Stanley Hooker joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1949 and tugged a rather reluctant company into the jet age, determined to give real competition to Rolls-Royce. So successful was he that in 1966 Rolls-Royce decided the best thing to do was to spend £63.6 million and buy its rival. By this time there was scarcely a single modern British aero-engine for which Hooker had not been responsible.