Nicholas Comper (29 April 1897 – 17 June 1939) was an English aviator and aircraft designer, whose most notable success was the 1930s Comper Swift monoplane racer.
In 1923, Comper and some of his pupils and other members of staff formed the Cranwell Light Aeroplane Club. The Club went on to build four aircraft designed by Comper, named Cranwell C.L.A.2, C.L.A.3, and two examples of the C.L.A.4A.[3] In late 1926 he was posted to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment (MAEE) Felixstowe to work on flying boats and seaplanes. In March 1929, having reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant, he resigned his commission to pursue aircraft design ambitions.[1][2]
In August 1934, Comper joined with Francis R Walker to form a design consultancy named Comper and Walker Ltd, based in central London. He worked on airliner projects he called Dominion and Commerce. In December 1936, he renamed the company Comper Aeroplanes Limited, to develop those concepts. In 1938, working from his home in Walton-on-Thames, Comper designed a new training aircraft named the Comper Scamp. The single-seat trial version named the CF.1 Fly was built by students at the Chelsea College of Aeronautical Engineering at Brooklands Aerodrome.[1][2]
On 17 June 1939, in Hythe, Kent, Comper was fatally injured in unusual circumstances. He had been a practical joker, and after he was stopped lighting fireworks in a public house, he went outside. As he bent down to light the firework, a passer-by enquired what he was doing, his reply was that he was an IRA man and was going to blow up the town hall, prompting the passer-by to knock him down. Comper hit his head on the kerb, suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died later in hospital, aged 42.[1]
After Comper's death, the Comper CF.1 Fly was completed with RAF serial T1788 by Heston Aircraft Company, who failed to make it fly with the available engine power. Comper's collaborator on the CF.1 project, Gerard Fane, later developed the concept into a newly designed air observation post (AOP) aircraft, the Fane F.1/40.[1][2][3]
