His book, Aircraft Design proved to be an invaluable reference work for Bill Goldfinch and Jack Best during their construction of the Colditz glider.
Latimer-Needham was educated at University College London and served with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in France during 1918 and then with the Army of Occupation until 1919.
Founding the Dunstable Sailplane Company (DSC), he was appointed the first Chairman of the Technical Committee of the British Gliding Association and advised on the design of both powered and non-powered aircraft.
He left the RAF in 1935 and formed his second company, Luton Aircraft, at Barton-in-the-Clay, Bedfordshire, where he designed the Buzzard, Minor & Major.
In 1936 the company moved to Gerrards Cross, while the DSC sold kits of parts for the Kestrel glider, which Latimer-Needham had also designed.