pilots

Ed Elton my first PR.9 pilot, shame he got promoted and lost his Bucc posting

Mike Bell my second PR.9 pilot, only staff tours subsequently, what a waste

Keith Hargreaves my Bucc pilot, who never frightened me

Pete Tate long time Hunter man who gave me more poling time in the Hawk than any other mate

Richard Cole who still takes me flying and keeps my love of aviation alive

Out of interest Ian Black was one of my studes through nav school and did a tour on F.4s as a back-seater before re-training to be a Driver (Airframe)

If I do remember correctly, Cody’s first flight in Army Aeroplane No 1 can not technically be called a successful first solo flight 😉 because it ended with the aircraft embedded in a tree 😮 . 😡 In fact the Times the following day headlined the event with the fact that it had crashed, not the fact that a British built aircraft had actually flown for the first time. 😡

For me thats still a flight. The aeroplane got up in the air and got some air under its wings.

So the first man to achieve powered flight in the British Isles and the holder of the ninth Royal Aero Club pilot’s certificate issued wasn’t technically a pilot?

Please elaborate.

If I do remember correctly, Cody’s first flight in Army Aeroplane No 1 can not technically be called a successful first solo flight 😉 because it ended with the aircraft embedded in a tree 😮 . 😡 In fact the Times the following day headlined the event with the fact that it had crashed, not the fact that a British built aircraft had actually flown for the first time. 😡

Maybe Ollie was thinking of the early kites?

I was thinking of the kites, i was not sure what else he had done so i did not whant to metion that and be wrong.
so yes Samuel F. Cody for his many contributions to the development of flight.

For me,
1. Samuel F. Cody, for all that reaserch and contributions towards aviation.
2. The right brothers. They where the first heavier than air flight
3. All test pilots, espesialy the early ones. For pushing the edges of the envelope and sadly not always surviving
4. Louis Bleriot. For that flight across the Channel in that aeroplane
5. Charles Lindberg, for flying across the Adlantic in such a small aeroplane with such basic instruments.

Svetlana Kapanina(Biggin 1998, exceptional pilot,total babe!)

Agreed, but with incredibly hairy legs! 😮

Svein Heglund
Ray Hanna
Robert Stanford Tuck
Chuck Yeager
Johnnie Johnson

Stu Goldspink (I used to ride backseat at Dunstable when he was a tug pilot!)
Tim Barnby (Ditto above…great aerobatic pilot and A340 emergency hero)
Bob Hoover (Incredible display at CAF Harlingen in the 80s)
Lefty Gardiner(as above,in his lightning)
Svetlana Kapanina(Biggin 1998, exceptional pilot,total babe!)
Stu… if you read this,can I have a ride in Spitfire or P51? PM me!

Mine;

Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield – for their contributions to the X planes.
Hanna Rietsch – German test pilot.
Eric Brown – for his contributions as a test pilot and wonderful books upon flying various types, if haven’t read them already get either Wings of the Lutwaffe or Wings of the Navy.
Charles Lindnergh – for his Pioneering flights.

And the just missed outs – Sir Geoffery de Havilland, Louis Bleriot, Jean Batten, Sir Alan Cobham and one of my personnal favourites, Douglas ‘Wrong-Way’ Corrigan.

Steve.

The Wright Brothers (The first men to worked out how to control an aircraft in flight)
John Cunningham (THe only one on the list I’ve met and a very nice gent)
Eric “Winkle” Brown
Chuck Yeager
Leonard Cheshire (The best RAF WW II bomber pilot and overall combat leader by far)
Lanoe Hawker VC (it took almost 900 rounds (of which only one hit his DH2 (and him), the prevailing wind , bingo fuel and a much superior aircraft flown by Red Baron to kill him).

What about Hanna Reitsch, even if she was a Nazi. Biggest Glider (Me 323 Gigant), Early Helo (Fa61), Rocket Fighter (ME163) and first Cruise Missile (V1), not even Chuck Yeager had that spread of types on his résumé.

