Colin Baron
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Colin Baron (20 May 1921 – 7 November 1987) was a British engineer from Yorkshire who designed weapon systems, namely anti-aircraft missiles (surface-to-air missiles), for the Ministry of Defence (UK).
Early life[edit]
He was the son of John Baron and Dorothy Crumpler. He was born in Nottingham. He attended a boys' grammar school (Carlton Bolling College since 1977) in the south-east of Bradford, then in the West Riding. From the University of Leeds he gained a BSc in Physics 1941 and an MSc in 1947.
Career[edit]
Royal Radar Establishment[edit]
At the RRE he did research on microwaves, which led to him becoming a division leader on guided weapons.
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Royal Aircraft Establishment[edit]
At the RAE he became Head of the Guided Weapons Assessment Research Group in 1966. He later became Head of Avionics in 1970, then Flight Systems in 1974.
Rapier missile[edit]
From 1958 he had worked with Cambridge-educated John Twinn in developing an affordable guided missile that could knock out low-flying aircraft. The Army was more interested in artillery with proximity fuses. The cost of providing a missile with radar guidance was an expensive solution. The solution was to employ a Command to Line of Sight Guidance System (CLOS), whereby the missile contained no radar. The missile system had a system that optically tracked the aircraft and missile.
It was given to BAC who developed it further as the Rapier missile; it entered service in 1971.
Personal life[edit]
He married Margaret Whalley in 1942 in Bradford; they had a son (born 1944) and daughter (born 1943). He lived in Upton-upon-Severn. He married Anita Hale in 1961 in Worcester; he had a step-son. In his later life he lived in Farnham, Surrey. He died at the age of 66.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- Times obituary Saturday 14 November 1987, page 12