y", a "spade-shaped" fighter powered by Frost’s revolutionary pancake engine proceeded to mock-up stage. By 1953, with the company having little more than a wooden mock-up, paper drawings and promises to show for a $4-million (Cdn) outlay, a more critical eye was cast on the project. Not surprisingly, the plug got pulled when government funding from the Defence Research Board dried up.
Frost's later ideas revolved around a disk or saucer shape - a "flying saucer" and resulted in a number of patents in Great Britain, the United States and Canada on the unique concepts of propulsion, control and stabilization systems that were incorporated. Frost continued to lobby for the project now called the "Y-2" and achieved a remarkable breakthrough by demonstrating the project to the United States Air Force. With funding from the Americans, Frost was able to proceed with his research. From 1955 to 1959, the design team concentrated on the new VTOL supersonic studies known as Weapon Systems 606A which Avro Canada continued to support through an associated private venture program, the PV-704 which resulted in the construction of an engine test rig in 1957.
The PV-704 supersonic test model, powered by six Armstrong-Siddeley Viper
jet engines driving a central rotor, was built and housed inside a small, brick testing rig. The test model was abandoned in favour of a simpler flying model led to the only design that materialized from the Avro Special Project Group, a "proof-of-concept" vehicle, the VZ-9-AV "Avrocar"
. Two Avrocar prototypes were constructed and completed a series of wind tunnel tests at NASA
Ames in California and a 75-hour flying program at the Malton home of Avro Canada. The results of the testing revealed a stability problem and degraded performance due to turbo-rotor tolerances. Before modifications could be achieved, funding ran out with the final flight test program completed in March 1961.
As the result of his work in vertical takeoff systems, John Frost was invited to become a fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute after he presented the W. Rupert Turnbull seventh lecture on 25 May 1961. The citation noted that Frost had discovered and patented the air cushion effect that had been evident in his work on flying saucers and that U.S. Patent #3124323 "Aircraft Propulsion and Control" was one of a series of US, Canadian and British patents to became known as the "Frost patents."
by the Canadian government, Avro Canada was unable to survive, being broken up on 30 April 1962. Like many of the former employees of A.V. Roe Canada, John Frost began a new career when he left the company. He left Canada for New Zealand
in 1964 where he again became part of the aviation industry; first joining the airworthiness section of the Civil Aviation Authority
where he headed the certification
of the Waitomo PL-11 Airtruck
, the first commercial aircraft developed in New Zealand. During this period, Frost also designed the Murray Air, an agricultural biplane.
Later in 1965, Frost became a technical services engineer for Air New Zealand
, serving in that position for 13 years until his retirement in April 1978. His time at Air New Zealand was very fulfilling. He was responsible for all technical activities at the airline's engineering headquarters at Mangere, New Zealand. All "Air New Zealand aircraft are showcases for the Frost ingenuity." (Daily News New Zealand, April 1978). The unique swiveling bassinets attached to the airliner's hat racks are his design along with locks that hold down pallets in the cargo hold, air-conditioning systems for the cargo bay, rest seats for air crew, toilet tap washers and gallery plugs. His most impressive design was a gigantic hydraulically operated tail dock system.
After retirement, his fertile imagination continued to explore many areas. He became involved in an aviation project - designing and constructing, with the assistance of university students at Auckland, a human-powered aircraft
. He would not see his EMME 1 fly.
, New Zealand on 9 October 1979 at the age of 63; but his last creation did fly, albeit towed behind a car, and the EMME 1 is now under restoration for display at the Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
– 9 October 1979 in Auckland, New Zealand) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
designer. His primary contributions centred on pioneering supersonic British experimental aircraft and as the chief designer who shepherded Canada's first jet fighter project, the Avro Canada CF-100, to completion. He was also the major force behind the Avro Canada
Avro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
VTOL
V/STOL
Vertical and/or short take-off and landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require runways at all...
aircraft projects, particularly as the unheralded creator of the Avro Canada flying saucer projects.
Early life
Frost's introduction to aviation had begun when he was a teenager. At school in the early 1930s his LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
teacher A. Maitland Emmet
A. Maitland Emmet
Lieutenant Colonel A. Maitland Emmet was an amateur entomologist and a former schoolmaster who taught Latin, English and Ancient Greek...
had taken him up in a Bristol Fighter
Bristol F.2 Fighter
The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a British two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War flown by the Royal Flying Corps. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or popularly the "Brisfit" or "Biff". Despite being a two-seater, the F.2B proved to be an agile aircraft...
. John Frost had been born in Walton-on-Thames near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1915 and had showed an early interest in the sciences at St. Edward's School, Oxford where he graduated with honours in mathematics, chemistry and physics.
