Item 2017.263 - Eurofighter Typhoon Pilot Flight Jacket

RFD BEAUFORT LTD
P. Frankenstein & Sons Ltd 1854–1971 RFD Ltd 1920–2003
RFD Beaufort Ltd 2003–present (Survitec Group Ltd)
The company has its origins in waterproof textiles. In 1854 Philip Frankenstein founded P. Frankenstein & Sons Ltd in Manchester and the company developed rubberized fabrics. From the 1940s it produced specialized safety flying and survival equipment. By the 1940s–1950s they had acquired Beaufort (Air-Sea) Equipment Ltd of Birkenhead as a division of the firm, and in advertising referred to the joint company as Frankenstein-Beaufort. P. Frankenstein & Sons Ltd were acquired by Slater, Walker Securities in 1970 and then became part of Allied Polymer Group in 1971.
RFD Ltd was founded in 1920 by engineer Reginald Foster Dagnall (1888–1942) to manufacture floatation equipment. Dagnall had been experimenting with constructing inflatable boats from before the First World War and working for manufacturers making airships. The company invented the first inflatable life raft in 1932. Based in Godalming, Surrey, RFD expanded rapidly during the Second World War, becoming the first company to produce a single-seater life raft in a dinghy pack fitted to a parachute pack for all fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force.
In April 2003, RFD Beaufort Ltd was formed by the merger of Survitec subsidiaries RFD Ltd and Beaufort (Air-Sea) Equipment Ltd. The company was acquired by the Survitec Group which used the name RFD Beaufort as a brand, later dropping Beaufort. They continue to use RFD as a brand for their marine safety and survival technology, including inflatable life rafts.
Sources: RFD Beaufort Ltd; Rubber & Plastic News; Godalming Museum; Harold Nockolds, Rescue from Disaster: The History of the RFD Group (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1980); Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History; aviationancestry.co.uk; Survitec Group Ltd.