FD-2

Back in 1988, one reader in Flight magazine complained similarly about a BBC program which simply overlooked British achievements in supersonic flight. My FD-2/BAC.221 book and the others is intended to make sure that those who want to learn the honest details of our X-planes history will not be disappointed.
When I produced my DH.108 book, exactly 50 years after first flight, thanks to the help and material of many former project personnel, I realized that had I waited for a few more years the book would have been impossible to produce. Just imagine, the DH.108 was our first supersonic aircraft and the first and still-only book about it (by me) appeared 50 years after first flight.
It makes me wonder how much of our experimental aviation history can still be saved.

Henry

FD-2/DH.108

Hello,
As writer of the only book ever produced on the DH.108 (published in May 1996 and now out of print), and the FD-2/BAC.221 book soon to print, I can only marvel at this denigration of British achievements.
The DH.108 was the first British supersonic aircraft. Three built. The first, TG283, first flew on 15 May 1946 (pilot: G de Havilland). It crashed on 1 May 1950 killing RAE pilot Eric Genders. The second, TG306, first flew on 23 August 1946 (pilot: G de Havilland). It crashed killed the same pilot on its Flight 17 on 27 September 1946.
The third, VW120, was first flown on 24 July 1947 by John Cunningham. It crashed killing RAE pilot Stuart Muller-Rowland on 15 February 1950.
Roughly 600 flights in all were logged by the three aircraft.

The FD-2s not only set a speed record in 1956, but the flying of the two airframes WG774 and WG777 extended from 1954 to 1973 — ALMOST 20 YEARS!!

If only I had the means. I would have produced books and DVDs on all British research aircraft.

Henry Matthews

HPM Publications

http://www.HPMPublications.com (Books)

http://www.worldx-planes.com (Magazine)