VZ-9 Avrocar
The Avrocar S/N 58-7055 (marked AV-7055) on its rollout.
Role	experimental "proof-of-concept" VTOL vehicle
National origin	Canada
Manufacturer	Avro Aircraft Ltd. (Canada)
Designer	John Frost
First flight	12 November 1959
Introduction	1958
Retired	1961
Status	experimental
Primary users	United States Air Force (intended) United States Army (intended)
Produced	1958–1959
Number built	2
Unit cost	Project cost: $10 million (USD)[1]

The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar was a VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. (Canada) as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War.^[2] The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single "turborotor" blowing exhaust out the rim of the disk-shaped aircraft to provide anticipated VTOL-like performance. In the air, it would have resembled a flying saucer. Two prototypes were built as "proof-of-concept" test vehicles for a more advanced USAF fighter and also for a U.S. Army tactical combat aircraft requirement.^[3] In flight testing, the Avrocar proved to have unresolved thrust and stability problems that limited it to a degraded, low-performance flight envelope; subsequently, the project was cancelled in September 1961.

Through the history of the program, the project was referred to by a number of different names. Avro referred to the efforts as Project Y, with individual vehicles known as Spade and Omega. Project Y-2 was later funded by the US Air Force, who referred to it as WS-606A, Project 1794 and Project Silver Bug. When the US Army joined the efforts it took on its final name "Avrocar", and the designation "VZ-9", part of the US Army's VTOL projects in the VZ series.

Design and development[link]

The Avrocar was the ultimate result of a series of blue skies research projects by designer "Jack" Frost, who had joined Avro Canada in June 1947 after working for several British firms.^[4] He had been with de Havilland from 1942 and had worked on the de Havilland Hornet, de Havilland Vampire jet fighter and the de Havilland Swallow aircraft, where he had been the chief designer on the supersonic research project.^[5] At Avro Canada, he had worked on the Avro CF-100 before creating a research team known as the "Special Projects Group" (more commonly known as SPG). Frost first surrounded himself with a collection of like-minded "maverick" engineers, then arranged for a work site. Initially ensconced in the "Penthouse" (the derisive company nickname for the executive wing) of the Administration Building, the SPG was subsequently relocated to a Second World War-era structure across from the company headquarters, the Schaeffer Building, that was secured with security guards, locked doors and special pass cards. At times, the SPG also operated out of the Experimental Hangar where it shared space with other esoteric Avro project teams.

At the time, Frost was particularly interested in jet engine design and ways to improve the efficiency of the compressor without sacrificing the simplicity of the turbine engine. He found Frank Whittle's "reverse flow" design too complex and was interested in ways to "clean up" the layout. This led him to design a new type of engine layout with the flame cans lying directly outside the outer rim of the centrifugal compressor, pointed outwards like the spokes on a wheel. Power for the compressor was drawn from a new type of turbine similar to a centrifugal fan, as opposed to the more typical propeller-like turbine, driving the compressor using gearing rather than a shaft. The resulting engine had no conventional thrust axis, and was arranged in the form of a large disk, which he referred to as a "pancake engine."^[6] The jet thrust exited from around the entire rim of the engine, and this presented problems trying to adapt the design to a typical aircraft.

Project Y[link]

Rare colour image from an Avro Aircraft company film showing the Project Y mock-up in the Experimental Flight Hangar c. 1954. The edge of the wing closest to the camera shows the scalloped nozzles used to redirect the jet thrust rearward. The cockpit is just visible at the front of the "spine" running along the top of the aircraft.

At the same time, the aircraft industry as a whole was becoming increasingly interested in VTOL aircraft. It was expected that any future European war would start with a nuclear exchange that would destroy most airbases, so aircraft would need to operate from limited airbases, roads or even unprepared fields. Considerable research effort was put into various solutions to securing a second-strike capability. Some of these solutions included rocket-launched aircraft like the zero-length launch concept, while many companies started work on VTOL aircraft as a more appropriate long-term solution.^[7]

Frost felt the excellent performance of his new engine would be a natural fit for a VTOL aircraft due to its high expected power-to-weight ratio. The problem was how to use the annular thrust to drive the aircraft forward, as well as the problem of fitting the very large engine into a suitable airframe. Frost suggested using a series of vents to redirect the thrust flowing out of the "front" of the engine towards the rear, although it was well known that long channeling leads to a loss of thrust. In order to keep the "piping" as short as possible, the design ported the thrust out along the leading edge of what was essentially a very large delta wing. As the engine was disk-shaped, the triangular shape was "pushed out" near the front, producing a planform shaped roughly like a spade.^[6] For this reason the design was also referred to as the "Avro Ace," a likely reference to the Ace of Spades. The compressor inlet was located at the middle of the engine, so the engine air intakes were located just to the front of the centre on the top and bottom of the aircraft. The cockpit was positioned over the main bearing, behind the intakes. A "spine" on the top and bottom ran from the cockpit area to the rear edge of the aircraft. Several other versions of the basic layout were also studied, including the "Omega" which was more disk-like as it cut away the rear portions of the delta wing as well.

For VTOL operations the aircraft was expected to sit pointed up, supported by long landing legs that extended out of the spine. Landing would be accomplished at a very high angle, making visibility during the approach very difficult. A number of other VTOL experiments of the era attempted various solutions to this problem, including rotating pilots seats and cockpits, but none proved very effective. Another problem with various VTOL experiments was that stability in a hover was difficult to arrange, although not entirely unexpected. A solution to this problem would require the thrust to be directed downward from a larger area, as it is in a helicopter, where the lift is supplied over the entire area of the rotor disk.^[3] Most designers turned to bleeding off air from the engine's compressor, and directing that through pipes arranged around the aircraft. Frost's engine design used such a large number of nozzles that such an arrangement would not be to easy to build.

In 1952, the design was advanced enough that the Canadian Defense Research Board funded the effort with a $400,000 contract. By 1953, a wooden mock-up of Project Y was completed, of which only images remain. It appears the project was considered too costly within the military establishment, which was at the time involved in several extremely expensive air defense projects. On 11 February 1953, a story on the project was leaked to the Toronto Star along with images of the Omega design, apparently in order to gain further funding (a strategy widely employed in the U.S. at the time, known as policy by press release). Five days later, the Minister for Defense Production informed the House of Commons that Avro was indeed working on a "mock-up model" of a flying saucer, capable of flying at 1,500 miles per hour (2,400 km/h) and climbing vertically. Nevertheless, further funding was not forthcoming.

Project Y-2: the "flat-riser"[link]

"Jack" Frost demonstrates the Coandă effect. Pressurized air flows out of the end of the red tube, and then over the top of the metal disk. The Coandă effect makes the air "stick" to the disk, bending down at the edges to flow vertically. This airflow supports the disk in the air.

