David Ronald de Mey Warren AO PhD BSc (1925 - 2010)

Born 20 Mar 1925 in Groote Eylandt, Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, Australia

Died 19 Jul 2010 at age 85 in Brighton, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

David Warren AO PhD BSc is Notable.

David Warren AO PhD BSc left a lasting legacy for the aviation industry through his idea for a machine that would record the voices and instrument readings in the cockpit of an aeroplane. The modern-day equivalent of his device is now installed in aircraft around the world. He was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013. ^[1]

David Ronald de Mey Warren was born on 20th March 1925 in the south west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, on Groote Eylandt, Anindilyakwa, Northern Territory, Australia. He was the son of Christian missionaries, Reverend Hubert Warren and Ellie Potter. At the age of four, he was sent to boarding school at Launceston Grammar School, Tasmania, and then Trinity Grammar School in New South Wales. When David was nine years old, his father died when the Holyman's Airlines de Havilland 86 aeroplane (VH-URN), Miss Hobart, travelling from Launceston to Melbourne was lost over Bass Strait. There were no survivors and no clues as to why it went down. ^[2] Nevertheless, it is clearly David's father who (either knowingly or not) feathered the young lad's fire for both aviation and chemistry, for it was he who gave David his first chemistry set and regaled him with stories of the pioneer aviators who flew over Groote Eylandt. Indeed, David would have seen many of them himself in QANTAS' formative years.

David graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science (BSc). After completing his degree, he worked as a teacher and as a lecturer in chemistry.

David met Ruth Meadows, who became his wife and lifetime supporter when they married in 1948 in Chatswood, New South Wales. ^[3] Together, they raised three children, Jenny, Meg and Peter, and shared an interest in science and education.

In 1948 he was appointed as Scientific Officer chemist at Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia. His research into rocket fuel took him to Imperial College London in 1949, where he took a PhD in chemical engineering. Two years later David began work as a scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne, now part of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. In 1953, he was involved in the accident investigations into the crash of the world’s first jetliner, a de Havilland DH106 Comet. During the investigation, he put forward the idea of a cockpit voice recorder as a means of solving otherwise unexplainable aircraft accidents; later completing much of the conceptual work and prototype development of the black box flight data recorder.

From 1952 to 1983, he held the position of Principal Research Scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories. He was also the Scientific Advisor to the Victorian State Parliament in 1981-82.

He was awarded the Centenary Medal in January 2002 for his 'service to the Australian society through the aviation industry'. ^[4] In the Australia Day Honours 2002, Dr David Warren was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his 'services to the aviation industry, particularly through the early conceptual work and prototype development of the black box flight data recorder'. ^[5]

Aged about 85 years, he passed away on 19th July 2010 in Brighton, Victoria.

Sources

1. ↑ AAHOF; accessed 7 Oct 2022
2. ↑ Aviation Safety Network; accessed 22 Oct 2022
3. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #3016/1948
4. ↑ Australian Honours: Centenary Medal; accessed 7 Oct 2022
5. ↑ Australian Honours: AO; accessed 7 Oct 2022