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Test Pilot (Aviation Classics)

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That's it, really, except that, over a pint in my local many years later, I suddenly realised that this experience, for a then seven-year-old, may have been the reason why I am absolutely petrified of flying! Richard Baguley, England During his Second World War service Mr Duke flew Kittyhawks and Spitfires in North Africa. The 485 operational sorties he flew enabled him to become became the most successful pilot in the Mediterranean theatre of war. GA X, FR259. Kittyhawk Mk III, short tail. Flight Sgt Randolph Charles Carlyle Smith J16175 RCAF , 8/11/1942, Obituary: Squadron Leader Neville Duke." [ dead link] The Daily Telegraph, 13 April 2007. Retrieved: 13 April 2007.

Distinguished Flying Cross), the AFC (Air Force Cross) came later, by the time he was 22. Few of us had finished training at that age. He was also damnably good looking as well! Duke underwent pilot training and was commissioned at 58 OTU, Grangemouth in February 1941, before being posted to 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill in April, flying Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vs. Operating over occupied Europe, Duke's obvious talents as a fighter pilot meant he often flew as wingman to Biggin Hill's Wing Leader, Wing Commander Adolph "Sailor" Malan. By August 1941, Duke had claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109s shot down. When the unit was withdrawn for a rest in October 1941, Duke was posted to North Africa to fly with 112 Squadron on the Curtiss Tomahawk. Duke was born in Tonbridge, Kent, and educated at the Convent of St Mary and The Judd School in Tonbridge. One of the four houses at Judd was named after him, following the reinstating of a house system to the school in 2008, until the changing of the House system in 2017, with the New Headmaster Jon Wood. He started working as an auctioneer and estate agent before attempting to join the Fleet Air Arm on his 18th birthday. He was rejected and joined the RAF instead as a cadet in June 1940. Already before the Neville marriage, the FitzMeldred family was a major power in the area: "In the extent of their landed possessions this family, holding on obdurately to native names for a full hundred years after 1066, was pre-eminent among the lay proprietors within the bishopric of Durham during the twelfth century". [6] Female line of de Nevilles [ edit ] I thought that the plane had released something like balloons, but what we were looking at was the tailplane breaking up.

Duke returned to the UK and took up a position as test pilot for Hawker in January 1945. He attended No 4 Course at the Empire Test Pilots' School at Cranfield in 1946 and then joined the RAF's High Speed Flight unit, commanded by Teddy Donaldson. It was Donaldson who set a new official World Air Speed record on 7 September 1946, later being the first official man to break the 1,000 km/h barrier. After demonstrating a Gloster Meteor at an air display in Prague, he was presented with the Czech Military Cross for his wartime service. For Scotland, 2011 data is shown (update coming soon, the Scottish census was delayed by a year unlike the rest of the UK). A spokesman for Tangmere Military Aviation Museum in West Sussex, where Sqn Ldr Duke was honorary president, described him as a true gentleman.

Downing two Fw 190s of Schlachtgeschwader 4 in May, Duke scored his final kills on 7 September 1944, becoming the Mediterranean Theatre's top Allied fighter ace at the age of 22. In 486 sorties and some 712 operational hours, he claimed 27 outright victories and two shared, one probable, six damaged and two shared destroyed on the ground. [3] Test pilot [ edit ] NEVILLE DUKE, one of the most remarkable pilots of the Second World War, whose death aged 85 was announced yesterday, was decorated for gallantry six times and became one of the world's foremost test pilots. Painted a high-gloss red, WB188 set a new absolute world airspeed record of 727.63 mph in the hands of Neville Duke flying from Tangmere on 7 September 1953. 12 days later, Duke set a second world record in WB188 – 709.2 mph over a closed 100km course – this time flying from Dunsfold. A month later, WB188 was retired from active test flying. My father noted the hill behind us and suggested we move, saying "from that hill we would be able to see right down the runway" I explained that it was too far from the runway for my photography. So we stayed put.He was a man who I think set the standards of the day. He was also probably the role model for Dan Dare in Eagle, which is perhaps the highest accolade of all!”