While Project Y continued, Frost had meanwhile become interested in the Coandă effect, where fluid flows will follow strongly convex shapes, something that might be unexpected at first glance. Frost felt the effect could be used with his engine design to produce a more practical VTOL aircraft, the exhaust flowing outward over the upper surface of the aircraft and then being directed downward over a flap-like arrangement. This would produce a lift force around the entire edge of the aircraft, allowing it to land "flat". He produced a number of small experimental designs using compressed air in place of an engine in order to select a suitable planform shape, and eventually decided that a disk was the best solution.^[8]

As he continued these experiments, he found that the same thrust-direction system he intended for VTOL operations worked just as well for forward flight. In this case the disk shape was not of itself a good lifting surface, as it was neutral in terms of lift direction – that is, it would fly sideways as readily as it would fly forward. However, by modifying the airflow with the application of a small amount of jet thrust, the overall airflow over the craft could be dramatically altered, creating a sort of "virtual airfoil" of any needed configuration. For instance, by directing even a small amount of jet thrust down, a large mass of air would be pulled over the upper surface of the wing and dramatically augment the flow over the wing, creating lift.^[9]

This appeared to offer a solution to one of the most vexing problems of the era, designing an aircraft that was effective at subsonic and supersonic speeds. Subsonic lift is created by the airflow around the wing following streamlines, but supersonic lift is generated by shock waves at points of critical curvature. No single design could offer high performance for both regimes. The blown disk could attack this problem by being laid out for supersonic performance only, and then using jet thrust to modify subsonic airflow into a semblance of a normal wing. The resulting design would be tuned for high supersonic performance, have reasonable subsonic performance, and would also offer VTOL, all in a single design.

U.S. Involvement: Project 1794/WS 606A[link]

Avro company models of the Y-2 (right) and the Avrocar (left)

In late 1953, a group of U.S. defence experts visited Avro Canada to view the new CF-100 fighter jet.^[10] Somewhere along the way, Frost co-opted the tour and rerouted it to the Special Projects area where he proceeded to show off the Project Y mock-up and models and drawings (some never before seen by senior company officials) for a completely circular disk-shaped aircraft known as "Project Y-2." The USAF agreed to take over funding for Frost's Special Projects Group, and a contract for $US 750,000 followed in 1955. By 1956, Avro management was interested enough to commit $2.5 million to build a "private venture" prototype. In March 1957, the Air Force added additional funding, and the aircraft became Weapons System 606A.

A wide variety of designs were studied for a VTOL fighter aircraft,^[3] all revolved around the disk shape, leading to the Project 1794 involving a supersonic large disk fighter aircraft. The concept proceeded to wind tunnel testing with a variety of scale models. It featured a raised section in the middle over the engine, the intake covered with a series of louvers that would be closed in forward flight. Frost's performance estimates for the concept were for a potential of Mach 3.5 at 100,000 ft (30,000 m) altitudes.

There was some debate about the concept within the USAF, as many groups were attempting to gain funding for their own pet projects, like nuclear powered bombers.^[11] In a repeat of the earlier Toronto Star release, in 1955 an extensive article appeared in Look Magazine that, among other claims, speculated that current UFO sightings were Soviet-built saucers. The article went on to describe such an aircraft with diagrams that were clearly influenced by the Avro design.^[12]

A new impeller-driven engine design was proposed as Avro PV-704 (PV stood for Private Venture), powered by six Armstrong Siddeley Viper jet engines blowing across the outer rim of a central rotor. The PV-704 was a "stop-gap" design built into a bunker-like building behind the Avro Experimental Test facility. It was intended to test various Project 1794 concepts and provide the USAF with test data to show the viability of the concept. The original plan to initially test the "Viper Engine Rig" was to have continued into "free flight" testing. Unfortunately, testing was anything but smooth; the test model suffered from hazardous oil leaks, resulting in three fires.^[13] It eventually got to the point that staff were afraid of the machine, even when safely ensconced in a booth constructed of bullet-proof glass and quarter-inch-thick steel. A final, disastrous and nearly lethal engine test in 1956 which involved a Viper jet engine "running wild" convinced Frost that a less dangerous test vehicle was necessary.

Genesis of the Avrocar[link]

To gather flight data on the basic concept while the engine development continued, in 1958 Frost proposed building a smaller "proof-of-concept" test vehicle he called the Avrocar. By this point, the US Army was involved in a wide variety of experiments on smaller VTOL aircraft that would act as a "flying Jeep,"^[14] and they became interested in Avro's concept as well.^[15] Frost pitched his smaller design both as a prototype of a vehicle suitable for the Army's needs, as well as an aerodynamic testbed for the WS-606. Initial performance requirements for the Avrocar were a ten-minute hover capability in ground effect and 25-mile (40 km) range with a 1,000 lb (450 kg) payload.^[15]

US Army Avrocars depicted as "flying jeeps" in company literature

The new plan appeared to make everybody happy, and a $2 million joint-services contract^[16] managed by the Air Force was awarded to Avro to build and test two Avrocars, which the Army referred to as the VZ-9-AV (with AV standing for "Avro," an unusual departure from normal US Army nomenclature^[17]), the latest in a series of "VZ" aircraft. Army interest in the Avrocar program was apparently very high. Bernard Lindenbaum of the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory recalls a trip to Washington in the late 1950s to request additional funding for a study on helicopter drag reduction. Although the funding was approved, he overheard an Army General remark that the Huey would be the last helicopter the Army would buy since the helicopter would be replaced by the Avrocar.^[15]

Additional Air Force funding of approximately $700,000 (unexpended from the 606A program) was also moved to the Avrocar project. In March 1959, an additional $1.77 million contract was received for a second prototype. At rollout, projected performance was far in excess of the requirement, with a 225 knots (417 km/h) maximum speed, 10,000 feet (3,000 m) ceiling, 130-mile (209 km) range with 1,000 lb (450 kg) payload, and hover out of ground effect with 2,428 lb (1,101 kg) payload. Maximum takeoff weight with transition to forward flight out of ground effect was calculated to be 5,650 lb (2,560 kg), maximum weight with a transition in ground effect (GETOL) was 6,970 lb (3,160 kg).^[15]

Just as the first working test models were being manufactured, disaster struck. The Canadian government cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow program on "Black Friday," 20 February 1959. The ensuing result was the lay-off of almost all Avro Canada employees, including those with the Special Projects Group. However, three days following the announcement of the Arrow cancellation, many of the Special Projects employees were rehired. But it wasn't quite business as usual. The team now included people from the CF-100 and CF-105 teams and the Special Projects Group was moved into the main building, which was nearly empty. As well, company "brass" became more involved in the group’s operations.^[18]

The USAF Project Office devoted to the Avro projects, recommended that the WS-606A and all related work (including the Avrocar) be cancelled. A "stop/go"^[19] work order came down and Frost was forced once more to try to rescue the project. In an elaborate effort, Frost made a resounding case for continuation of US military funding. Late in May 1959, the USAF authorized Avro to continue the "flying saucer" programs.^[20]

