Henry Philip Folland was born on 22 January 1889 in Cambridge, the son of Frederick Folland and Mary Ann Folland (née Partridge).

Folland left school at 13 and in 1905 he became an apprentice at the Lanchester Motor Company in Birmingham. He then joined the design staff at Swift Motor Company and then in 1908 he became a draughtsman at the Daimler Company. It was at Daimler that he developed his interest in powered flying machines. At weekend he used top cycle from his home in Coventry to Castle Bromwich to watch the activity at the Midland Aero Club.

In March 1912 Folland joined the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough as a section leader. One of the first tasks assigned to him was to assist Geoffrey de Havilland in the B.S.1, following which he detail a new two-seater designed specifically for reconnaissance and so intended to be inherently stable, thus relieving the pilot of the task of keeping the machine steady and leaving him free to study the ground below. The result was the R.E.1, which first flew in May 1913. This was followed by modifications to the B.S.1, now renamed S.E.2.

Following the unbuilt S.E.3, Folland's next designs were the S.E.4 and Se.E.4a high speed biplanes, followed by the highly successful S.E.5 and S.E.5a fighters in 1916. He also designed the Aerial Target, an anti-Zeppelin pilotless aircraft designed to use A M Low's radio control systems and built by Ruston Proctor.

In October 1917, disgruntled with the organisation at the Royal Aircraft Factory, Folland left to join the Nieuport and General Aircraft Company of Cricklewood as chief designer. There he was responsible for the Nieuport Nighthawk, which was adopted as a standard fighter by the Royal Air Force but did not enter service owing to the problems in development of its ABC Dragonfly engine. Nieuport struggled through the early post war years of massive cancellations of war time contracts, but eventually succumbed in 1921.

Gloucestershire Aircraft, of Sunningend, Cheltenham, had built a number of Nieuport Nighthawks under subcontract and, following Nieuport's collapse, acquired the production rights along with a number of airframes. They also acquired the part time services of Folland as a consultant. On 1 August 1921 he finally joined the company as Chief Engineer and Designer. There he designed the Bamel which won the Aerial Derby in 1921, 1922 and 1923. He followed this with the Sparrowhawk, Nighthjar and Mars series of Nighthawk derivatives.

Folland continued to evolve the basic design that had begun with the S.E.5 of 1916, through the Nighthawk derivatives and on into the Gloucestershire Grouse, Grebe and Gamecock. In December 1926, it was decided to simplify the company name to the Gloster Aircraft Company, and Folland's single seat fighter designs continued, through the Gauntlet to his final biplane, the Gladiator. He was also responsible for the Gloster III biplane racer which came second in the 1925 Schneider Trophy seaplane race, the Gloster IV and VI Schneider Trophy contenders, the latter being a monoplane.

Folland finally moved from biplane to monoplane fighter with his last design for Glosters, the F.5/34. He resigned from Gloster in January 1937, replaced as Chief Engineer by George Carter. Since the 1934 takeover of Gloster by Hawker, Folland had been concerned that his design team would be subservient to that Sydney Camm at Hawker, and decided to form his own company.

British Marine Aircraft Ltd was formed in February 1936 to produce Sikorsky S.42A flying boats under license in the United Kingdom. British Marine had bought Sydney lodge at Hamble, a late 18th century mansion and home of the Yorke family, in 1936, together with Cliff House for its access to Southampton Water. On the land a huge new factory was built with a slipway. The intention was to licence build Sikorsky S-42 four-engined flying boats but the scheme and the Company failed financially and the first aircraft was never completed. A complete new board was appointed, with Folland as technical director. By December 1937 was refinanced and new contracts were in hand, and the decision was made to rename the the company Folland Aircraft Ltd.

Initially, Folland Aircraft were involved in manufacturing aircraft components on the banks of the Solent Estuary at The Hamble which included 35,000 major and sub-assemblies for a wide range of British military aircraft. Sub-contract work also involved the manufacture of ailerons for the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire as well as components for the De Havilland Mosquito and Vickers Wellington bomber. Folland are recorded as supplying around 16,000 tail portions for the Spitfire.

The first true Folland Type to fly was the Fo.108, a flying test bed which earned the nickname the ‘Folland Frightful’ due to its unusual appearance. Further designs were then tendered to meet research requirements of investigating the issues of landing aircraft on sea-borne carriers.

On 8 June 1950 Folland was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE). By July 1951, Folland was suffering from severe ill health and resigned as Managing Director, being succeeded by the designer W. E. W. Petter who had left English Electric. Nonetheless he remained on the Board until his death.

Henry Philip Folland OBE, FRAeS, died on 5 September 1954 in Nottingham.

1. Wikipedia
2. Fighter Master - Folland and the Gladiators, Derek N. James (Tempus, 2007)
3. Spirit of Hamble - Folland Aircraft, Derek N. James (Tempus, 2000)
4. http://www.cmlx.co.uk/hawkerassociation/hanewsletters/hanewsletter024nvu/follandspiritofhamble.html