One of the early aero engine pioneers, Air Cdre Rod Banks takes us through his eventful career. Banks fell in love with aircraft as a boy when his father took him to watch Farman fly in 1909 and it was Farman’s test pilot that first took him up in an aircraft a few years later. Too young to join the air services in World War I, Banks entered the Navy, snatching assignments with engines throughout his service, before joining the aero engines industry with Peter Hooker Ltd after the war. Banks then specialised in fuel and became famous after concocting special fuel cocktails for the Schneider Trophy contests. At the beginning of World War II Banks was headhunted by the RAF and, most notably, helped to boost production and then supervised development of the new jet engine. He was called back into Government service in the early 1950s and once again advised on the use and development of jet engines.

Air Cdre. F. R. Banks was interviewed by Lt. Dr. W. Tuck at the Science Museum in 1969. The podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS and it was digitised thanks to a grant from the Royal Aeronautical Society Foundation.