Design[link]

Avrocar schematic from the VZ-9 manual

The Avrocar was a disk-shaped aircraft with the same basic shape as a frisbee, the upper surface of the disk being fairly curved, and the bottom much less so. The disk was 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter and 3.5 feet (1.1 m) thick. The main structural truss was a large equilateral triangle, to which the various components were attached. The 124-blade "turborotor" sat in the center of the triangle, with most of the rotor's thrust directed straight down through an opening in the lower surface, but some was bled off to power the control system running along the outer rim of the disk.^[21] Power for the rotor was provided by three Continental J69-T-9 jet engines attached to the truss. Each engine had its own fuel and oil tanks and other support systems, although it was expected these would be interconnected in future models. The majority of the airframe was made of aluminum with an empty weight of 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg).^[22]

Pilot control was entirely through a single side-mounted control stick. Pitch and roll were controlled through conventional fore-aft and side-to-side motions, while yaw could be controlled by twisting the stick. No mechanical linkages were used, the stick instead controlled the flow of high pressure air around the craft, which either directly attached to various control surfaces, or indirectly through local cable linkages to replace controls that were intended to be cable-actuated (like throttle controls on the engines).^[21]

The attitude/thrust control system consisted of a large ring situated outside of the main disk, shaped roughly like a rounded triangle with the flat surface on the "inside." Viewing the craft from the side, the control flap is almost invisible, appearing in its neutral position to blend into the profile. The pilot's controls moved the ring in relation to the rest of the craft, affecting the airflow moving outward from the center of the craft. Vertical lift could be increased by moving the entire ring down, which would produce more airflow over its upper surface, which would then bend down over this surface toward the ground. Tilting the ring resulted in asymmetric thrust for directional control.^[23]

It was discovered that the craft was inherently unstable in forward flight, as the aerodynamic center of pressure was well forward of the center of gravity.^[24] The Avrocar thus included a mechanical stability control system that was independent of the pilot's controls. The turborotor had a fairly large angular momentum and was intended to act as a powerful gyroscope, providing a "normal" direction of flight. Control cables attached to the base of the rotor would be pulled when the craft moved in relation to the rotor, actuating the control surfaces to counteract the motion.

The vehicle was manned by a crew of two, positioned in separate cockpits squeezed into empty areas in the airframe. In practice, only one pilot was usually on board during testing; a number of flights were made with an observer in the second cockpit. Until control problems were completely solved, the Avro test pilots acquired a "touch" for the extremely sensitive control inputs and Avro Aircraft Chief Development Test Pilot Potocki was eventually able to demonstrate a "hands-off" flight. Nonetheless, Avro test pilot Peter Cope, USAF project pilot Walter J. Hodgson and NASA Ames Chief Test Pilot Fred J. Drinkwater III, who all flew the Avrocar, considered it still a tricky vehicle to fly. Drinkwater likened a flight in it to "balancing on a beach ball."^[25]

The undercarriage of the Avrocar was rudimentary with three small castoring wheels mounted on "stub" shafts; a set of skids was substituted later in testing although they were not normally fitted.^[26]

Operational history[link]

Testing[link]

The first Avrocar being readied at the Avro factory c.1958

The first Avrocar, #58-7055, rolled out of the Avro Malton factory in May 1959. From 9 June to 7 October 1959, it was tested in a static hover rig.^[27] Unfortunately, hot gas from the exhaust was found to mix back into the intakes in hover, reducing engine thrust. In addition, the fan generated lift only from a small area of its surface, lowering overall thrust available. The ducts also proved to have higher losses than expected, and a series of modifications were not able to solve this problem to any large degree. These problems reduced maximum lift at higher altitudes out of the ground effect to 3,150 lb (1,430 kg), less than the empty weight of the aircraft at 4,285 lb (1,944 kg). This meant the aircraft would be incapable of hovering out of the ground effect. Following these tests, the vehicle was sent to NASA Ames for a wind tunnel testing.

The second, #59-4975, was completed August 1959. On 29 September, the first attempt to hover was made with the Avrocar tethered to the ground.^[28] After the vehicle became airborne, an uncontrollable roll and pitch-coupled oscillation started that forced each of the three wheels into the ground in turn. The pilot, W.D. "Spud" Potocki, immediately shut down all engines. Changes were made to the stability system to provide more control authority, while new tethers were investigated to improve the ability to control these sorts of problems.^[3] As testing continued it became clear that the problem was inherent to the design, and the engineers started referring to the effect as "hubcapping," so-named as it appeared similar to a hubcap spun on the ground.^[29]

Investigations into the effect revealed what was causing the problem. While in the ground effect, the high-pressure air under the craft was trapped, filling the entire area and thus providing a stable base. When the craft rose out of the ground effect, the air formed itself into a single narrow column, described by Frost as "tree trunking". At intermediate altitudes the craft would momentarily transition from one regime to the other, during which time one side of the vehicle would be entirely supported while the support was disappearing under the other. This led to a strong pitching motion towards the unsupported side. As soon as this occurred that side would approach the ground and re-establish the supporting air, while the other side would then be raised above this limit. This process would repeat itself, with the craft rolling from side to side. Modifications were carried out in order to try to solve the problem. Eventually a series of 52 holes were drilled in the bottom of the vehicle, located radially three feet from the center. These were to provide a central jet to stabilize the ground cushion.^[30]

With these modifications complete and apparently working, the first completely free flight occurred on 12 November 1959. This test proved the nozzle control system unacceptable. The spoilers were intended to direct the air out over the top or bottom of the annular flap, out the bottom only during hover, but over the top and bottom during forward flight. The idea was that when the flap was positioned in order to provide control, the lift would be lowered on one side and raised on the other. Lift was indeed lowered on one side, but sadly the lift did not improve on the other, so every control input resulted in a loss of altitude. After five flights, testing was temporarily halted on 5 December 1959, by which time the Avrocar had logged 18.5 hours of test time in total.

Avrocar 59-4975 after modifications, was tested without the canopies and incorporating the perimeter "focusing" ring c. 1961. Tests showed that the heat was so oppressive that all instruments were baked brown after only a few flights.

A completely new design was installed over the winter. The original spoilers were removed and replaced by a single ring below the annular flap. The ring shifted in relation to the craft under control input, "sealing off" the gap on one side while opening it on the other. Tests continued in January 1960, and appeared to work much better. However, while the new control system improved the hovering qualities, the craft now became unstable at higher speeds above 30 knots (56 km/h). The first Avrocar at Ames was similarly modified, and, in April 1960, it was tested in their 40 x 80 ft (24 m) wind tunnel.^[31] The problem became clear; the ring blocked so much of the overall engine thrust that the overall power was greatly reduced. As the craft sped up, the airflow on the underside reduced the recirculation, reducing the lift due to airflow over the upper surface. This was somewhat unexpected; recirculation had been considered a "bad thing" due to the loss of engine thrust, and its positive effects on lift do not appear to have been appreciated. In the end, in order to maintain lift at higher forward speeds the craft had to be pitched to the end of its control capability.

