Background
Charles Amherst Villiers was born in London on 9 December 1900, the son of Ernest Amherst Villiers and the Honorary
Charles Amherst Villiers was born in London on 9 December 1900, the son of Ernest Amherst Villiers and the Honorary
He was educated at Oundle School and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
He designed a land speed record-breaking car for Malcolm Campbell, and developed the supercharged "Blower Bentley", driven by Henry Birkin and (in fiction) by James Bond. Elaine Augusta Guest. Villiers began his automotive career modifying Brescia Bugattis and supercharging a Vauxhall for racing driver Raymond Mays.
He designed the Napier-Campbell Blue Bird which Malcolm Campbell used to break the land speed record in 1927 with an average speed of 174.88 mph.
The "Blower Bentley" was developed in "Bentley Boy" Henry "Tim" Birkin"s workshop in 1929, using an Amherst Villiers supercharger bolted to the front of a Bentley 4½ Litre, to boost its maximum power in the production version to 175 brake horsepower (130 kW). The first of five racing specials was the Brooklands-designed Bentley Blower Number.1, which had an output of 242 brake horsepower (180 kW).
In 1930 he bought from the Air Ministry one of the Gloster IV biplanes which had been used by the Royal Air Force High Speed Flight as practice machines for the Schneider Trophy. He was planning to install an unsupercharged geared Napier Lion racing engine and remove the floats for an attempt to break the world air speed record, but the plans did not come to fruition.
The engine was first tested in a Bachelor of Arts Eagle and later in Villiers" own Miles Whitney Straight, but did not go into production.
During the Second World War he served as a ferry pilot. After the war he joined the "Brain drain" of scientists and engineers moving to the United States of America to work on the space programme. In Fleming"s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, Bond drives a 4.5-litre Bentley with the Amherst Villiers supercharger.