Sir Arthur Marshall

Arthur Gregory George Marshall, aviation engineer, flying instructor and test pilot: born Cambridge 4 December 1903; chairman and joint managing director, Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) 1942-89, Life President 1990-2007; OBE 1948; Kt 1974; married 1931 Rosemary Dimsdale (died 1988; two sons, one daughter); died Linton, Cambridgeshire 16 March 2007.

Arthur Marshall might be best remembered for founding Marshall of Cambridge, a leading aerospace engineering company that carries out all manner of work on both civil and military fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and was responsible for the rapid adaptation of RAF Lockheed Hercules transports for air-to-air refuelling when the Falklands crisis arose. However, the achievement of which he was most proud was the setting up in the 1930s of a pilot and flying-instructor school, which made 200-300 pilots available for the Battle of Britain and ensured that there was no shortage of instructors or pilots in the RAF from 1941 onwards.

Marshall was born in Cambridge in December 1903. His earliest aviation memory was of family consternation resulting from the first crossing of the English Channel by Louis Blériot in 1909, which fired both him and his father with enthusiasm for flying. The first of eight children born to David and Maude Marshall, Arthur was educated at Tonbridge School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he gained a full Blue for athletics. In 1924 he was a reserve member of Great Britain's team for the Olympics, held that year in Paris. Awarded an MA in Engineering, in 1926 he joined the Marshall of Cambridge garage business established by his father before the First World War.

On 29 June 1927, Marshall, unbeknown to his parents, had his first flying lesson, on a de Havilland Cirrus Moth of the Norfolk & Norwich Aero Club. He flew his first solo on 3 July 1928, and gained his Private Pilot's Licence 11 days later.

Purchasing a Moth, he flew it from a field acquired from Whitehill Farm, adjoining his parents' estate. Late in March 1929 Sir Alan Cobham made a forced landing in the field while undertaking an aerial survey, and the result was a grand opening of the field as an aerodrome during Cambridge University May Week, with a flying school following in October. Arthur Marshall undertook much of the flying instruction in between garage work, and the company eventually became established as Marshall of Cambridge (Engineering) Ltd.

The school's activity increased steadily through the 1930s. In December 1935, with pre-war expansion of the RAF and a consequent shortage of instructors, Arthur Marshall decided to train individuals from scratch from the age of 18, to be passed out within 11 to 14 weeks by the RAF's Central Flying School as advanced instructors. Thus, by the outbreak of the Second World War, his school, the Marshall Ab Initio Pilot and Flying Instructor Training Scheme, had 35 flying instructors.

Initial attempts to have the Marshall scheme adopted by the RAF were unsuccessful, but in May 1941 five Supplementary Flying Instructor Schools were established, including one at Cambridge. "Had our scheme been adopted when war broke out," Sir Arthur later averred, "there would have been no shortage of pilots for the Battle of Britain". A new aerodrome, near Teversham Corner, was built in 1937, and 500 pilots had been trained by the time of its official opening in October 1938, the school having gained a reputation as Britain's finest. In 1942 Marshall became chairman and joint managing director of the company.

In August 1939 Marshall's had been made responsible for refurbishing, modifying and rebuilding Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers, and later was contracted to service the Avro Ansons of No 3 Air Observers' School. Eventually an enormous variety of wartime aircraft were serviced or repaired, and subsequently flight-tested, at Marshall's, much of the testing burden being taken by Arthur Marshall himself, who sometimes flew unfamiliar aircraft types at very short notice. He made his final military test flight, in a Douglas Dakota transport, in April 1946.

With the ban on civil flying due to be lifted on 1 January 1946, the school needed aircraft. Marshall found a Tiger Moth biplane that had been dismantled and stored during the war, and managed to get it airworthy so that the Cambridge Aero Club's first post-war instructional flight, with Lady Bragg, the Mayoress of Cambridge, as the student, could be made on the significant day. Thus the club was the first in Britain to start operating after the war.

The company continued to flourish under Marshall's leadership, and in 1948 he was appointed OBE, followed by a Coronation Medal, for services to the Air Training Corps. In 1974 he was knighted for services to the RAF, and he was also an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and a Companion of the Air League. He was made a Companion of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1980.

Marshall carried on flying his company's Citation business jet until Easter 1988. Even when he finally relegated himself to a passenger seat he maintained a close interest in piloting activities, and followed the progress of a flight using a route map and radio log. He handed over the responsibilities of chairman and chief executive to his son, Michael, at Christmas 1989, but remained life president of Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings). In 1998 he was awarded the Masefield Gold Medal of the British Association of Aviation Consultants, and in 2001 was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Arthur Marshall was also involved in many aviation activities outside of his business, serving as a member of the Air Cadet Council 1951-59 and 1965-76, chairing the Aerodrome Owners' Association in 1964-65, and serving on the Advisory Council on Technology from 1967 to 1970. He was High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire in 1969-70.

Philip Jarrett