First designs
Frost began his aeronautical career in the 1930s as an apprentice for Airspeed LimitedAirspeed Ltd.
Airspeed Limited was established to build aeroplanes in 1931 in York, England, by A. H. Tiltman and Nevil Shute Norway . The other directors were A. E. Hewitt, Lord Grimthorpe and Alan Cobham...
before he moved on to the Miles
Miles Aircraft
Miles was the name used to market the aircraft of British engineer Frederick George Miles, who designed numerous light civil and military aircraft and a range of curious prototypes...
, Westland
Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil in Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Ltd just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915...
, Blackburn and Slingsby
Slingsby Aviation
Slingsby Aviation is a British aircraft company based in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England. The Slingsby business was founded on the building and design of gliders and sailplanes. From the early 1930s to about 1970 it built over 50% of all British club gliders and had success at national and...
companies. In 1937, Frost had designed the fuselage of the new Westland Whirlwind
Westland Whirlwind (fixed wing)
The Westland Whirlwind was a British twin-engined heavy fighter developed by Westland Aircraft. It was the Royal Air Force's first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter, and a contemporary of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. It was one of the fastest aircraft when it flew in...
fighter. At Blackburn, he had been involved with the design and construction of their pre-war wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...
. While working for Slingsby Sailplanes from 1939–1942, he met his future wife, Joan, who had worked in the Slingsby Design Office as a technical artist. Frost designed the Slingsby Hengist
Slingsby Hengist
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bishop, Chris. The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II: The Comprehensive Guide to Over 1,500 Weapons Systems, Including Tanks, Small Arms, Warplanes, Artillery, Ships and Submarines. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2002. ISBN...
, a troop-carrying glider to be used for the Normandy landings
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
. It was not a success and only a few were built but it included an ingenious innovation: the use of a rubber bag undercarriage.
de Havilland
Frost's work began to be noticed when he joined the de Havilland Aircraft CompanyDe 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...
(UK), builders of the famed Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
bomber and fighter. After joining the de Havilland firm in 1942, Frost had become one of the senior members of the design team working on the Hornet
De Havilland Hornet
The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet was a piston engine fighter that further exploited the wooden construction techniques pioneered by de Havilland's classic Mosquito. Entering service at the end of the Second World War, the Hornet equipped postwar RAF Fighter Command day fighter units in the UK and was...
fighter, based on the Mosquito, for which he designed a unique flap design. Later, as one of the team of designers on the D.H.100 Vampire
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
, he was responsible for the design of the original flaps, dive brakes and ailerons for this fighter. The Vampire was the second British jet fighter designed in the Second World War, but other than its powerplant and plywood construction patterned on the Mosquito, the diminutive fighter was mainly conventional in design.
de Havilland DH.108 Swallow
Frost had then become heavily involved in one of the most important new developments at the time- swept wings and a tailless configuration on a supersonic jet fighter. Designer and company founder, Sir Geoffrey de HavillandGeoffrey de Havilland
Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, OM, CBE, AFC, RDI, FRAeS, was a British aviation pioneer and aircraft engineer...
, had already begun the D.H.106 Comet
De Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
development process and was considering that radical configuration for the world's first jet airliner. As Project Engineer on the D.H.108, with only a team of 8-10 draughtsmen and engineers, Frost created a remarkable aircraft by marrying the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
to a swept wing and short stubby vertical tail to make the first British swept wing jet, soon to be unofficially known as the "Swallow." The elegant and sleek experimental D.H.108 was also to serve as a test "mule" to investigate stability and control problems for the new Comet airliner.
The D.H.108 first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after Frost had a go-ahead on the project. Company test pilot and son of the builder, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr
Geoffrey de Havilland Jr
* For the father of the same name see: Geoffrey de HavillandGeoffrey Roal de Havilland Jr., OBE was a British test pilot and the son of the English aviation pioneer and aircraft designer of the same name, Geoffrey de Havilland....
., flew the first of three aircraft and found it extremely fast - fast enough to try for a world speed record. On 12 April 1948, a D.H.108 did set a world's speed record at 973.65 km/h (605 mph) and later on became the first jet aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. The first D.H.108, TG-283, was alleged to have suddenly jumped from Mach .98 to Mach 1.05 while being test-flown by John Derry
John Derry
John Douglas Derry DFC was a British test pilot, and was the first Briton to exceed the speed of sound...
on 9 September 1948. On 27 September 1946, while practising for an upcoming run at a new speed record, Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. died when his D.H.108 broke up in the air at or near the speed of sound.