Avro was convinced that the concept was still workable, and proposed a new program for major rework of the propulsion and control system. Instead of the single annular triangular flap and spoilers, or the later ring control, the new system included two separate control systems for hover and forward flight, combined into a single nozzle. For hover, a series of "transition doors" were opened into the nozzles, blocking them off and re-directing the flow downward under the aircraft. Control during this regime was provided by moving the outer portion of the flap to "focus" the flow. At higher speeds, the doors were closed, allowing the air to flow out from the edge of the aircraft, where a series of simple flap-like controls were located. The new control system covered the rear 3/4's of the aircraft's outer circumference; the front section featured the hovering controls only.^[26]

Modifications were completed on the Ames model and testing resumed in April 1961. The new design demonstrated much better control in hover and considerably improved lift. The vehicle was now able to travel at up to 100 knots (190 km/h), a great improvement over the 30 knots (56 km/h) previously reached. However, it remained unstable in pitch, and exhibited a strong nose-up trim. NASA engineers attempted to modify this with a T-tail, but this proved to sit within the airflow of the turborotor and did not help. Frost's team considered two new designs, one with a large vertical tail and one with a wing with tip mounted verticals —"winglets." Both designs used two 2,700 lbf (12 kN) thrust General Electric J85 turbojets and increased the turborotor diameter from five to six ft.^[32]

On 9 June 1961, a second USAF/NASA flight evaluation of the Avrocar was conducted on the similarly modified second prototype at the Avro facility. During these tests, the vehicle reached a maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h) and showed the ability to traverse a ditch six feet across and 18 inches (460 mm) deep. Flight above the critical altitude proved dangerous if not nearly impossible due to inherent instability.^[1] The flight test report further identified a range of control problems.^[33]

Cancellation[link]

Before modifications could be achieved, funding ran out in March 1961. Frost's proposals for a modified design were not accepted, and the Avrocar and related WS-606A supersonic VTOL programs were officially cancelled in December 1961 by the U.S. military. Avro company executives encouraged additional VTOL research projects, exploring new configurations married to a disk platform^[1] and even a "lift jet" version, but no further interest resulted from Canadian or other sources, to cap the end of this Special Projects Group program. In 1961, a number of later proposals, including the Avro P470 VTOL fighter concept derived from the Special Projects Group, were submitted to fulfill a NATO competition for a tactical strike fighter.^[34] These needs were filled by the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, but in more general terms, interest in VTOL faded as it became widely believed a nuclear first strike would not be used at the start of a European war.

Avro VZ-9-AV Avrocar at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility, National Air and Space Museum c.1984

The second Avrocar had logged about 75 flight hours at the end of the flight testing. Judged by its performance, the Avrocar was an abject failure: it couldn't lift itself safely more than a few feet off the ground, and its bulbous design limiting high-speed performance accompanied by unbearable heat and screaming exhaust noise, made it impractical for the military. Although considered a technical failure, its design would be prophetic: it was a rubber skirt shy of being one of the world's first hovercraft, the Saunders Roe SR.N1 also taking off in 1959. Nevertheless, company designer, John Frost applied for a number of patents in Canada, the UK and the US that established the pivotal role that the Avrocar and related Avro experimental vehicles, made in the VTOL world.^[5][35]

Latest developments[link]

The Avro VZ-9 Avrocar was a "dead end" in VTOL design, according to Russell Lee, curator at the National Air and Space Museum, yet its technological innovations have intrigued other designers. One of the design elements it embodied, the use of ducted fans led to other experimental programs. Dr. Paul Moller, a Canadian expatriate who had worked at Avro Canada as a young engineer, based an initial series of experimental VTOL vehicles on "saucer" technology utilizing the buried ducted fan à la-Avrocar. The XM-2, the first of the series looked remarkably like a miniature flying saucer. After successful tether tests, the saucer designs also at one time publicized as "discojet" were abandoned and their latest project, the Moller Skycar, has a flying-car appearance.^[36]

The Avrocar story did not end with the termination of the program. Only two Avrocars were ever produced and because the U.S. military had paid for the work, they reverted to U.S. ownership at the end of the program. The second example, S/N 59-4975, utilized for "flight" testing, returned to Canada briefly for display in Montreal at the Man and His World Exhibition (1968); after a lengthy period of outdoor display, it is now under restoration at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum in Fort Eustis, Virginia.^[16]

Avrocar at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio

The first Avrocar, S/N 58-7055 (marked AV-7055), after tethered testing, became the "wind tunnel" test model at NASA Ames, where it remained in storage from 1961 until 1966, when it was donated to the National Air and Space Museum, in Suitland, Maryland. There it continued gathering dust for the next forty years. The Museum finally scheduled it for restoration and display at their newly constructed Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Instead the Avrocar has been loaned to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, arriving in November, 2007. After a full restoration, which included fabrication of both missing plexiglass bubbles, it was put on display in June 2008 in the Museum's Cold War Gallery. It has since been moved to the Presidential Aircraft Gallery.

A full-scale replica of the Avrocar was prepared for the 2002 production, Avrocar: Saucer Secrets from the Past. It now resides as an exhibit at the Western Canada Aviation Museum, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Specifications (VZ-9-AV)[link]

Avrocar 3-view

Data from Avrocar: Canada's Flying Saucer...^[37] and The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters^[38]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Capacity: 1 observer/engineer
• Diameter: 18 ft (5.5 m)
• Height: 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
• Wing area: 254 sq ft (23.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,000 lb (1,361 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 5,560 lb (2,522 kg)
• Powerplant: 3 × Continental J69-T-9 turbojet engines, 660 lbf (2.9 kN) thrust each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 300 mph (483 km/h; 261 kn) (estimated), 35 mph (56 km/h) (actual)
• Range: 995 mi (865 nmi; 1,601 km) (estimated), 79 mi (127 km) (actual)
• Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,048 m) (estimated), 3 ft (0.91 m) (actual)

See also[link]

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• VZ-8 Airgeep
• Curtiss-Wright VZ-7
• Chrysler VZ-6
  

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

External links[link]

• Avrocar story
• Flying Platforms
• Avrocar at virtuallystrange.net
• pdf file of official Project Silverbug report at Cufon
• The Avrocar: Canada's Flying Saucer
• National Museum of the USAF fact sheet for the Avrocar

Jonathan Ormond Torrens (born October 25, 1972) is a Canadian actor and television personality best known for his co-hosting of Street Cents, his talk show Jonovision, and his role as "J-Roc" in the popular Canadian mockumentary Trailer Park Boys.^[1][2] In October 2009, Torrens began hosting TV with TV's Jonathan Torrens, a comedic newsmagazine program broadcast on the TVtropolis network.^[2]

Biography[link]

Personal life[link]

Torrens was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.^[3] His sister is actress and playwright Jackie Torrens.^[3] Torrens is married and has a daughter.^[4]

Career[link]

Torrens's past work includes co-hosting CBC Television's teen-oriented consumer affairs series Street Cents from 1989 until 1996. He then went on to host, co-produce and write for his own teen-oriented talk show, Jonovision, from 1996 until 2001.