He took up freelance flying and consultancy work, then in 1960 formed Duke Aviation and also became personal pilot to Sir George Dowty. After selling his company in 1982, Duke concentrated on test flying lighter aircraft and on consultancy, forming a fruitful and enduring relationship with Brooklands Aerospace Group. These activities he combined with his other great passion, sailing. Calendar of the Charter Rolls, 1300-1326, London, 1908, p.135, quoted in Jarvis, R. (2017) Baronial women in thirteenth-century Lincolnshire. M.A. thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, p.20 [1] a b It has been noted, however, that "this Dolfin, when doing homage to the Prior of Durham for Staindrop, reserved his homage to the kings of England and of Scotland, as well as the Bishop of Durham" implying that he was "no doubt, a man of consequence" and "probably of high Northumbrian birth". Round, Feudal England, 370-2; Offler, 'FitzMeldred, Neville and Hansard', 2-3; Wagner, English Ancestry, 16-17; Wagner, Pedigree and Progress, 51, 210 Duke was awarded an OBE in January 1953 for his contribution to supersonic flight and groundbreaking achievements at Hawker. On 7 September 1953, Duke set a new world air speed record of 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h), flying Hunter WB188. (With this world record Neville Duke exceeded the unofficial world record set by Heini Dittmar with the Me 163 BV18) [6] He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air for saving his aircraft after an engine failure in August 1955. Two days later, Duke fractured his spine following a forced landing in a Hunter at Thorney Island. Another heavy landing in May 1956 caused further spinal injuries; he was forced to resign in October 1956 after being immobilised for several months.I was 13 at the time and went with my friend and my eight-year-old brother. Peter, my friend, suggested we climbed the hill so Graham, my brother would get a good view.

Squadron Leader Neville Duke, who died on April 7 2007 aged 85, had a remarkable record as a fighter pilot during the Second World War; he was decorated for gallantry six times and went on to become one of the world's foremost test pilots.

Mk.3 WB188 - Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Tangmere, West Sussex

The Middleham castle eventually passed to Ribald's descendant [ citation needed] Geoffrey de Neville (died 1193), 2nd feudal baron of Ashby in Lincolnshire. [7] At some time before 1176 he married Emma de Bulmer (d.1208), who brought to her husband several estates, including Brancepeth Castle in County Durham and Sheriff Hutton Castle near Bulmer, [8] Raskelf and Sutton-in-the-Forest, all in Yorkshire. He returned to his squadron and achieved his final success on September 7 when he shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 109s near Rimini. The AOC instructed that Duke was to finish his third tour after completing 486 operational sorties. He had destroyed 27 enemy aircraft, and probably three more, making him the RAF's outstanding and highest-scoring fighter pilot in the Mediterranean theatre. He was 22 years old and at the end of October he returned to England after an absence of three years. Early Tomahawks some with nose cones painted red some without, I maybe wrong but is the camouflage painting reversed on some of these? Two things were certain: the crash had nothing to do with supersonic flight but related entirely to that one manoeuvre, and the disaster was in no way John Derry's fault. He enlisted in the RAF as a cadet in June 1940 and later joined 92 Squadron, flying Spitfires. The first plane he shot down was a Messerschmitt Bf109 over Dunkirk in 1941. Later that year he joined 112 Squadron, initially flying American Curtiss Tomahawks with the Desert Air Force. Later he flew the Curtiss Kittyhawk, then returned to later marques of the Spitfire. Duke had two spells as a flight instructor, but as a fighter pilot his spectacular record meant he ended his war in North Africa and Italy as the RAF's leading ace in the Mediterranean, having destroyed 28 enemy aircraft, and having spent a spell with Italian partisans after he was shot down.

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