ABTN sadly has to report the passing of Desmond Norman (73), designer in conjunction with John Britten (who died in 1979), of the B-N Islander utility aircraft, arguably, in terms of numbers, the UK”s most successful commercial aircraft. Over 1,250 Islanders have been built to date, the aircraft still in production on the Isle of Wight as the B-N Group. John Britten and Desmond Norman met at the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School in 1947. In later years Des worked as a consultant for the Air Atlantique Group at Coventry Airport where examples of some of his other designs can still be seen. Des Norman (right) pictured with B-N Group Chairman, Alawi Zawawi, on the ABTN website, the picture taken at Bembridge in April 2001.
http://www.britten-norman.com