My top five pilots

Here’s my top five :

1. Alex Henshaw – Mew Gull / Spitfire – need I say any more??
2. Eric “Winkle” Brown – Testing & Experimental – who else could land a Mosquito on a carrier,or a vampire on a giant carrier borne mattress
3. Ray Hanna – Red Arrows / Breitling Fighters / Spitfire etc,etc
4. Neil Williams – Adaptable diplay / exceptional aerobatics pilot
5. Stephen Grey – Warbird owner / Bearcat & Spitfire XIV pilot extraordinaire

Steve

Galdri,

The Pilot of the Jungmann who you saw overhead Headcorn was almost certainly Pete Kynsey….As you say, Slow, easy and very, very GRACEFUL. Exactly how a Jungmann should be displayed.

Thank you very much for that 😉 Now I have probable name for one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen 😀

An almost impossible task, but here goes, although it is unfair to single one out in particular:

John Cunningham
Roly Falk
Douglas Bader
Paddy Finucane
Guy Gibson

None of the above, was I privileged to either meet or see. I would however walk over burning coals to watch many of today’s warbird display pilots, in particular Paul Bonomme, whose display in the Spitfire XIV in 2000(?) at Duxford will live with me forever.

Galdri,

The Pilot of the Jungmann who you saw overhead Headcorn was almost certainly Pete Kynsey….As you say, Slow, easy and very, very GRACEFUL. Exactly how a Jungmann should be displayed.

What is the best pilot there ever was? What is the best pilot I’ve ever seen? So many men to choose from! Here is my list, in no particular order.

Magnus Nordahl, a local aerobatic pilot and aircraft nut. Pushing 80 years old and puts all us younger guys to shame with his aerobatic routines in the YAK 55. Has flown everything from Tiger Moths to DC-10’s and has wonderful stories of all of them.
Smari Karlsson Over 80 years old and still has the touch. Watching him show off the Citabria at the local club is a real treasure. In 62 years of flying he has never dented an aircraft.
Robert ‘BOB’ Hoover The best aerobatic display pilot I’ve ever seen. Watching his Shrike Commander routine is a pure bliss.
Ray Hanna Seeing him do his routine in the Spitfire is the best presention of a Warbird I’ve ever seen.
My last nominee is nameless. In 1998 I watched a Bucker Jungman practising aerobatics over Headcorn, and what a wonderfull display of skill and precision! That was the way aerobatics are supposed to be flown in an old biplane. Slow, easy and very, very GRACEFUL. It brought a tear to my eye watching it.

As you have seen, there are no war heros in my list. The reason is, that it is impossible to include them all. I’ve seen none of them fly, and can not judge their flying. All of them are, however, heros and should be on a list like that.

Basil Embrey.
Charles ‘Pick’ Pickard.
Guy Gibson.
Leonard Cheshire.
Witold ‘Lanny’ Lanowski.

Stu Goldspink
Pete Kynsey
Lee Proudfoot
Paul Bonhomme
Manx Kelly

Bill (Cherry) Vale.
Gladiator, Hurricane etc. Flew on Malta. He was an “ACE” and had no fear of authority. He tried to ground Bader, although he wouldn’t go in to any detail.
Bill was a general handiman working at an aero engine componant factory with my dad. Unfortunatly he died in a car accident in the 70s.
Others.
Dizzy Addicott. WWII Mossi pilot, Vickers test pilot, display pilot and good friend.
Ray Hanna.
Hoof Proudfoot.
Colin Patterson. BBMF Lancaster captain, he let me fly the Lanc from Jersey back to Coningsby. Top bloke.

Thats my choice. It was hard though.

The Wright brothers
any First War pilot. It takes a brave man to go up in a highly combustibale aircraft with no parachute
‘Pat’ Pattle, top scoring Gladiator ace
‘Hilly’ Hilliard, anti-shipping
Arthur ‘Art’ Chin, Chinese ace during Sino-Japanese war

Ormond Haydon-Baillie
Mark Hanna
Ray Hanna
Stephen Grey
Hoof Proudfoot