The Papers of Air Commodore Francis Banks

Francis Rodwell Banks was born 22 March 1898, son of late Bernard Rodwell and Frances Emily Banks. In 1925 he married Christine Constance Grant Langlands, with whom he had two daughters. Banks was educated at Christ's College.

Banks served in the First and Second World Wars: 1914-1919 in the Navy and 1939-1946 in the RAF. Between the two wars he specialised in the development of aviation engines and their fuels with The Associated Ethyl Company (a company which was responsible for the production, research and development of aero engines, including gas turbines, at Ministry of Aircraft Production, during the Second World War). Banks was Principal Director of Engine Research and Development, Ministry of Supply (1952-1953); Director of the Bristol Aeroplane Company (1954-1959); Director of Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd (1954-59), then worked as an Engineering Consultant. He died in 1985.

Banks wrote various technical papers on aviation engines and their fuels and his memoir "I Kept No Diary" (1978 with a 2nd revised edition in 1983).

Papers and photographs mainly relating to Bank's career in aviation.

Acc 559 - The papers were deposited at Churchill Archives Centre between 1983 and 2007.

The collection is owned by Churchill College.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain her prior permission and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Air Commodore Francis Banks, FROB

The catalogue is available on the Janus website; at the National Register of Archives, London; and at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge.

The collection (fonds) level description was prepared by Natalie Adams of Churchill Archives Centre in February 2002 using information from Who Was Who (A and C Black). The collection was catalogued by Madelin Terrazas, December 2009.