David Gibbings

David Gibbings combined aeronautical engineering, aviation history, and visual art across a career closely connected with British rotorcraft. He delivered the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 43rd Cierva Lecture on the Fairey Rotodyne and later published a detailed book on that aircraft. A Quiet Country Town, issued by The History Press in 2015, collects writings about a century of Westland at Yeovil. Gibbings compiled and introduced accounts by people involved with the company, tracing aircraft such as the Lysander, Whirlwind, Wessex, and Lynx alongside Westland’s relationship with the town. The anthology format lets engineers and employees speak through recollections as well as technical history. Gibbings was also a founding member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, and his paintings recorded aircraft and vertical-flight milestones with an engineer’s eye for form. The Vertical Flight Society recognized his historical work with its John J. Schneider Award in 2015, the same year the Westland anthology appeared.