Reginald Foster Dagnall was born in Fulham, London on 11 April 1888 the son of Walter and Frances Dagnall, he was educated at Tiffin School, Kingston upon Thames. Dagnall started his career in the drawing office of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company. He then joined Ernest Willows in developing Willows airships and during the 1914-18 war he was first works manager and then general manager of Airships Limited., a firm which made kite balloons and blimps.
After World War I Dagnall founded his own company, in a small factory at 17 Stoke Road, Guildford, Surrey Dagnall began the manufacture of equipment and gliders.
The RFD name is now synonymous with “Rapid Flotation Device” and the supply of marine and aviation safety equipment. He had researched flotation gear of various sorts, and in 1918 he built some of the earliest rubber dinghies.
RFD moved to Guildford in 1926 and expanded to Catteshall Lane, Godalming, in 1936 the Godalming factory burnt down and was rebuilt in 1954.
The R.F.D. Co Ltd built the prototype of the Dagling, a primary glider, in 1930 for the London Gliding Club using plans acquired through America. Dagnall was a keen glider pilot and chairman of the Surrey Gliding Club and its later incarnation the Southern Counties Soaring Club.
The non-rigid airship AD1 (registration G-FAAX) was designed by RFD and built by the Airship Development Company at the Stoke Road works in Guildford. It was taken to the old Cramlington Airship Station near Newcastle and erected in the 1918 airship hangar, with its first flight on 18 September 1929. In May 1930 it performed a number of aerial advertising flights with banners laced to the envelope sides. The original ABC Hornet engine was replaced by a 75 hp Rolls-Royce Hawk in July 1930 for work in Belgium. By mid-1931 it was dismantled and parts sold off by auction on 18 June 1931.
The Dagling was successful enough to go into production and the R.F.D. Co built at least 27 but in January 1932 announced the cessation of its glider making activities to concentrate on its Air Ministry contracts, and the name of R.F.D. was henceforth to become far better known for liferafts, dinghies, parachutes, air and sea rescue equipment and related products.
Reginald Foster Dagnall died on 16 November 1942 (aged 54) in Surrey, England, of heart failure.
In 1959 RFD merged with Perseverance Mill. In 1963 it took over Elliot Equipment and acquired GQ Parachute Company Ltd. Dagnall was also a director of G.Q. Parachute Co., Ltd., which leased space in the RFD works in Guildford. It purchased Mills Equipment Company in 1968. In 1970 the three companies merged to form RFD-GQ In 1975 RFD-GQ divided into: – RFD Inflatables Ltd – GQ Parachutes Ltd – RFD Systems Engineering Ltd – RFD Mills Equipment Ltd.
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