In 1998 he played David in Beefcake, a movie about 1950s muscle magazines and their connection with the homosexual community. The same year, he won a Gemini in the category of Best Short Dramatic Program for his work on Nan's Taxi. In 1999, he hosted and narrated a 33 minute docudrama on the consequences of impaired driving for the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) called When Choices Collide. In 2001 he played Tony Moressa on the show Pit Pony and had two appearances on Royal Canadian Air Farce as 'The Clean Cut Keen SportsNet Guy'. From there he went on to play Daniel VanDusen on Rideau Hall in 2002 and had a guest appearance on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In 2003, he starred in the CBC six episode mini-series Jonathan Crosses Canada, in which he travelled across Canada in a Winnebago.

During the summer of 2004 he starred as "The Gotta-be-Gay-Guy" on the Spike TV mock reality show, Joe Schmo 2,^[5][6] and has made appearances on the shows The Greatest Canadian and 50 Most Outrageous TV Moments. In 2005 he played Mike in Dirty Love, a romantic comedy starring Playboy playmates Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra that held six nominations for the 2005 Golden Raspberry Awards and won the award for Worst Picture.

He also played Shane McKay, Emma Nelson's biological father on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Torrens had a recurring role as J-Roc on the television series Trailer Park Boys.^[1] He also appeared in both of the Trailer Park Boys movies. In November and December 2008 Jonathan was the guest host of several episodes of the CBC radio show Definitely Not the Opera.

In 2008 he appeared in the award-winning short film Treevenge, directed by Jason Eisener.

In 2009, Torrens debuted in his own television show called TV With TV's Jonathan Torrens on Canadian specialty network TVtropolis.^[2] As of 2010, Torrens is one of the co-hosts of the reality television series Wipeout Canada, which also airs on TVtropolis.^[7][4]

Torrens plays the role of Robert Cheeley, vice principal of Xavier Academy on the CBC sitcom, Mr. D.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jonathan Torrens at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Torrens: He's Still Jono November 2005 Interview
• Ion Magazine September 2005 Interview
• Jonathan Torrens: Jonovision 2002 Interview

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

John Peel
John Peel in a studio in Yalding House
Birth name	John Robert Parker Ravenscroft
Born	(1939-08-30)30 August 1939 Heswall, England
Died	25 October 2004(2004-10-25) (aged 65) Cusco, Peru
Country	United Kingdom
Website	BBC minisite

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004. He was known for his eclectic taste in music and his honest and warm broadcasting style.

He was one of the first broadcasters to play psychedelic rock and progressive rock records on British radio, and he is widely acknowledged for promoting artists working in various genres, including pop, reggae, indie rock, alternative rock, punk, hardcore punk, breakcore, grindcore, death metal, British hip hop, and dance music.

Peel's Radio 1 shows were notable for the regular 'Peel sessions', which usually consisted of four songs recorded by an artist live in the BBC's studios, and which often provided the first major national coverage to bands that later would achieve great fame. (These 'sessions' are similar to 'Live Lounge' sessions recorded today for the station.) Another popular feature of his shows was the annual Festive Fifty countdown of his listeners' favourite records of the year.

Peel appeared frequently on British television as one of the presenters of Top of the Pops in the 1980s, and he provided voice-over commentary for a number of BBC programmes. He became popular with the audience of BBC Radio 4 for his Home Truths programme, which ran from the 1990s, featuring unusual stories from listeners' domestic lives.

Life and career[link]

Early life[link]

Peel was born in Heswall Cottage Hospital in Heswall on the Wirral Peninsula, near Liverpool, and grew up in the nearby village of Burton.^[1] His father was an upper middle class cotton merchant,^[2] and he was sent away to be educated as a boarder at Shrewsbury School.^[3]

His housemaster, R H J Brooke, whom Peel described as "extraordinarily eccentric" and "amazingly perceptive," wrote on one of his school reports, "Perhaps it's possible that John can form some kind of nightmarish career out of his enthusiasm for unlistenable records and his delight in writing long and facetious essays."^[4] In his posthumously published autobiography, Peel revealed that he had been raped by an older pupil while at Shrewsbury.^[5]

After finishing his National Service in 1959 in the Royal Artillery as a B2 radar operator,^[6] he worked as a mill operative at Townhead Mill in Rochdale^[7] and travelled home each weekend to Heswall on a scooter borrowed from his sister. Whilst in Rochdale Monday to Friday, he stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the area of Milkstone Road and Drake Street. Peel was a vegetarian.^[8]

United States[link]

In 1960, he went to the United States to work for a cotton producer who had business dealings with his father.^[9] Once this job finished, he took a number of others, including working as a travelling insurance salesman, remaining in the United States until 1967. While in Dallas, Texas, where the insurance company he worked for was based, he spoke to John F. Kennedy as the presidential candidate and his running mate, Lyndon B. Johnson, who were touring the city during the 1960 Presidential election campaign.

Following Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, Peel passed himself off as a reporter for the Liverpool Echo in order to attend the arraignment of Lee Harvey Oswald, and he and a friend can be seen in the footage of the 22/23 November midnight press conference at Dallas Police Department when Oswald was paraded before the media.^[10] He later phoned in the story to the Liverpool Echo.

While working for the insurance company, Peel filed card programs for an early IBM 1410 computer (which led to his entry in Who's Who noting him as a former computer programmer), and he got his first radio job, albeit unpaid, working for WRR (AM) in Dallas. There, he presented the second hour of the Monday night programme Kat's Karavan, which was primarily hosted by the American singer and radio personality Jim Lowe. Following this, and as Beatlemania hit the United States, Peel got a job with the Dallas radio station KLIF as the official The Beatles correspondent on the strength of his connection to Liverpool. He later worked for KOMA in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma until 1965 when he moved to KMEN in San Bernardino, California, using the name John Ravencroft to present the breakfast show.^[11]

While in Dallas, in 1965, he married his first wife, Shirley Anne Milburn, in what Peel later described as a "mutual defence pact". The marriage was never happy and although she accompanied Peel back to Britain in 1967, they were soon separated. The divorce became final in 1973.^[12]

Return to Britain[link]

Peel returned to England in early 1967 and found work with the offshore pirate radio station Radio London. He was offered the midnight-to-two shift, which gradually developed into a programme called The Perfumed Garden (some thought it was named after an erotic book famous at the time - which Peel claimed never to have read). It was on "Big L" that he first adopted the name John Peel (the name was suggested by a Radio London secretary) and established himself as a distinctive radio voice.

