Richard Douglas Gordon was born on 01 July 1941 in Nyaunghla, Burma. He was educated at Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire and the University of Gasgow, Scotland, where he graduated with a BSc in Aeronautical Engineering in 1964 , followed by an MSc in the same subject. During his undergraduate years he served as a student apprentice with Hawker Aircraft Ltd. In 1963 , he was employed by Glasgow University in the Aeronautics Department as an Assistant in the Structures Laboratory, and from 1963 to 1971, as a Research Assistant in the Aeronautics Department while completing his thesis entitled A Study of Filament Winding . In 1970, he published a paper on Filament Winding Strain Measurement on Filament Wound Structural Members in conjunction with Dr. Wong. He was appointed Research Technologist in the Department of Aeronautics and Fluid Mechanics in 1971, where he continued until 1990. He then became a lecturer in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, and took early retirement in 1998 .
From the guide to the Papers of Richard Douglas Gordon, b.1941, lecturer in aerospace engineering, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1959-1970, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
