C. E. Bowden

C. E. Bowden pictured in a profile from Model Engineer magazine in 1937

Lt-Colonel Claude Evelyn Bowden (1897 - 1984) was a British military officer, RFC pilot and one of the most well-known aeromodellers in the 1920s to 1950s.^[1] Universally known as "C. E. Bowden", Percival Marshall said of him:

"My friend Capt. Bowden has done more than any other man in the world to popularize and develop interest in petrol-driven model aircraft. His work is known throughout the world, and he will go down in posterity as the man who demonstrated the practicability of model aircraft powered by tiny internal combustion engines."^[2]

He achieved successful powered flight with a model using E.T. Westbury's Atom Minor engine.

"His association with the late Edgar Westbury had considerable influence on petrol engine design, notably in the Atom series, and it was the Atom II that he established a new duration record in 1932, comfortably exceeding Stranger's record which had stood since 1912."^[3]

He was educated at Radley College where he set up a model aeroplane club, all the members of this club went on to serve with the Royal Flying Corps in the Great War, including Thomas Langford-Sainsbury who went on to become an Air Vice-Marshal and commanded British Air Forces in Egypt during World War II. Bowden was a single-seat scout pilot, but returned to the army after the war - hence his ultimate rank of Lieutenant Colonel.^[4]

Atom Minor IC engine by E.T. Westbury

He went on to establish IC powered model flight duration records, initially of seventy-one seconds in 1932 with Kanga^[5][6] and in 1936 with his Blue Diamond, also powered by Atom Minor. Atom Minor was also the power plant used in the hydroplane "Jildi Junior" to set up the 15cc Class C Hydroplane record in 1934. In 1937 he achieved the first officially observed "rise of water" flight in Great Britain with a model petrol-powered flying boat.^[7]

Following the Second World War, he pioneered radio controlled flight and also made significant innovations with radio controlled boats and the design of both model and full-size yachts.^[8] He wrote prolifically on these subjects.^[9]

In 1943 he was appointed Vice-President of the British Model Flying Association ^[10] - no minor honor given that other past vice-presidents include the likes of Lord Brabazon.

Military Service

Details of Bowden's military service are held by his former school. He entered service in 1914 serving in France and Palestine during the Great War and rose to Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. In 1918 he was promoted to Captain in the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force. Following the war he returned to Army service Bowden served in India as a subaltern and recounted an eventful journey in his "glamorous" A V Monocar with his Colonel's charming daughter.^[11] He became a Major in 1938 and Lt. Colonel in 1939. During World War II in the Royal Army Service Corps he was an acting Colonel in 1942, and retired as Lt. Colonel in 1946.,^[12][13] His military career included time at Cranwell, where he was a contemporary of Westbury, Frank Whittle and T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).^[14]

Personal life

Bowden was born on 11 October 1897.^[15] the son of Rev.H. A. Bowden . He went to Radley Collge, a boarding school in rural Oxfordshire, entering in Summer Term 1910 and left to enter military service in 1914. In 1924 Jesse Grace Holmes, daughter of Rev. W. P. Holmes^[16] He died on 9 October 1984, leaving his widow, Grace Bowden.

Publications

• Model Glow Plug Engines, Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd., London, 1949
• Petrol Engined Model Aircraft, Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd., London, 1937
• Model Jet Reaction Engines: With Notes for Suitable Models for Jet Engines, Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd., London
• Model Yacht Construction and Sailing, Percival Marshall & Co. Ltd., London
• Diesel Model Engines

References