Peel's show was an outlet for the music of the UK underground scene. He played classic blues, folk music and psychedelic rock, with an emphasis on the new music emerging from Los Angeles and San Francisco. As important as the musical content of the programme was the personal—sometimes confessional—tone of Peel's presentation, and the listener participation it engendered. Underground events he had attended during his periods of shore leave, like the UFO Club and "The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream", together with causes célèbres like the drug "busts" of the Rolling Stones and John "Hoppy" Hopkins, were discussed between records. All this was far removed from Radio London's daytime format. Listeners sent Peel letters, poems, and records from their own collections, so that the programme became a vehicle for two-way communication; by the final week of Radio London he was receiving far more mail than any other DJ on the station.^[13]

After the closure of Radio London in 1967 Peel wrote a column under the title The Perfumed Garden for the underground newspaper the International Times (from autumn 1967 to mid-1969), in which he showed himself to be a committed, if critical, supporter of the ideals of the underground. A Perfumed Garden mailing list was set up by a group of keen listeners, which facilitated contacts and gave rise to numerous small-scale, local arts projects typical of the time, including the poetry magazine Sol.

BBC career[link]

Peel in a record shop in Bochum, Germany

When Radio London closed down on 14 August 1967, John Peel joined the BBC's new pop music station, BBC Radio 1, which began broadcasting the following month. Unlike Big L, Radio 1 was not a full-time station, but a hybrid of recorded music and live studio orchestras. Peel recalled, "I was one of the first lot on Radio 1 and I think it was mainly because ... Radio 1 had no real idea what they were doing so they had to take people off the pirate ships because there wasn't anybody else." Peel presented a programme called Top Gear. At first he was obliged to share presentation duties with other DJs (Pete Drummond and Tommy Vance were among his co-hosts) but in February 1968 he was given sole charge of Top Gear; he continued to present the show until it ended in 1975. Peel played an eclectic mix of the music that caught his attention, which he would continue to do throughout his career.

During 1969, after hosting a trailer for a BBC programme on VD on his Night Ride programme, Peel received significant media attention because he divulged on air that he had suffered from a sexually transmitted disease earlier that year. This admission was later used in an attempt to discredit him when he appeared as a defence witness in the 1971 Oz obscenity trial.

The Night Ride programme, advertised by the BBC as an exploration of words and music, seemed to take up from where The Perfumed Garden had left off. It featured rock, folk, blues, classical and electronic music. A unique feature of the programme was the inclusion of tracks, mostly of exotic non-Western music, drawn from the BBC Sound Archive; the most popular of these were gathered on a BBC Records LP, John Peel's Archive Things (1970). Night Ride also featured poetry readings and numerous interviews with a wide range of guests, including personal friends Marc Bolan, journalist and musician Mick Farren, poet Pete Roche, and singer-songwriter Bridget St. John and stars such as the Byrds, the Rolling Stones and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The programme captured much of the creative activity of the underground scene. Its anti-establishment stance and unpredictability did not find approval with the BBC hierarchy, and it ended in September 1969 after 18 months. In his sleeve notes to the Archive Things LP Peel calls the free-form nature of Night Ride his preferred radio format. His subsequent shows featured a mixture of records and live sessions, a format which would characterise his Radio 1 programmes for the rest of his career.

After separation from his first wife, Peel's personal life began to stabilise, as he found friendship and support from new Top Gear producer John Walters - and from his girlfriend Sheila Gilhooly, who he identified on-air as "the Pig". Peel married Sheila on 31 August 1974. The reception was in London's Regent's Park, with Walters as best man. Peel wore Liverpool football colours (red) and walked down the aisle to the song "You'll Never Walk Alone". Their sheepdog, Woggle, served as a bridesmaid.

Peel's enthusiasm for music outside the mainstream occasionally brought him into conflict with the Radio 1 hierarchy. In early 1977 station controller Derek Chinnery contacted John Walters and asked him to confirm that the show was not playing any punk, which he (Chinnery) had read about in the press and disapproved of. Chinnery was evidently somewhat surprised by Walters' reply that in recent weeks they had been playing little else.^[14] In 1979 Peel stated: "They leave you to get on with it. I'm paid money by the BBC not to go off and work for a commercial radio station...I wouldn't want to go to one anyway, because they wouldn't let me do what the BBC let me do."^[15]

Peel's reputation as an important DJ breaking unsigned acts into the mainstream was such that young hopefuls sent him an enormous amount of records, CDs, and tapes. When he returned home from a three week holiday at the end of 1986 there were 173 LPs, 91 12"s and 179 7"s waiting for him. Another example in point is that in 1983 unsigned artist Billy Bragg drove to the Radio 1 studios with a mushroom biryani and a copy of his record after hearing Peel mention that he was hungry, the subsequent airplay launching his career.^[16] Another example is that John Peel's favourite record for over a year in the late seventies/early eighties was Mopsie Beans EP "One Out" .^[17]

Peel Acres

In the 1970s Peel and Sheila moved to a thatched cottage in the village of Great Finborough near Stowmarket in Suffolk, nicknamed "Peel Acres". In later years Peel broadcast many of his shows from a studio in the house, with Sheila and their children often being involved or at least mentioned. Peel's passion for Liverpool F.C. was reflected in his children's names: William Robert Anfield, Alexandra Mary Anfield, Thomas James Dalglish, and Florence Victoria Shankly. His later shows also regularly featured live performances (broadcast live, unlike the pre-recorded Peel sessions), mostly from BBC Maida Vale Studios in West London, but occasionally in the Peel Acres living room.

Studio at Peel Acres

In addition to his Radio 1 show, Peel broadcast as a disc jockey on the BBC World Service, 30 years on the British Forces Broadcasting Service BFBS (John Peel's Music on BFBS), VPRO Radio3 in the Netherlands, YLE Radio Mafia in Finland, Ö3 in Austria (Nachtexpress), and on Radio 4U, Radio Eins (Peel ...), Radio Bremen (Ritz) and some independent radio stations around FSK Hamburg in Germany. As a result of his BFBS programme he was voted, in Germany, 'Top DJ in Europe'.

Peel was an occasional presenter of Top of the Pops on BBC 1 TV from the late 1960s until the 1990s, and in particular from 1982 to 1987 when he appeared regularly. In 1971 he appeared not as presenter but performer, alongside Rod Stewart and The Faces, pretending to play mandolin on "Maggie May". He often presented the BBC's television coverage of music events, notably Glastonbury Festival.

