Test Pilot (Aviation Classics)

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Created in the Peerage of England by writ in 1432 when George Nevill, the son of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland was summoned to Parliament. Abeyant in 1577. 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. In Sept 1952 I attended Farnborough Air show with my father. As a keen aviation photographer with a 100mm lens I always took a position at the fence line and therefore had to get there early. As he straightened up the aircraft disintegrated, and the sequence was this: under the stress of straightening up from the turn and pulling into a climb, the outer part of the starboard wing failed and broke off. The same section of the other wing was lost immediately afterwards. Neville Duke would live until the age of 85, having gained many awards including the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club and a Queen’s Commendation. He would also write several popular books, with Sound Barrier, Test Pilot and The Crowded Sky among the best known.

Service in the wars of the late 13th and 14th centuries against Scotland, and later in the Hundred Years' War in France was of key importance in further enhancing the family's standing. [20] In 1334 Ralph Neville, Lord of Raby was appointed one of the wardens of the marches, the chief officers for frontier defence, and the Nevilles were habitually appointed to these posts thereafter. [21] Ralph commanded the force that crushed an invading Scottish army at the Battle of Neville's Cross outside Durham and captured King David II in 1346. In the mid-14th century, the Nevilles became involved in naval defence as well, holding the post of Admiral of the North. [22] During this period they also began to be appointed to high office at court and in the Church: the victor of Neville's Cross served as Steward of the Royal Household, and on his death was succeeded in the office by his eldest son John. John's brother Alexander Neville became Archbishop of York and was a close advisor of Richard II. As such, he was prosecuted, along with Richard's other leading adherents, when the disgruntled Lords Appellant seized power in 1386–9. He suffered the confiscation of his property but, as a clergyman, he escaped the death sentences imposed on his colleagues. [23] Raby Castle in County Durham After climbing to 40,000ft, Derry dived towards Farnborough and the crowd heard a very impressive triple bang, followed almost immediately by the arrival of the 110 doing a 700+mph flypast.

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On the train home it dawned on me just how covered I was in the blood of those who died or were injured. 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 In 1950 the Korean war began, and, in a defining moment, the Labour government began its rearmament programme, feeding more money into the aviation industry. Duke took over as chief test pilot at Hawker in 1951, following the death of "Wimpy" Wade in a Hawker P1081. By then both the US and the Soviet Union had high-performance frontline fighters - the F86 Sabre and the MIG15 respectively. The RAF, meanwhile, did not fly its own obsolete Gloster Meteor jet fighters in Korean war combat.

Duke received many national and international honours in addition to his gallantry awards.He was awarded the Royal Aero Club's Gold Medal, and in 1993 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.In 2002 he was the recipient of the Air League's Jeffrey Quill Medal.In the same year, Duke received the rarely awarded and internationally prestigious Award of Honour from the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigator for "his unique incomparable record". Given-Wilson, Chris, The English Nobility in the Late Middle Ages: The Fourteenth-Century Political Community (London and New There was no panic and as the rescue vehicles rushed to the hill the vast crowd parted like the Red Sea. Not sure yet who Sandy is (update from Tony Jeffries Sandy is Ken Royce Sands) , Butch is Robert J. D. Jeffries and Stinker is thought to beFlying Officer F.T.D.or Percy Drinkwater Strong, (42277) an original member of 112 Sqdn that sailed with the Sqdn on the Argus to the Middle East,this picture would have to have been taken sometime after 31 September 1941 as both Ken Sands and Robert (Bob / Butch) Jeffries arrived in the Squadron on that date. Duke found flying the P-40 less agreeable than the Spitfire, and on a familiarisation flight crashed AM390. [1]George Neville, the son of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu, created Duke of Bedford in the Peerage of England in 1470. Deprived by Act of Parliament in 1478. 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 is now named after him, following the reinstating of a house system to the school in 2008. 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.

Geoffrey "de Neville" (d. c. 1242) inherited the estates of his mother's family as well as his father's, and adopted his mother's surname, but retained his paternal arms of Gules, a saltire argent. [10] In Norman-ruled England, a Norman surname was more prestigious and socially advantageous [11] than his original English surname FitzRobert.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 Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland A. Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland I. Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorland III. Thomas Neville of Brancepeth (Disinherited branch) The male line of the Nevilles was of native origin, and the family may well have been part of the pre-Conquest aristocracy of Northumbria. [1] Following the Norman Conquest, most of the existing Anglo-Saxon aristocracy of England were dispossessed and replaced by a new Norman ruling elite, and although such survivals are very rare, continued landholding by native families was more common in the far north of England, including in County Durham, the area of their earliest recorded landholdings. After three burglaries, Duke sold his war medals in 2006 when the costs of insuring them became prohibitive. He denied press reports that he needed the money to pay for a hip operation for his wife Gwen. On 7 April 2007, the couple were flying their private aircraft when Duke became ill. He landed safely at Popham Airfield, but collapsed as he left the aircraft. He was taken by ambulance to hospital in Basingstoke where he was diagnosed as suffering from an aneurysm. He was transferred to St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, and died later that same evening after an operation, at the age of 85.