Avro Canada
Frost was persuaded to move to Canada in 1947, shortly after the completion of the design of the Swallow, where he joined A.V. Roe Canada (Avro CanadaAvro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
). To him, this was an ideal opportunity- there was a promising project to work on and a chance to get away from the depressing conditions of postwar Britain. At the time, his wife, Joan, was living in the north of England while Frost worked at Hatfield
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
, near London. Accommodations for many young couples were similarly strained. During his tenure at de Havilland, Frost began to put forward a number of unique ideas in regards to a tip jet-driven rotor helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
- a concept also known as a gyrodyne. He continued his research privately and with a group of friends, including fellow engineer, T. Desmond Earl, built a scale model to test his theories. Shortly after his departure to Canada, Earl joined Frost in his new venture, and remained his "right-hand man" for the rest of the Canadian period.
XC-100 / CF-100 jet fighter
On 14 June 1947, Frost arrived at Avro CanadaAvro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
's Malton, Ontario
Malton, Ontario
Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto. The neighbourhood has a population of approximately 36,400 as of 2002....
facility with his wife to take over as Project Designer of the new XC-100 jet fighter interceptor. After 18 months of development, the fighter had entered the mock-up stage. Frost made a decision to alter the aircraft design which immediately brought him into conflict with Avro Canada Chief Aerodynamacist Jim Chamberlin
Jim Chamberlin
James A. "Jim" Chamberlin was a Canadian aerodynamicist who contributed to the design of the Canadian Avro Arrow; and NASA's Gemini spacecraft and the Apollo program...
. Basically "cleaning up" the fuselage, Frost set out to change the design subtly. Even though he wanted to use a swept-wing configuration, the prototype (by now called the CF-100 Canuck) proceeded to prototype stage in the same basic configuration of straight-winged, twin-engined form. (The swept-wing CF-103
Avro Canada CF-103
|-See also:-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Campagna, Palmiro. Requiem for a Giant: A.V. Roe Canada and the Avro Arrow. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2003. ISBN 1-5500-2438-8....
proposed by Frost in December 1950 was a transonic follow-up to the CF-100). Although the CF-100 prototype was now a much more sleek shape, Frost still considered the design awkward. "It was a clumsy thing. All brute force," he remarked.
While Frost was in England to confer with members of the Hawker Siddeley Group, Chamberlin made another alteration moving the engines back "notching" the wing spar
Spar (aviation)
In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings whilst on the ground...
to accommodate the change. The weakened spar was a flexible structure where the stress was heavy leading to potentially dangerous situations with the CF-100.
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
Bill Waterton
Bill Waterton
Squadron Leader Bill Waterton GM AFC* was a Canadian test pilot and correspondent for the Daily Express. He was awarded the George Medal for saving the flight data when he landed at great risk the prototype Gloster Javelin after it lost its controls during a test flight.-Early years:Born in...
flew with Frost in the second seat; to the test pilot, this was a revelation: "(Frost was)...very much the keen English public schoolboy type. Here was another delightful contrast to England, where I was never able to find a designer with spare time enough to fly in his own creation." Frost considered it important to get a feel for the aircraft and its systems. He even tested the CF-100's ejection seat by becoming a test subject himself. Early flights revealed the great potential of the aircraft but also showed the flaw in the spar was dangerous. With the crash of the second CF-100 prototype and early production CF-100s delivered to the RCAF without the final modifications to the spar, Frost was blamed for the delays and removed as CF-100 Project Designer in early 1952.
Special Projects Group
Frost made a proposal that Avro start an experimental project based on vertical takeoff and landing concepts. "It was not a case of Frost indulging in a personal whim. The idea of a saucer-like flying machine had revolutionary implications then and still does. A conventional aircraft is very inefficient, aerodynamically. Like a bumble beeBumblebee
A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...
, there's no way it should fly. It only does so because of the wing which gives it lift and the engine's power to overcome the drag of the fuselage, the load, the tailplane, the stabilizers, fins and the engines."
Shortly after its formation in 1952, Frost's Special Projects Group started a paper study on a "pancake" engine, a jet turbine that had its main components arranged in a circular design. From the outset, the Special Projects Group had a cloak-and-dagger feel to it. Housed in a Second World War-era structure, across from the company headquarters, the group had all the accoutrements of a top-secret operation, including security guards, locked doors and special pass cards. Within the confines of this technical fortress, Frost surrounded himself with a collection of like-minded dreamers and maverick engineers. There he encouraged close cooperation and, while ostensibly the boss, he was collegial and very much one of the boys.