Later years[link]

Between 1995 and 1997, Peel presented a show about children, called Offspring, on BBC Radio 4. In 1998, Offspring grew into the magazine-style documentary show Home Truths. When he took on the job presenting the programme, which was about everyday life in British families, Peel requested that it be free from celebrities, as he found real life stories more entertaining. Home Truths was described by occasional stand-in presenter John Walters as being "about people who had fridges called Renfrewshire". Peel also made regular contributions to BBC Two's humorous look at the irritations of modern life Grumpy Old Men. His only appearance in an acting role in film was in 1999 as a "grumpy old man who catalogues records" in Five Seconds to Spare, although he had provided narration for others.^[18]

He appeared as a celebrity guest on a number of TV shows, including This Is Your Life (1996, BBC), Travels With My Camera (1996, Channel 4 TV) and Going Home (2002, ITV TV), and presented the 1997 Channel 4 series Classic Trains.^[19] He was also in demand as a voice-over artist for television documentaries, such as BBC One's A Life of Grime.

At the age of 62 he was diagnosed with diabetes, following many years of fatigue.^[20]

In April 2003, the publishers Transworld successfully wooed Peel with a package worth up to £1.6 million for his autobiography, having placed an advert in a national newspaper aimed only at Peel. Unfinished at the time of his death it was completed by Sheila and journalist Ryan Gilbey. It was published in October 2005 under the title Margrave of the Marshes. A collection of Peel's miscellaneous writings, The Olivetti Chronicles, was published in 2008.^[21]

Death[link]

Peel died suddenly at the age of 65 from a heart attack on 25 October 2004, on a working holiday in the Inca city of Cusco in Peru. Shortly after the announcement of his death, tributes began to arrive from fans and supporters both in and out of public life. On 26 October 2004 BBC Radio 1 cleared its schedules to broadcast a day of tributes. London's Evening Standard boards that afternoon read "the day the music died".

Peel had often spoken wryly of his eventual death. He once said on the show Room 101, "I've always imagined I'd die by driving into the back of a truck while trying to read the name on a cassette and people would say, 'He would have wanted to go that way.' Well, I want them to know that I wouldn't."^[22] At one point, he said that if he died before his producer John Walters, he wanted the latter to play Roy Harper's "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease". Walters having died in 2001, it was left to Andy Kershaw to end his tribute programme to Peel on BBC Radio 3 with the song. Peel's stand-in on his Radio 1 slot, Rob da Bank, also played the song at the start of the final show before his funeral. Another time, Peel said he'd like to be remembered with a gospel song. He stated that the final record he would play would be the Rev C. L. Franklin's sermon "Dry Bones in The Valley".

On his Home Truths BBC radio show John once commented about his own death: "I definitely want to be buried, although not yet. I'm 61 on Wednesday - just a working day for me, I'm afraid - so actuarily (sic) I should have a mile or two left in me, but I do want the children to be able to stand solemnly at my graveside and think lovely thoughts along the lines of 'Get out of that one, you swine', which they won't be able to do if I've been cremated. I think I want 'Teenage dreams, so hard to beat' on my gravestone and every night at dusk the trumpeters of the 5th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry to play Misty in Roots' Mankind over the grave. Lovely."^{[citation needed]}

Peel's funeral, on 12 November 2004, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was attended by over a thousand people, including many of the artists he had championed. Eulogies were read by his brother, Alan Ravenscroft, and DJ Paul Gambaccini. The service ended with clips of him talking about his life and his coffin was carried out to the accompaniment of his favourite song, The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks".^[23] Peel had written that, apart from his name, all he wanted on his gravestone were the words, "Teenage dreams, so hard to beat", from the lyrics of "Teenage Kicks".^[24] A headstone engraved in accordance with his wishes was placed at his grave in 2008.^[25] Peel is buried at St Andrew's Church, in the village of Great Finborough, Suffolk.

Life in music[link]

Peel sessions[link]

A feature of Peel's BBC Radio 1 shows were the famous John Peel Sessions, which usually consisted of four pieces of music pre-recorded at the BBC's studios. The sessions originally came about due to restrictions imposed on the BBC by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited which represented the record companies dominated by the EMI cartel. Because of these restrictions the BBC had been forced to hire bands and orchestras to render cover versions of recorded music. The theory behind this device was that it would create employment and force people to buy records and not listen to them free of charge on the air. One of the reasons why all of the offshore broadcasting stations of the 1960s were called "pirates" was because they operated outside of British laws and were not bound by the needle time restriction on the number of records they could play on the air.

The BBC employed its own house bands and orchestras and it also engaged outside bands to record exclusive tracks for its programmes in BBC studios. This was the reason why Peel was able to use "session men" in his own programmes. Sessions were usually four tracks recorded and mixed in a single day; as such they often had a rough and ready, demo-like feel, somewhere between a live performance and a finished recording. Peel remained on BBC Radio 1 for 37 years, until his death in 2004. During that time over 4000 sessions were recorded by over 2000 artists.^[26] Many classic Peel Sessions have been released on record, particularly by the Strange Fruit label.

Festive Fifty[link]

An annual tradition of Peel's Radio 1 show was the Festive Fifty—a countdown of the best tracks of the year as voted for by the listeners. Despite Peel's eclectic play list, the Festive Fifty tended to be composed largely of "white boys with guitars", as Peel complained in 1988. In 1991 the broadcast of the chart was cancelled due to a lack of votes, although many have speculated that it was because it didn't feature a single entry from the dance acts that Peel had been championing that year^{[citation needed]}. Topped by Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", this Phantom Fifty was eventually broadcast at the rate of one track per programme in 1993.^[27] The 1997 chart was initially cancelled due to the lack of air-time Peel had been allocated for the period, but enough "spontaneous" votes were received over the phone that a Festive Thirty-One was compiled and broadcast.^[27]

Peel wrote that "The Festive 50 dates back to what was doubtless a crisp September morning in the early-to-mid Seventies, when John Walters and I were musing on life in his uniquely squalid office. In our waggish way, we decided to mock the enthusiasm of the Radio 1 management of the time for programmes with alliterative titles. Content, we felt, was of less importance than a snappy Radio Times billing. In the course of our historic meeting we had, I imagine, some fine reasons for dismissing the idea of a Festive 40 and going instead for a Festive 50, a decision that was to ruin my Decembers for years to come, condemning me to night after night at home with a ledger, when I could have been out and about having fun, fun, fun."^[28]

After his death, the Festive Fifty was continued on Radio 1 by Rob Da Bank, Huw Stephens and Ras Kwame for two years, but then given to Peel-inspired Internet radio station Dandelion Radio, which continues to compile it to this day.

Dandelion Records and Strange Fruit[link]

In 1969 Peel founded Dandelion Records (named after his pet hamster) so he could release the debut album by Bridget St John, which he also produced. The label released 27 albums by 18 different artists before folding in 1972. Of its albums, There is Some Fun Going Forward was a sampler intended to present its acts to a wide audience, however Dandelion was never a great success, with only two releases charting in national charts: Medicine Head in the UK with "(And The) Pictures In The Sky" and Beau in Lebanon with "1917 Revolution".

