Nicholas Comper (29 April 1897 – 17 June 1939) was an English aviator and aircraft designer, whose most notable success was the 1930s Comper Swift monoplane racer. Comper was born in Lambeth, London, England, the son of architect Sir John Ninian Comper. At the start of World War I, he joined the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco), to study aeronautics. He left the company in 1915 to join the Royal Flying Corps, and was soon flying reconnaissance missions in France.

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  • Nicholas Comper (29 April 1897 – 17 June 1939) was an English aviator and aircraft designer, whose most notable success was the 1930s Comper Swift monoplane racer. Comper was born in Lambeth, London, England, the son of architect Sir John Ninian Comper. At the start of World War I, he joined the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco), to study aeronautics. He left the company in 1915 to join the Royal Flying Corps, and was soon flying reconnaissance missions in France. After the war, Comper stayed in what was now the Royal Air Force, and in 1920 he studied aerodynamics at Jesus College, Cambridge. After a posting to Felixstowe to study flying boats and seaplanes, he was sent to RAF Cranwell to train engineering officers. One of his pupils was Frank Whittle, the jet engine pioneer. In 1923, Comper and some of his pupils and other members of staff formed the Cranwell Light Aeroplane Club. The Club went on to build four aircraft designed by Comper, named Cranwell C.L.A.2, C.L.A.3, and two examples of the C.L.A.4A. He soon realised that if he wanted to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering, he would have to leave the RAF. In March 1929 he left the RAF, and formed the Comper Aircraft Company at Hooton Park Aerodrome near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. His first design to be built there was his most successful, the Comper Swift, a single-seat racing monoplane. In March 1933, the company moved to Heston Aerodrome near London, but it was struggling financially, and the company ceased trading in 1934. Comper then became a design consultant, without much success. He also worked on a new training aircraft design, the Comper Scamp. The single-seat trial version named the CF.1 Fly was built by students at Brooklands College. After Comper's death, it was completed with RAF serial T1788 by Heston Aircraft Company who failed to make it fly with the available engine power. Comper's collaborator on the CF.1 project, Gerard Fane, later developed the concept into an air observation post aircraft, the Fane F.1/40. In December 1936, he formed a new company, Comper Aeroplanes Limited. He started to design two airliners he called Dominion and Commerce. All this came to nothing when on 17 June 1939, aged 42, he died in unusual circumstances. Comper had been a practical joker, and after he was stopped lighting fireworks in a public house, he went outside. As he bent down to light the firework, a passer-by enquired what he was doing, his reply that he was an IRA man and was going to blow up the town hall, prompting the passer-by to knock him down. Comper hit his head on the kerb, suffering a brain haemorrhage, and died later in hospital.
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  • Nicholas Comper (29 April 1897 – 17 June 1939) was an English aviator and aircraft designer, whose most notable success was the 1930s Comper Swift monoplane racer. Comper was born in Lambeth, London, England, the son of architect Sir John Ninian Comper. At the start of World War I, he joined the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Airco), to study aeronautics. He left the company in 1915 to join the Royal Flying Corps, and was soon flying reconnaissance missions in France.
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  • Nicholas Comper
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