Project Y
Coanda effect
The Coandă effect is the tendency of a fluid jet to be attracted to a nearby surface. The principle was named after Romanian aerodynamics pioneer Henri Coandă, who was the first to recognize the practical application of the phenomenon in aircraft development....
" confirmed that the concept of ground cushion could be the basis for a vehicle he had envisioned that could have both have vertical take-off and landing (VTOL
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
) capabilities and could still operate as a high-performance aircraft. As Frost developed further studies, his ideas on revolutionary vertical takeoff systems led to the patent of "Aircraft Propulsion and Control".
In 1952, "Project Y", a "spade-shaped" fighter powered by Frost’s revolutionary pancake engine proceeded to mock-up stage. By 1953, with the company having little more than a wooden mock-up, paper drawings and promises to show for a $4-million (Cdn) outlay, a more critical eye was cast on the project. Not surprisingly, the plug got pulled when government funding from the Defence Research Board dried up.
The American Connection: Project Y-2 / Weapons Systems 606A / VZ-9-AV Avrocar
The PV-704 supersonic test model, powered by six Armstrong-Siddeley Viper
Armstrong-Siddeley Viper
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9-External links:*...
jet engines driving a central rotor, was built and housed inside a small, brick testing rig. The test model was abandoned in favour of a simpler flying model led to the only design that materialized from the Avro Special Project Group, a "proof-of-concept" vehicle, the VZ-9-AV "Avrocar"
Avrocar (aircraft)
The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar was a VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War. The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single "turborotor" blowing exhaust out...
. Two Avrocar prototypes were constructed and completed a series of wind tunnel tests at NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Ames in California and a 75-hour flying program at the Malton home of Avro Canada. The results of the testing revealed a stability problem and degraded performance due to turbo-rotor tolerances. Before modifications could be achieved, funding ran out with the final flight test program completed in March 1961.
As the result of his work in vertical takeoff systems, John Frost was invited to become a fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute after he presented the W. Rupert Turnbull seventh lecture on 25 May 1961. The citation noted that Frost had discovered and patented the air cushion effect that had been evident in his work on flying saucers and that U.S. Patent #3124323 "Aircraft Propulsion and Control" was one of a series of US, Canadian and British patents to became known as the "Frost patents."
New Zealand
With the end of the Avrocar project, he left A. V. Roe Canada early in 1962. In the wake of the cancellation of its premier fighter program, the CF-105 Avro ArrowCF-105 Arrow
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited in Malton, Ontario, Canada, as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953...
by the Canadian government, Avro Canada was unable to survive, being broken up on 30 April 1962. Like many of the former employees of A.V. Roe Canada, John Frost began a new career when he left the company. He left Canada for New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in 1964 where he again became part of the aviation industry; first joining the airworthiness section of the Civil Aviation Authority
Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand is the government agency tasked with establishing civil aviation safety and security standards in New Zealand....
where he headed the certification
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
of the Waitomo PL-11 Airtruck
Bennett Airtruck
The PL-11 Airtruck is a New Zealand agricultural aircraft.A strikingly unusual aircraft, the PL-11 Airtruck was designed as a de Havilland Tiger Moth replacement for the New Zealand aerial topdressing market by Luigi Pellarini in 1960 for Waitomo Aircraft. The prototype was constructed using bits...
, the first commercial aircraft developed in New Zealand. During this period, Frost also designed the Murray Air, an agricultural biplane.
Later in 1965, Frost became a technical services engineer for Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
, serving in that position for 13 years until his retirement in April 1978. His time at Air New Zealand was very fulfilling. He was responsible for all technical activities at the airline's engineering headquarters at Mangere, New Zealand. All "Air New Zealand aircraft are showcases for the Frost ingenuity." (Daily News New Zealand, April 1978). The unique swiveling bassinets attached to the airliner's hat racks are his design along with locks that hold down pallets in the cargo hold, air-conditioning systems for the cargo bay, rest seats for air crew, toilet tap washers and gallery plugs. His most impressive design was a gigantic hydraulically operated tail dock system.
After retirement, his fertile imagination continued to explore many areas. He became involved in an aviation project - designing and constructing, with the assistance of university students at Auckland, a human-powered aircraft
Human-powered aircraft
A human-powered aircraft is an aircraft powered by direct human energy and the force of gravity; the thrust provided by the human may be the only source; however, a hang glider that is partially powered by pilot power is a human-powered aircraft where the flight path can be enhanced more than if...
. He would not see his EMME 1 fly.
Death
Frost died from a heart attack in AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand on 9 October 1979 at the age of 63; but his last creation did fly, albeit towed behind a car, and the EMME 1 is now under restoration for display at the Museum of Transport and Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.