As Peel stated:

It was never a success financially. In fact, we lost money, if I remember correctly, on every single release bar one. I did quite like it but it was terribly indulgent. Not as indulgent as it would have been had I not had a business partner, admittedly... I liked having a label. It enabled you to put out stuff that you liked without, in those days, having to worry about whether it was going to work commercially. I've never been a good business man.

Peel appeared on one Dandelion release: the David Bedford album Nurses Song with Elephants, recorded at the Marquee Studios, as part of a group playing twenty-seven plastic pipe twirlers on the track "Some Bright Stars for Queen's College".

In the 1980s Peel set up the Strange Fruit Records with Clive Selwood to release material recorded by the BBC for Peel Sessions.

Production (albums)[link]

• 1969: Mike Hart Bleeds - Mike Hart
• 1969: The Year of the Great Leap Sideways - Occasional Word Ensemble
• 1969: Soundtrack - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
• 1970: New Bottles Old Medicine - Medicine Head
• 1970: Burnin' Red Ivanhoe - Burnin' Red Ivanhoe (co-produced w/ Tony Reeves)
• 1970: The Going's Easy - The Greatest Show on Earth
• 1970: Horizons - The Greatest Show on Earth
• 1970: The Asmoto Running Band - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre
• 1972: Bugger Off! - Stack Waddy
• 1976: Between The Poppy and the Snow - Robert MacLeod

Favourite music[link]

John Peel wrote in his autobiography, Margrave of the Marshes, that the band of which he owned the most records was The Fall. Regulars in the Festive 50, and easily recognised by vocalist Mark E. Smith's distinctive delivery, The Fall became synonymous with Peel's Radio 1 show through the 1980s and 1990s. Peel kept in contact with many of the artists he championed but only met Smith on two, apparently awkward, occasions.

The Misunderstood is the only band that Peel ever personally managed—he first met the band in Riverside, California in 1966 and convinced them to move to London. He championed their music throughout his career; in 1968, he described their 1966 single "I Can Take You to the Sun" as "the best popular record that's ever been recorded."^[29] and shortly before his death, he stated, "If I had to list the ten greatest performances I've seen in my life, one would be The Misunderstood at Pandora's Box, Hollywood, 1966 ... My god, they were a great band!"^[30]

His favourite single is widely known to have been "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones; in an interview in 2001, he stated "There's nothing you could add to it or subtract from it that would improve it."^[31] In the same 2001 interview, he also listed "No More Ghettos in America" by Stanley Winston, "There Must Be Thousands" by The Quads and "Lonely Saturday Night" by Don French as being amongst his all-time favourites. He also described Lianne Hall as one of the great English voices.

A longer list of his favourite singles was revealed in 2005 when the contents of a wooden box in which he stored the records that meant the most to him were made public.^[32] The box was the subject of a television documentary, John Peel's Record Box. Out of 130 vinyl singles in the box, 11 of them were by The White Stripes, more than any other band in the box.^[33]

In 1999 Peel presented a nightly segment on his programme titled the Peelennium, in which he played four recordings from each year of the 20th century.

Awards and honorary degrees[link]

Peel was 11 times Melody Maker's DJ of the year, Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1993, winner of the publicly-voted Godlike Genius Award from the NME in 1994, Sony Gold Award winner in 2002 and is a member of the Radio Academy Hall of Fame. At the NME awards in 2005 he was Hero of the Year and was posthumously given a special award for "Lifelong Service To Music". At the same event the "John Peel Award For Musical Innovation" was awarded to The Others.

He was awarded many honorary degrees including an MA from the University of East Anglia, doctorates (Anglia Polytechnic University and Sheffield Hallam University), various honorary degrees (University of Liverpool, Open University, University of Portsmouth, University of Bradford) and a fellowship of Liverpool John Moores University.

He was appointed an OBE in 1998, for his services to British music. In 2002, the BBC conducted a vote to discover the 100 Greatest Britons of all time, in which Peel was voted 43rd.

Legacy[link]

Since his death various parties have recognised Peel's influence. A stage for new bands at the Glastonbury Festival, previously known simply as 'The New Bands Tent' was renamed 'The John Peel Stage' in 2005, while in 2008 Merseytravel announced they would be naming a train after him.^[21]

In 2009 the first blue plaque to bear his name was unveiled in Heywood, part of Rochdale, Greater Manchester to recognise Peel's contribution to the local music industry in financing Tractor's recording studios.

On 13 October 2005, the first "John Peel Day" was held to mark the anniversary of his last show.^[34] The BBC encouraged as many bands as possible to stage gigs on the 13th, and over 500 gigs took place in the UK and as far away as Canada and New Zealand, from bands ranging from Peel favourites New Order and The Fall, to many new and unsigned bands. A second John Peel day was held on 12 October 2006, and a third on 11 October 2007. The BBC had originally planned to hold a John Peel Day annually, however Radio 1 has not held any official commemoration of the event since 2007, though a number of gigs still take place around the country to mark the anniversary.^[35][36][37]

At the annual Gilles Peterson's World Wide Awards, the "John Peel Play More Jazz Award" award was named in his honour.

In his Heswall birthplace a pub was opened, named The Ravenscroft, in his honour.^[38]

A number of Peel-related compilation albums have been released since his death, including John Peel and Sheila: The Pig's Big 78s: A Beginner's Guide, a project Peel started with his wife that was left unfinished when he died, and Kats Karavan: The History of John Peel on the Radio (2009), a 4 CD box set. Rock music critic Peter Paphides said in a review of the box set that "[s]ome artists remain forever associated with him", including ...And the Native Hipsters with "There Goes Concorde Again", and Ivor Cutler with "Jam".^[39] A sizable online community has also emerged dedicated to sharing recordings of his radio shows.

Peel's adult sons Tom and William Ravenscroft have followed him into radio DJing and music journalism, with an emphasis on spotting new talent.

In 2011, BBC 6 Music inaugurated the annual John Peel Lecture, named in honour of the DJ.^[40]

In May 2012 a campaign was started to turn demolition threatened Bradford Odeon into the John Peel Creative Arts Centre in the North^[41]. It is proposed that part of his record collection is housed there, plus converting the building back to a live music venue. He met "The Pig" at a gig at the University of Bradford.

See also[link]

• List of Peel sessions
• Category:Peel Sessions recordings

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Heatley, Michael (2004). John Peel: A Life in Music. Michael O'Mara Books Limited. ISBN 1-84317-151-1. 

Further reading[link]

• Margrave of the Marshes, Autobiography with Sheila Ravenscroft, Bantam Press, 2005. ISBN 0-593-05252-8
• The Olivetti Chronicles. Articles for The Observer, Radio Times, The Guardian a.o., selected by his wife Sheila and their children. Bantam Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-593-06061-2

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Peel

• Radio 1's John Peel pages
• John Peel Biography by BBC Radio 1 (PDF)
• A sorted directory of links referencing Peel's working life